October 13, 2014 — Alaskan Coho salmon burgers and roasted monkfish steaks are mainstays of power lunches at Oceana, the upscale, marble-bedecked New York seafood shrine adjacent to iconic Rockefeller Center.
Since 2006, executive chef Ben Pollinger has lured in diners with his refined cooking. He’s held on to a coveted Michelin star, successfully transitioned Oceana into new, mammoth-sized digs, and now the ambitious New Jersey native has just released the informative School of Fish (Gallery Books) with Stephanie Lyness. Through more than 100 recipes, ranging from a baked dorade filet emblazoned with potato scales and paired with Swiss chard, to roasted lobster with basil-garlic butter accompanied by olive oil crushed potatoes, Pollinger squashes the myth for kitchen newbies and skilled home cooks alike that preparing seafood always makes for mystifying, grueling work.
What inspired you to start writing School of Fish?
I needed another challenge. Three years ago, when I first started thinking about writing it, I had been at Oceana five years. It was time to do something else that kept me an engaged and well-rounded chef.
Every chef has a cookbook these days. What did you hope to accomplish with yours?
One of the first conversations I had with my publisher and editor was about what kind of book this would be. We were going to take one of two routes: either a coffee table book with restaurant recipes—kind of like Oceana’s greatest hits — or a consumer-oriented book that would teach people how to cook fish with recipes they would actually use. Off the bat I preferred that route. I felt better being able to reach more readers and share what I have learned in a professional kitchen.