How To Cook Halibut With Little Notice and The Main Ingredient Health benefits

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I received a phone call out of the blue the other day. An old school friend who’d moved to another part of the country had phoned to tell me that she was home this weekend and wondered whether myself and my husband wanted to pop around her parents for dinner.
We’d have loved to, but, sadly it was probably a little too late to arrange a babysitter for the night but it would have been a great shame to miss a catch-up with my old friend. Perhaps she and her husband could come to mine? She asked. Well, yes of course, I replied.
When I put the telephone down, I stopped in my tracks. I had only a couple of hours to prepare something for dinner and I hadn’t been shopping for a couple of days. All I had at hand was a few Halibut steaks my husband had bought that afternoon that we’d planned to eat over the next few days. A smile crossed my face and I nodded knowing that everything was going to be okay.
I minced up some garlic, chopped some pine nuts and grated a little Parmesan cheese before adding a teaspoon of basil and mayonnaise and topped the halibut with my concoction before placing it into bake 20 minutes or so after my guests arrived.
That’s the beauty of halibut, you don’t need to do anything extravagant or complicated with it to give yourself a delicious meal. Simple works best and you’ll find that most halibut recipes you happen to come across go along with that principle. Halibut itself has a subtle flavour to it and due to it being a low oil fish, it can be quite dry. But it’s the sauce and topping that make this fish come alive and you could almost randomly throw various tidbits together and create a sauce or topping that complements the halibut beautifully.
There are so many easy recipes you can put together with halibut that you almost don’t need a recipe to follow! As long as your sauce or topping is moist enough to soak into the flesh of the halibut, then you can be pretty certain you’ll have a tasty meal come the end of it whether you bake, as I did this night, fry or broil.
My guests and husband agreed and showered me with compliments after dinner was finished and I had to spend the rest of the night telling them that the complements, although welcome, were unnecessary and not really warranted. Halibut is such an easy fish to work with that even my husband could probably put together a tasty dish!
So if you’re caught in a rush or looking for a quick and easy meal to cook one night, make sure you have some halibut in house as it will not only get you out of a pickle, but will also give you a meal that will have your guests showering you with praise all night.

Halibut is a flatfish, averaging 11–13.5 kgs (24–30 lb), genus Hippoglossus, from the family of Pleuronectidae, living in both the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans. They do not reproduce until age of eight and therefore are considered as a matures slowly fishes, thus require international management of many countries for their survival, such as individual fishing quotas, total allowable catch each year, etc.

Nutrients

2. Vitamin A

3. Vitamin B 3

4. Vitamin B6

5. Vitamin B12

6. Vitamin D

7. Vitamin E

8. Omega 3 Fatty acid

9. Iron

10. Calcium

11. Selenium

12. Iodine

13. Zinc

14. Magnesium

15. Potassium

Health Benefits
A. Health benefits according to studies
1. Cardiovascular disease, stroke, and diabetes
In the study of Preferential consumption for maximum health benefits indicated that consumption of fish and shrimp containing omega-3 fatty acids can result in protective health effects including a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and diabetes, but Mercury can increase the risk of cardiovascular problems and impede neurological development., according to” Mercury concentrations and omega-3 fatty acids in fish and shrimp: Preferential consumption for maximum health benefits” by Smith KL, Guentzel JL.(a)

2. Neurodegenerative diseases
In the assessment of the hydrophobins and the antifreeze protein from winter flounder indicated that function of other natural, protective amyloids like fish chorion, the protein Pmel17 which forms amyloid fibrils that act as templates and accelerate the covalent polymerization of reactive small molecules into melanin, the hydrophobins and the antifreeze protein from winter flounder, according to “Natural protective amyloids” by Iconomidou VA, Hamodrakas SJ.(b)

3. Plasma concentrations of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
In the investigation of intake of fatty fish decreases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and increase the body burden of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) found that even though the participants had a high intake of marine food they did not have elevated levels of POPs compared to other study groups. Intake of fatty fish did not significantly affect the body burden of POPs in this study group, according to “Associations between marine food consumption and plasma concentrations of POPs in a Norwegian coastal population” by Rylander C, Sandanger TM, Brustad M.(c)

4. Etc.

B. Health benefits according to concentration
1. TryptophanTryptophan is one of the 10 essential amino acids which the body uses to synthesize the proteins for brain cells need, thus enhancing the nerve cells in information transmitting between themselves and cells in the parts of the body that reduces the risk of anxiety and depression, according to the study of “The effects of tryptophan depletion on neural responses to emotional words in remitted depression” by Roiser JP, Levy J, Fromm SJ, Nugent AC, Talagala SL, Hasler G, Henn FA, Sahakian BJ, Drevets WC.(I)

2. SeleniumSelenium is an essential antioxidants–glutathione peroxidase– besides fighting against the forming of free radicals, such as tumors and cancers and invasion of foreign invasion such as virus and bacteria, according to the study of “Vitamin E and the risk of prostate cancer: the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT)” by Klein EA, Thompson IM Jr, Tangen CM, Crowley JJ, Lucia MS, Goodman PJ, Minasian LM, Ford LG, Parnes HL, Gaziano JM, Karp DD, Lieber MM, Walther PJ, Klotz L, Parsons JK, Chin JL, Darke AK, Lippman SM, Goodman GE, Meyskens FL Jr, Baker LH., posted in PubMed(II) it is also important for a healthy liver in helping our body in detoxification., according to the study of “Low blood selenium levels in alcoholics with and without advanced liver disease“- Correlations with clinical and nutritional status by Brad Dworkin, William S. Rosenthal, Rita H. Jankowski, Gary G. Gordon and Daulat Haldea, posted in Digestive Diseases and Sciences(III).

3. ProteinIn the research of the importance of dietary proteins influence body weight by affecting four targets for body weight regulation: satiety, thermogenesis, energy efficiency, and body composition, found that Ingestion of dietary proteins in diabetes type 1 exerts a delayed postprandial increase in blood glucose levels due to protein-induced stimulation of pancreatic glucagon secretion. Higher than minimal amounts of protein in the diet needed for nitrogen balance may play an important role for the increasing number of elderly obese subjects in our industrialized societies, since proteins exert beneficial effects in the conditions of overweight, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular risk factors, bone health, and sarcopenia. Adverse effects of increased dietary proteins have been observed in subjects with renal impairment- this problem is frequently observed in the elderly, hypertensive, and diabetic population. Nevertheless, dietary proteins deserve more attention than they have received in the past, according to “Dietary proteins in obesity and in diabetes” by Keller U.(IV)

4. Vitamin B3Vitamin B3 or Niacin is essential for lowering high cholesterol levels, according to the study of “Cholesterol efflux potential and antiinflammatory properties of high-density lipoprotein after treatment with niacin or anacetrapib” by Yvan-Charvet L, Kling J, Pagler T, Li H, Hubbard B, Fisher T, Sparrow CP, Taggart AK, Tall AR., posted in PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20448206), forming the components of cells’ genetic material DNA during excision repair, according to the study of “Niacin deficiency delays DNA excision repair and increases spontaneous and nitrosourea-induced chromosomal instability in rat bone marrow” by Kostecki LM, Thomas M, Linford G, Lizotte M, Toxopeus L, Bartleman AP, Kirkland JB., posted in PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17618655) and treating diabetes and high blood sugar levels, according to the study of “Treatment of dyslipidemia in patients with type 2 diabetes” by Vijayaraghavan K., posted in PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21172030), researcher indicated that a number of lipid-lowering agents, including statins, fibrates, niacin, and bile acid sequestrants, are available to target normalization of the entire lipid profile.

5. Phosphorusa. Phosphorus forms an important part of the process related to growth and maintenance of bones and teeth, according to the study of “Alterations in phosphorus, calcium and PTHrP contribute to defects in dental and dental alveolar bone formation in calcium-sensing receptor-deficient mice” by Sun W, Sun W, Liu J, Zhou X, Xiao Y, Karaplis A, Pollak MR, Brown E, Goltzman D, Miao D.(V)

b. Beside providing strength to bones and teeth by working together with calcium,according to the study of “The Abnormal Phenotypes of Cartilage and Bone in Calcium-Sensing Receptor Deficient Mice Are Dependent on the Actions of Calcium, Phosphorus, and PTH” by Liu J, Lv F, Sun W, Tao C, Ding G, Karaplis A, Brown E, Goltzman D, Miao D., posted in PubMed(VI), it also helps to converse Riboflavin and Niacin to the active coenzyme forms for digestion and absorption.

6. Etc.
C. Other health benefits

It contains high levels of vitamin B complex, such as vitamin B6, 12 and folic acid that lower the levels of homocystein produced during the methylation cycle, resulting in lessening the risk of hardening arterial wall and high blood pressure, according to the study of “Plasma total homocysteine, B vitamins, and risk of coronary atherosclerosis.” by Verhoef P, Kok FJ, Kruyssen DA, Schouten EG, Witteman JC, Grobbee DE, Ueland PM, Refsum H., posted in PubMed(1)

High levels of Omega 3 fatty acid balances the levels of good and bad cholesterol as it reduces the risk of inflammation, thus reducing the the risk of plaque clogging the arteries, leading to heart diseases and stroke, according to the study of “Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Diseases” by Carl J. Lavie, MD, Richard V. Milani, MD, Mandeep R. Mehra, MD{dagger} and Hector O. Ventura, MD, posted in Journal of American College of Cardiology(2)

Magnesium and copper are essential minerals help to increase blood flow to the body cells including the cells in the reproductive organ, thus reducing the risk of infertility, according to the study of “Correction of subnormal fertility with copper and magnesium supplementation” by Ingraham RH, Kappel LC, Morgan EB, Srikandakumar A., posted in Pubmed (3), researchers found that cows supplemented with both Cu and Mg showed improved fertility, whereas those supplemented with Cu or Mg alone did not.

Zinc is an important minerals that helps to improve the immune system in regulating the proper of cell division and growth, according to the study of “Zinc in human health: effect of zinc on immune cells” by Prasad AS., posted in PubMed(4)

5. Etc.

1. Since halibut is on top of the food chain, contamination may be a concern.