""It is always good to add zest to your fish when frying, baking, grilling or poaching after it is cooked," Darkwah recommends. "[This] brings out the umami flavor of the fish." Like juice, zest works to balance and highlight other qualities: brightness versus richness and umami. It's the unexpected ingredient that makes a pasta dish sing and that elevates just about any meat or vegetable dish or dessert with a fragrant lift."
"As Darkwah suggests, you want to add zest after your seafood is cooked, whereas citrus juice works both before and after preparation. Before, it helps firm seafood up because its acidity actually changes the structure of the fish's proteins; after, it adds that bright flavor. When zest is cooked, the magic of its essential oils can get lost."
Citrus juice has long paired with seafood to provide acidity that cuts through sweet, buttery flavors and balances richness. Juice can be used before cooking to firm seafood by altering protein structure and after cooking to add bright flavor. Citrus zest contains essential oils that deliver aromatic sweetness, bright tartness, and concentrated citrus flavor. Zest should be added after cooking because heat can dissipate its volatile oils. Using both juice and zest enhances umami and provides a fragrant lift, elevating seafood as well as meats, vegetables, pastas, and desserts. Perfecting both elements optimizes overall flavor profiles.
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