When I asked Tom Berry — pescetarian and chief culinary officer of the restaurant group behind such lauded Boston restaurants as Yvonne's, Coquette and Mariel — to share a favorite method honed from decades of professional cooking, he delivered: a fish dinner conjurable in 20 minutes in the toaster oven with minimal cleanup.
But he also brought to my attention a beloved cooking vessel that has become maddeningly hard to find: the cast-aluminum sizzle plate. Essentially a miniature, handle-less pan that conducts heat well, the sizzle plate helps achieve a nice sear on both sides of delicate, quick-cooking protein like fish when preheated in a toaster (or standard) oven.
