People often ask me, "Did you get your love of cooking from your mother?"

Hell no.

Nice lady my mom, but cooking was not her strong suit.

Mom adhered to the Catholic tenet that the road to redemption was paved with penance. Penance was punishment you paid for pleasure. There was a big book somewhere that kept track.

Eating mom's food was prepaid penance for the pleasure of watching TV.

"Eat your supper or no TV."

We liked TV. We hated the food.

Mom's fish was the worst of her culinary punishments.

The recipe was simple enough. Put the fish in the pot with onions and potatoes. Add water. Cover it with a lid.

Boil the bejeezus out of it until the gray foam raised the lid and started streaming down the side of the pot.

Pour the water off and serve it up.

It looked and tasted as bad as it sounds. Food as penance.

My little brother would skulk down half of his milk and then, when he thought nobody was looking, slide his fish into the glass and hide it in the milk.

I didn't have the heart to rat on him.

"Can I go watch TV?"

"Finish your milk!"

"I'll drink it in front of the TV."

Milk and fish were stealthily flushed when he got out of range.

Anything I've learned about cooking fish was not at mom's apron strings.

Cooking fish is all about freshness. The fish caught today is always great – all you have to do is not screw it up.

Perfect, fresh fish is best just simply sautéed. Sautee is best because it is hot and quick, and it seals in that fresh flavor.

Get a stainless steel pan. Drizzle enough oil into it to just cover the surface and then heat it until its ready. The word sautee"comes from the French sautir, "to jump."

Your cooking oil is ready when the oil forms little bubbles that "jump" around the edge of the flesh. Flick a little flour in the pan. If it jumps you're ready.

Lightly season the fish with a little salt and pepper. Then place the filet skin side up in the pan.

It should make a moderate "sss" sound. Move it around in the pan to allow for hot spots and keep it from sticking. Cook that one side in the pan until it is just golden, then flip it, drain the oil off and pop it into a 325º oven for five to eight minutes depending on the thickness of the filet.

That burning rubber smell that might come next is that dumb rubber cover on the handle of the sautee pan. Chuck it.

Your filet is ready when the juices between the flakes of the filet turn opaque white.

Plate the fish, top it with some softened butter, and give it a squeeze of lemon.

Some knucklehead will tell you that they add a bunch of onions or peppers or wine or amaretto or some other god awful junk to the pan while cooking the fish. By adding those foreign elements to the pan - and their moisture content - they are in fact just starting to boil the fish like dear old mom.

Get a glass of dry white wine and eat your fish in front of the TV.

Toast my little brother.