[1] A delicious way to prepare tuna steaks: with a pretzel crust (photo © Bonefish Grill.)

[2] Yummy tuna loin, about to be coated with crushed pretzels (photo © Sea Delight).

[3] Take a rolling pin to a bag of pretzels (photo © Lisa Fotios | Pexels).

[4] Dough for the original pretzels, called pretiola in Italian, were twisted to resemble a child’s arms folded in prayer (photo © Williams Sonoma). Here’s a recipe to bake your own soft pretzels.

[5] Frying/sauté pans have straight sides that make liquids less likely to splash out. See more about the differene between frying pans and skillets below (photo © Hiteclife).

[6] A skillet has sloping sides that are good for quick cooking techniques like stir-frying, where the ingredients need to be moved around continuously (photo © Michelangelo).

Beyond panko: If you’re looking for a tasty crust for fish fillets, turn to pretzels.

While we love panko as a crunchy coating for chicken, crushed pretzels give a boost to seared fish.

We adapted this recipe from a version we had at Bonefish Grill.

In addition to flavor and crunch, the pretzels are a fun alternative to the sesame crusted tuna recipe we typically used.

When we recreated the recipe at home, and discovered that:

 
April 26th is National Pretzel Day.

Below:

> A recipe for pretzel-crusted tuna with red wine sauce.

> Other sauce and fish options.

> A brief history of pretzels.

> The different pretzel shapes.

> The difference between a skillet and a frying pan.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The different species of tuna.

> The year’s 60+ fish and seafood holidays.
 
 
RECIPE: PRETZEL-CRUSTED TUNA

You can substitute another fish.

Ingredients For 2 Servings

 
For The Sauce

 
Preparation

1. Pulse the pretzels in a food processor to the consistency of bread crumbs. Set aside.

2. MAKE the sauce: Mince the shallot and heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and sauté until soft. Then add the wine and deglaze the pan. Simmer the sauce for three minutes so the alcohol evaporates and the sauce thickens.

3. HEAT a cast iron skillet over high heat and add the butter or oil. Press the tops of the tuna steaks into the pretzel crumbs to coat. When the fat starts to smoke, place the fish face down in the pan.

4. COOK for 4-5 minutes top down, then flip over and cook for another 3 minutes to serve rare, as they do at Bonefish Grill.

5. SERVE with the sauce on the side, so the crumbs stay crisper.
 
 
Other Sauce Options

If you don’t want a red sauce, there are numerous alternatives, including:

 
Other Fish Options

 
 

[7] Pretzel-crusted halibut. You can add a crust to your favorite fish (Abacus Photo).

It was all for the kids. In 610 C.E., monks in the what is today southern France northern Italy twisted and baked scraps of dough as a reward for children who had memorized their Bible verses and prayers.

The shape represented the monks’ concept of a child’s arms folded in prayer. The monks called this soft, baked dough a “pretiola,” Latin for “little reward.”

The word evolved into the Italian “brachiola,” which means “little arms.” Over the next few centuries, the pretiola journeyed through the French and Italian wine regions, crossed the Alps, traveled through Austria and arrived in Germany, where it became known as the Bretzel or Pretzel.
 
Pretzels In America

Much of the earliest commercial pretzel manufacturing in the U.S. happened in the southeastern Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Dutch country (a.k.a. the “pretzel belt”). They were made in small bakeries as well as the factories that grew from them.

Some early U.S. pretzel manufacturers are still with us; others were acquired or otherwise gone.

 
Today’s Brand Leaders

Today, the top pretzel brands in the U.S. by approximate annual sales are:

 
Other notable brands are Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps and 365 by Whole Foods.

> Here’s more pretzel history.
 

[8] Just a sample of more than a dozen pretzel shapes: rods, sticks, nuggets, and classic twists (Abacus Photo).
 
 
THE DIFFERENT PRETZEL SHAPES

The most recognizable pretzel shape is the symmetrical knot, a long strip of dough twisted back onto itself to resemble “arms in prayer.” These are called classic twists.

Given America’s love of the crunchy, salty snack, manufacturers have produced a breadth of different shapes:

 
That’s a lot of crunching!
 
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SKILLET & A FRYING PAN

It’s this easy: A skillet has slanted sides. A frying pan, also called a sauté pan, has straight sides that are higher than the skillet’s. (For this recipe, use whatever you have.)

Why the two different side shapes? And why are we including this information in a tuna recipe article?

Because the preparation calls for a skillet, and a survey of the folks present for the recipe tasting didn’t understand the difference between a skillet and a frying pan.

While the terms seem to be used interchangeably—even by the finest brands—there is a difference, which can be summarized as straight-side vs. sloping side.

Frying/Sauté Pan Benefits
 
If both pans are the same size, the frying/sauté pan (photo #5) will have a slightly larger surface area. In a 12-inch diameter pan, it can make the difference when fitting in pieces of chicken or other food, so you can cook everything in one batch.

The other benefits of a frying/sauté pan: Liquids are less likely to splash out of the higher, straight sides; and lids fit more tightly, limiting evaporation.
 

[9] A frying pan, a.k.a. a sauté pan, has straight sides so lids fit tightly (photo © Sur La Table).
 
Skillet Benefits

Chefs prefer the sloping sides of a skillet (photo #6) for quick cooking techniques like stir-frying, where the ingredients need to be moved around continuously. A skillet is also a better option for a frittata, served straight from the pan.

It is a fun fact in cooking that a skillet is better for sautéing than a sauté pan. The sloping sides make it easier to move pieces of food around while constantly stirring, and to more easily shake the pan to toss the food for even cooking. For the best sear, choose a cast iron skillet. It gets hotter than other metals.

You can, of course, sauté your food in the classic straight-sided sauté pan (frying pan), but it requires more work: constant stirring and turning.
 

[10] Contrary to its name, a skillet has sloped sides, making it easier to sauté (photo © Sur La Table).
 
Which Came First?

Guessing that the straight-sided frying pan may have come first, and the skillet adapted for greater flexibility, we tried to locate the facts. What we found was this, in Wikipedia:

Before the introduction of the kitchen stove in the mid-19th century, a commonly used cast iron cooking pan called a spider had a handle and three legs used to stand up in the coals and ashes of the fire. Cooking pots and pans with legless, flat bottoms were designed when cooking stoves became popular; this period of the late 19th century saw the introduction of the flat cast iron skillet.
 
Related Pans

Professionals use a sauteuse (saw-TOOZ), a pan that combines the best higher sides of the sauté pan and the sloping sides of the skillet. It is also called a fait-tout (fay-TOOT), which literally means that it “does everything”.”

Finally, mention must be made of the grill pan. It’s a frying pan with very low sides and series of parallel ridges on the cooking surface, which both enables cooking with radiant heat like a grill, and allows the fat to drain down.
 
________________
 
*Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels was a local brand popular in the Upper Midwest. Pretzel twists were created by Dorothy (“Dot”) Henke at her winter residence in Goodyear, Arizona, and production later shifted to her hometown of Velva, North Dakota. The distinctive “signature seasoning,” described as buttery/garlicky/spiced, was the “addictive” part of the brand’s appeal. When it experienced a significant growth, becoming the third-largest pretzel brand nationally in sales volume, The Hershey Company took note and acquired the brand in 2021.
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

Before the tastiest citrus goes away until next season, consider this super-easy yet elegant (and low-calorie!) first course. Estela Restaurant in New York City made it with small “cocktail” grapefruits, but we added some blood orange (rosy red) and cara cara orange (deep pink) for color.

Sauvignon blanc white wines are known for their grapefruit or grassy notes. We poured one of each style—a grapefruity wine from California, a grassy one from France—although you’ll need to consult your wine store if you want to be sure your wines have these flavor profiles.

A drizzle of olive oil, expecially a grassy one, is a great complement.

RECIPE: RAW SCALLOPS WITH CITRUS

Ingredients

Preparation

1. PEEL the citrus and remove the pith. Slice the fruit into widths that will match the scallops (to the extent possible).

2. RINSE the scallops and slice horizontally. Your can choose how thick or thin to slice them, but aim for four slices per scallop.

3. PLATE the fruit and scallops. Depending on their comparative sizes, you can plate them as shown in the photo, or place the scallops atop the sliced fruit.

4. DRIZZLE a small amount of the optional olive oil over the food, or in a circle or droplets around it. Sprinkle with sea salt and optional chili flakes. Garnish as desired (you can grate citrus zest over the dish, or sprinkle it around the rim of the plate) and serve.
  

Yesterday was National Bock Beer Day, coinciding with the first day of spring. It’s a holiday declaration that makes sense: bock beer is a spring beer.

There’s a lot of media attention to eating seasonally; less so to drinking seasonally.

So today we’re starting the first in our seasonal beer recommendations. By the end of the year, you’ll have them all, including summer beer, fall beer and winter beer.

Some people drink the same beer year-round. But aficionados know to look for the “seasonals,” as they’re known in the trade. America’s craft brewers have made plenty for you to choose from.

Spring beers are brewed with brighter flavors, sharper textures to bridge the gap between the stronger cold-weather beers and the lighter summer styles. Brewers use different hops, malts, spices and brewing styles to create fresh flavors and crisp textures.

It takes 3 months to assemble the ingredients, brew the beer and let it mature before release. So these are beers that are brewed in the winter, to be released and in the spring:

 
Thanks to brewer Greg Smith of Beersmith.com for his guidance.

Now, how about a tasting party to share the different spring styles with your pals?

A double bock beer from Samuel Adams, shown with a scattering of the hops used to brew it (photo by Julia Tomases | © THE NIBBLE).

Bock beer with smoked Gouda cheese (photo © Wisconsin Cheese).

[3] Weizenbock is a wheat version of German-style bock, a bigger and beefier Dunkelweizen. It’s low on bitterness and high on carbonation, with flavors of bready malt and fruits like grape, plum, and raisin (photos #3 and #4 © Brewers Association).

[4] Ayinger Maibock is brewed by the family-owned Privatbrauerei Ayinger (Ayinger Brewery) in Aying, Germany, is considered the gold standard for Maibock. Located about 15 miles south of Munich in Bavaria, the brewery has been operating for more than 140 years (Gemini Photo).

National Bock Beer Day is March 20th—time to try a bottle. Bock is the German word for strong, referring to a strong beer brewed from barley malt. It’s a dark, heavy, rich, sweet, complex beer, similar to Münchener* beers, but stronger.

A true bock-style beer has a foam collar “thick enough to steady a pencil.”

And because the word “bock” also means billy goat in German, a goat is often found on the labels of bock beer brands.

Below:

> The history and types of bock beer.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The history of beer and the the many different types of beer.

> The year’s 40+ beer holidays.

> The year’s 14 American-specific beer holidays.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF BOCK BEER

Bock is a style that originated in Saxony (the capital is Dresden), on the eastern border of central Germany, adjacent to Poland and the Czech Republic.

Originally used to celebrate the end of the brewing season† (May), bock beer (Bockbier in German) was brewed in the winter for consumption in the spring.

It was originally brewed by top fermentation in the Hanseatic League‡ town of Einbeck (beck bier became bock bier) in Lower Saxony, where it is still brewed and known as Ur-Bock, the original bock.

But the style has evolved.

Initially brewed with top fermenting yeast (“ale yeast”), German bock beers are now brewed by bottom fermentation (with “lager yeast,” which weren’t discovered until the 15th century), and are usually dark brown.

A modern bock can range from light copper to brown in color. There are varieties that can be very different in style:

 
 
Blonde Bock / Pale Bock
 
Blonde or pale bocks are increasing in popularity, as many consumers prefer a lighter-color/blonde bock beer and to a dark one. Maibock, called Helles Bock outside od the spring season (it’s the same beer), is a medium-hopped styles with a rich, malty flavor (Helles means pale or bright in German).

Bock beers were originally brewed by monks to minimize hunger pangs during fasting periods. Most bock beers are dark in color to provide a richer experience.

“Blonde bock” is a more modern, descriptive marketing term to help consumers realize it isn’t a dark beer. Think of a blonde bock as a Munich Helles (a standard pale German lager) that has been cranked up to a much higher alcohol content (usually 6.3% – 7.4% ABV). It retains the clean, crisp qualities of a lager but has the “muscle” and thickness of a bock.

*Munich is the capital of Bavaria, in southeast Germany; the German name is München. A Münchener is a beer from Munich; for example, Münchener Dunkel, a full-bodied, malty and sweet-style dark lager beer that is a model for other Bavarian-style beers.

†Modern refrigeration enabled brewers to make a uniform product year round. Previously, brewers had to work with the natural temperature of caves to provide an environment cold enough for the yeast to ferment. As a result, styles evolved to work with seasonal temperatures (lighter beers in the summer, for example).

‡The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds in Northern Europe. Created to protect commercial interests and privileges, it existed from the 13th through 17th centuries.
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

March Madness is underway. At THE NIBBLE, it’s not just about rooting for your favorite college team(s). It’s what to snack on while you’re watching the games.

Made by the third generation of a family whose grandparents established a soda fountain and confectionery in Pittsburgh, Snappers are a sweet-and-salty snack made from rectangular pretzels, drizzled with chocolate and caramel. Yum!

You can find them in:

 
The 6-ounce bags are available nationwide at Target stores and other major retailers including Albertsons, Costco, Giant and Jewel-Osco. Here’s the longer list of retailers.

At $3.99 a bag, Snappers hit the spot!