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Sea Bass : Cooking / Recipes (uk)

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portinfer

Aquatic shopper...
Jul 3, 2003
1,327
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Hi everyone

Been having some success with decent sized bass recently - anyway, I thought a nice thread on some good bass recipes would go down well.

What are your favourite recipes ?

Do you cook different sized bass in different ways ?

For example - if the bass is below 3 pounds I bake it in foil with herbs and lemon and olive oil. I find it too fiddly to fillet.

If the bass is above 5 pounds I fillet it and grill it (lightly score the skin, grill skin side up with butter on it, put water in the grill pan to steam the undersides, sometimes with a few rounds of ginger sliced and placed on the underside - I dont turn it but allow the bottom to steam and the top to grill - weird but it works)

If the bass is above 10 pounds ... I just get really excited and have to calm myself down before even thinking about sharp knives and kitchens and stuff !

Hope this is interesting - cheers - Ed
 
Hey Portinfer,

I like the topic.

That's because I'm a foody. I don't have a recipe, per say...more or a serving suggestion. I live, as my avatar states, in Dallas, Texas. We have very good cuisine here, despite our Yee-haww'in, boot-scuffin', back-slappin', sh!t-kickin' reputation.

There is a restaurant around the way called Tramontana. Whenever I go there, I tell myself "You order the sea bass every blasted time you come here you know what it tastes like, so order something else, for the love of your tastes buds!"

That's the problem, I DO know what it tastes like, and like Pavlov's poor bell-ready dogs, I start to drool instantly when I tell myself this.

I'm telling you. This dish they make will make anyone willing to kill for you. I'd better type it fast before my salivary glands short out my keyboard.

Its a hefty, pan-browned "loaf" of sea bass. It's about the size of a square piece of white birthday cake, with just about the same light texture. You don't even get to cutting it with the fork and knife, for the weight of your utensils seem to knock each, irresistably juicy flake off, sheet by sheet.

It's not really seasoned that much, appropriately so, for underneath is a heap of lobster chunk/cream rissoto and a moat of basil oil around the sides, filling the shallows of the plate.

Three sides accompany this fantasy island. One consists of sauteed vegetables; Juilenned squash, carrots, zucchini in a nice coat of melted butter, salt and pepper with light seasoning. Another is a small heap of pickled beets. The third is a small helping of simple, mashed sweet-potatoes, no butter.

I'm slightly obsessive/compulsive when it comes to mixing foods on the plate, and letting certain foods touch. But this dish was probably my breakthrough. It was like a scene out of Flowers for Algernon, as I found myself rationing each reserve of flavor to enjoy together. It is truly one of the best ways I've EVER had sea bass.

If you're good at messing around in the kitchen, cooking-wise, that is....hee hee, you can probably come up with some kind of version of this meal and get a nice round of golf-clapping after the last fork is dropped, and the last, slow gulp sends the last person leaning from over the plate, gently and slowly to the back of his chair with a hankerin' for an after-intercourse cigarette.

Just a suggestion.

I'm interested in seeing some good ideas in this thread. Kudos for the culinary inquiry.
 
best tip I could give you is to leave it in the fridge for 48hrs before you cook it to allow it's flesh to soften just a little.
 
My favourite way of cooking Bass is to bake it whole (I am yet to shoot one that won't fit in the oven :-( . Gut and descale the fish (best done down the beach so the cats don't go mad in the garden!) and trim the fins / spines. Leaving the head on is a good idea as it helps to keep the whole thing together but can be removed if you don't like to look you dinner in the eye.

I normally lay it on tin foil and then score the skin a couple of times each side, then apply a generous amount of S+P to the cavity and in the scores. Then add sliced garlic and ginger into the gaps and body cavity and some lemongrass into the cavity. Sometimes I also add some other herbs (thyme, lemon thyme etc.) and sliced lemon / lime if you have any lying around. Finally pour some soy sauce (couple of tbsp) over the top and pinch the tin foil to make a bag and then bake in the oven. Serve in the foil on the table with new potatos / rice or maybe a seafood risotto?

This may sound like a lot to of flavours but it really isn't, if you find it too much then just go a bit easier on the ingredients - or shoot bigger fish I suppose!

This would also work for fillets if they are baked in tin foil.

The tip to leave it in the fridge for a day or two is a good one too - helps to improve the flavour.
 
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Hi there,

I love smoked bass... but if you dont have smoker and happen to get one of those big ones, before you put it on your grill, slice with knife through the skin to make long cuts.. this way you get bits of crispy bass with juicy. dont forget the butter on top of the fillet..


my 2c..

Pekka
 
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