Caught 3 large mullet (4lb++ - possibly much more) on holiday, so was under some pressure to come up with recipes to make it distinctly different each day. The second recipe, below , soy mullet was the favourite - described by one family member as "the best food, ever" - high praise indeed.
1. "Traditional" baked fish
We cooked the smallest mullet (a healthy 4lb-ish) in our normal way - gutted (& beheaded to fit the oven) but otherwise whole in the oven. Slashed side with lots of crushed fennel seeds & garlic, plus lemon, lime & olive oil rubbed in. Yum.
2. Soy mullet.
Second mullet (4++lb) was inspired by a successful bass angler I met on holiday who suggested soaking the fish in soy sauce & cooking it with spring onions. I filleted the fish then cut the fillets into strips - I would have left it at that but a family member requested fish cubes, so I cut the strips up (be careful - if you cut fish small & over-cook it, it can crumble). The recipe was to soak the fillets in the following mix (as best I can recall it) for about 15 mins - you don't need to follow this exactly, it's just an illustration:
soy sauce,
sliced, spring onions,
ground ginger (usually great with fish).
mace (this is amazingly aromatic stuff - quite a pleasant surprise),
fresh parsley,
white wine vinegar,
a splash of pear cider,
olive oil (not much - the taste can distract in this case - sesame/peanut/sunflower oil might be better),
sea salt,
black pepper,
garlic (just one clove this time though),
lemon & lime - squeezed in and the peels included in the mix
We had a wok, so stir fried vegetables (long slices of carrots, red pepper, green pepper, onion, savoy cabbage & courgettes/zucchini) first. Once veggies are cooked, added a simple sauce of: soy sauce, spoonful of mango chutney & vegetable oil to the wok. Boiled some wholewheat pasta (noodles, or perhaps rice, would have been more appropriate). Then moved the veg to the oven while the fish was moved to the wok & cooked quickly on one side, moving first cooked pieces to edge, turned once & cooked quickly on the other side - being careful not to overcook it. Serve with pear cider. Surprisingly yummy
3. Breaded mullet.
Soaked Mullet fillets in mixture of egg, mace, ginger, salt & pepper and then dipped it in wholemeal breadcrumbs & parsley mix. This didn't work so great - so any tips on breadcrumbing fish would be welcome. We ended up piling the season breadcrumbs on top of the fillets, which were fried and then the top finished under the grill. Tasty but in need of improvement.
Tips:
Fortunately we took a few tools on vacation with us:
1. A good filleting knife (30 year old Rapala knife)
2. A descaling tool (those things really work, better than the back of a knife).
3. My bushcraft knife - which acted as an effective chef's knife.
1. "Traditional" baked fish
We cooked the smallest mullet (a healthy 4lb-ish) in our normal way - gutted (& beheaded to fit the oven) but otherwise whole in the oven. Slashed side with lots of crushed fennel seeds & garlic, plus lemon, lime & olive oil rubbed in. Yum.
2. Soy mullet.
Second mullet (4++lb) was inspired by a successful bass angler I met on holiday who suggested soaking the fish in soy sauce & cooking it with spring onions. I filleted the fish then cut the fillets into strips - I would have left it at that but a family member requested fish cubes, so I cut the strips up (be careful - if you cut fish small & over-cook it, it can crumble). The recipe was to soak the fillets in the following mix (as best I can recall it) for about 15 mins - you don't need to follow this exactly, it's just an illustration:
soy sauce,
sliced, spring onions,
ground ginger (usually great with fish).
mace (this is amazingly aromatic stuff - quite a pleasant surprise),
fresh parsley,
white wine vinegar,
a splash of pear cider,
olive oil (not much - the taste can distract in this case - sesame/peanut/sunflower oil might be better),
sea salt,
black pepper,
garlic (just one clove this time though),
lemon & lime - squeezed in and the peels included in the mix
We had a wok, so stir fried vegetables (long slices of carrots, red pepper, green pepper, onion, savoy cabbage & courgettes/zucchini) first. Once veggies are cooked, added a simple sauce of: soy sauce, spoonful of mango chutney & vegetable oil to the wok. Boiled some wholewheat pasta (noodles, or perhaps rice, would have been more appropriate). Then moved the veg to the oven while the fish was moved to the wok & cooked quickly on one side, moving first cooked pieces to edge, turned once & cooked quickly on the other side - being careful not to overcook it. Serve with pear cider. Surprisingly yummy
3. Breaded mullet.
Soaked Mullet fillets in mixture of egg, mace, ginger, salt & pepper and then dipped it in wholemeal breadcrumbs & parsley mix. This didn't work so great - so any tips on breadcrumbing fish would be welcome. We ended up piling the season breadcrumbs on top of the fillets, which were fried and then the top finished under the grill. Tasty but in need of improvement.
Tips:
Fortunately we took a few tools on vacation with us:
1. A good filleting knife (30 year old Rapala knife)
2. A descaling tool (those things really work, better than the back of a knife).
3. My bushcraft knife - which acted as an effective chef's knife.
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