How to prepare Sea Bass (or any fish)

david_swinstead

Hi there,

Just got back from a holiday in Turkey where we went for a meal at a restaurant specialising in fresh fish. We had Sea Bass that came out whole, and they took the head and tail off at the table, and took the bones out too.

Well I decided it would be fun to have a go at this at home so I bought a whole Sea Bass from Tesco tonight, for dinner tomorrow, only to realise I haven't got a clue what to do with it. Whoops! I've watched some videos on Youtube but I think they're aimed at people who have at least a vague idea what they're doing - which is not me!

So I have a few questions:

We didn't see them gut the fish but I assume this had already been done in the kitchen, and I guess this is something you should do before cooking rather than after? Is this right?

As far as I know they didn't take the scales off the fish, but I've seen one chef advise that on youtube, whereas others don't mention it. Should I or shouldn't I, and is that something I should do before I cook it, or should it be part of the showmanship at the table?

Are you meant to eat the skin or not, or is this up to you?

Are you meant to cook it with herbs inside it or something like that? Or is this just an optional extra? I'm just looking for the basic instructions of how to prepare and cook it, rather than a special recipe as such, so any steps like this that aren't strictly necessary I might be tempted to skip.

And aside from the preparations, the other obvious question is how do I cook it? Fry? Grill? Oven?

david_swinstead

Or to summarise; can a trained fishmonger give me a few years with of training in a couple of paragraphs please?

iq5203

You need to gut and scale. Skin can be left on, but I don't recommend eating it.

EDesq

Where you buy your fish will "dress" it as you like (fillet, whole...BUT always gut and scaled.)

Go to foodtv.com or allrecipe.com in-put Sea Bass...Look through and then select a recipe you may like...then Follow it.
Hope you enjoy you meal.

david_swinstead

Great, thanks guys. Guess I would've had a pretty nasty Sea Bass if I'd tried to eat it without gutting or scaling it.

What's the best cooking method? Is it as simple as wrap it in foil and put it in the oven? Or should I grill it?

EDesq

The recipe should suggest how to cook it and how long.

jesslaur75

My husband is a chef so I can offer some advice. You should always gut and scale any fish before eating it. Most places will take care of this for you. You can ask Tesco to do this. You can most definitely eat the skin, it's delicious. If you want to cook the whole fish, it's always nice to stuff it with lemon slices and fresh herbs like thyme or parsley or both. Then you might want to wrap it in foil and cook it in the oven on maybe 400 for like 45 or so?

If you want to do things the easy way, which is totally fine you can ask for fillets. I would suggest having the skin left on. Again, the skin is delicious no matter what type of fish you choose. It also looks beautiful in presentation. The key is a hot pan and to not mess with it as soon as you put it in the pan because otherwise you will end shredding it on the pan and destroy the fillet. It will easily move once the side is cooked. You want to cook it in olive oil or veg oil. It's also fantastic in butter, but as you're asking on this site, I assume you're trying to stay away from that sort of thing. I would put salt, pepper and throw in whatever herbs you like. Fish doesn't have a huge amount of flavor, but the best things to cook it with are fresh herbs and citrus fruits, even using orange or grapefruit slices are delicious. Since the flavor is so delicate it's a good idea to use a light hand when seasoning it.

Make sure you don't overcook the fish because then it just tastes dry. It should be just turning opaque. You can cook it until almost done, remove it from the heat and put on a plate for about 5-10 minutes. This is called resting and allows the fish to cook the rest of the way which it will do when you remove it from the heat anyway. If you remove it from the heat just before it's done, you can make sure it doesn't overcook before it gets to your mouth or your guests.

I hope this helps! Whenever you purchase something you're not sure about, talk to the person you're buying it from. They usually love to talk about how to prepare it. Have fun!

melaniecheeks

Take the innards out. Scrape the scales off if you can be bothered, but since you're not going to eat the skin anyway I wouldn't.

Get some nice whole herbs - coriander's lovely with fish, or some flat leaf parsley. Lemon thyme. Push those into the space left in the middle where you took out the guts. Maybe add a wedge of lemon or lime too.

Wrap loosely with foil, adding a splash of white wine to help steam the fish. Place on a tray or dish and bake at about 180 C for 20-30 minutes. Check that the flesh is opaque and flaking off to see if it's done. You can do a flourishy upwrap of the parcel at the table.

Bon appetit!

littttlelaurra

Fish is super easy once you get the hang of cooking it and it depends on your personal taste how to make it, I love to bake fish in the oven and it usually takes less than 15 mins flipping once half way. You can season with most anything I would ask next time for a filet of the sea bass so it is already deboned and if you want they will scale it for you as well, although alot of people cook fish with the skin on.

SEA BASS recipe

olive oil flavored pam spray
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons mince garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground cumind
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1( 14 1/2 ounce) can no salt added diced tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped black olives
1/4 cup chopped green olives
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon coarsley ground pepper
6 (4 ounces) sea bass fillets
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

coat a large non stick skillet with cooking spray, add oil also, place over medium high heat until hot.
add onion and next 4 ingredients, saute 3 minutes until onion is tender. add tomatoes and next 4 ingredients.
bring to a boil cover and reduce heat simmer 15 minutes stirring occasionally.

place fillets in an 11 x 7 inch baking dish, coat with cooking spray , spoon tomato/olives mixture over fillets
cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until fish flakes easily when tested with fork, sprinkle with parsley.

serve with saffron rice and steamed veggies, makes 6 servings.

190 calories per serving
fat 6.2 grams
protien 22.7 grams
carbs 11.1 grams
cholesterol 77 mg
soduim 166 mg

damonmath

Fish is super easy once you get the hang of cooking it and it depends on your personal taste how to make it, I love to bake fish in the oven and it usually takes less than 15 mins flipping once half way. You can season with most anything I would ask next time for a filet of the sea bass so it is already deboned and if you want they will scale it for you as well, although alot of people cook fish with the skin on.

SEA BASS recipe

olive oil flavored pam spray
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons mince garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground cumind
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1( 14 1/2 ounce) can no salt added diced tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped black olives
1/4 cup chopped green olives
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon coarsley ground pepper
6 (4 ounces) sea bass fillets
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

coat a large non stick skillet with cooking spray, add oil also, place over medium high heat until hot.
add onion and next 4 ingredients, saute 3 minutes until onion is tender. add tomatoes and next 4 ingredients.
bring to a boil cover and reduce heat simmer 15 minutes stirring occasionally.

place fillets in an 11 x 7 inch baking dish, coat with cooking spray , spoon tomato/olives mixture over fillets
cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until fish flakes easily when tested with fork, sprinkle with parsley.

serve with saffron rice and steamed veggies, makes 6 servings.

190 calories per serving
fat 6.2 grams
protien 22.7 grams
carbs 11.1 grams
cholesterol 77 mg
soduim 166 mg

Ok you can cook all my fish from now on... Very thorough!

littttlelaurra

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Ok you can cook all my fish from now on... Very thorough!
[/quote]

ok your on lol I love to cook and most my friends/family rather eat at my place then go out to a restaurant, which I supose it a compliment but I never get to go out to eat lol. Only fish I dont like is salmon have not found a recipe that makes it taste good to me just too strong. Halibut is my fave especially grilled and I use steak seasoning on it, omg yummy!

Boho

I might be a little be late on this one but wanted to share my favourite recipe for sea bass. I got it from the bbc good food website, it tastes amazing, looks impressive and is really quick!

6 x sea bass fillets, about 140g/5oz each, skin on and scaled
about 3 tbsp sunflower oil
large knob of ginger , peeled and shredded into matchsticks
3 garlic cloves , thinly sliced
3 fat, fresh red chillies deseeded and thinly shredded
bunch spring onion , shredded long-ways
1 tbsp soy sauce

Season the fish with salt and pepper, then slash the skin 3 times. Heat a heavy-based frying pan and add 1 tbsp oil. Once hot, fry the fish, skin-side down, for 5 mins or until the skin is very crisp and golden. The fish will be almost cooked through. Turn over, cook for another 30 secs-1 min, then transfer to a serving plate and keep warm. You'll need to fry the fish in 2 batches.

Heat the remaining oil, then fry the ginger, garlic and chillies for about 2 mins until golden. Take off the heat and toss in the spring onions. Splash the fish with a little soy sauce and spoon over the contents of the pan

Per serving
202 kcalories, protein 28g, carbohydrate 2g, fat 9 g, saturated fat 1g, fibre 0g, sugar 1g, salt 0.26 g

The recipe serves 6, I make it all the time so it's already logged in the MFP food database as 'sea bass with chilli, Ginger & spring onion'. the topping is really good with salmon too, just steam or bake a fillet, splash with a bit of soy sauce and spoon the topping over, mmmmmm!