What’s the best way to cook fresh caught striped bass?
A friend of mine had a big catch of striped bass and gave me a huge piece…it’s over an inch thick and prob more than a foot long. What seasonings should I use? Can it be cooked on a BBQ grill or should it be broiled or baked in an oven? How long will it take and at what temp should it be cooked? Also how will I know when it’s done? I’m clueless about cooking this type of fish. I don’t want to waste it. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!


….Tips….
When you get your fresh fillets home, you need to rinse them with fresh cool water and bag them into whatever sized portions you choose.
One of the best ways that we have found to freeze striper fillets is to put them into zip-lock freezer bags or plastic containers, cover them with water, and add a few drops of lemon juice for freshness. When this freezes, the ice will protect the fillets against freezer-burn for up to several months.
Before cooking your striper fillets, be sure to remove most of the “red meat”, (the red stripe down the center of each fillet). This is easily done using a large sharp knife and making a long angled slice down the length of the fillet. Fillets that have been well chilled or frozen and thawed are the easiest to work with. Usually this will split the fillet down the middle into nice sized serving pieces.
Striper is tasty prepared in just about any way you want. Baked, fried, broiled, grilled (ask your guide to leave the skin on one side of the fillet to make this easier), it’s all good! Our favorite recipe is cerviche.
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….Fried Striper….
Season moist fillets to taste and place in a zip-lock bag with cornmeal. Zip up and shake to coat. Fry in hot oil until golden brown & fish is white and flaky inside.
One variation we really like is to season the fillets, then coat them in a bowl with mustard (usually yellow, but Dijon is good too), add a couple of drops of Louisiana hot sauce, then coat and fry as described above.
You may want to add a little extra salt when seasoning, as frying seems to remove some of it.
We use peanut oil for frying fish. It holds up well and is reusable. Just try to keep it from overheating (when it smokes), and you can clean it by frying French fries last, then strain it when cool to remove the cornmeal and crumbs, put it back in original container and keep in freezer until next time.
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….Baked Striper….
Season fillets with your favorite herbs, spices, etc. Place in lightly oiled shallow pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes until it flakes easily and is opaque in the center. Serve with tartar sauce or red cocktail sauce.
OR
Season fillets to taste, coat with Progresso Italian flavored bread-crumbs and bake until golden brown.
OR
Dip fillets in BBQ sauce and roll in crushed potato chips and bake until done.
OR
Season fillets with garlic, cilantro, and a dash of cumin. Add some of your favorite picante sauce or salsa during baking.
OR CREATE YOUR OWN RECIPE!!
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….Blackened Striper….
Heat up your favorite cast-iron skillet and season your fillets. We like cajun seasoning or Cavender’s Greek seasoning, or lemon pepper, but use what you like. Melt a couple tbsp butter (optional) in skillet and add enough cooking oil to cover bottom of the pan. When the skillet begins to smoke a little, add the fillets and pester them while they sizzle so they won’t stick. As they reach whatever degree of blackness or brownness you like, flip ‘em over and do the same on the other side. Some folks like to add picante sauce to the final stages of this for something different.
Be Warned!! This will probably smoke up your kitchen something awful! Do it outside if possible. Or you can opt for lower heat and add some garlic, or Italian salad dressing for another flavor altogether.
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….Cerviche….
Cut fillets into cubes (1/4 to 1/2 inch). Place in deep bowl and cover completely with fresh squeezed lime juice. Add diced onion, bell pepper, hot peppers if desired, garlic (coarse powdered or fresh), chopped fresh cilantro, and whatever other seasoning you like. Cover and let stand in refrigerator several hours or until fish is tender and white. Add diced tomatoes and avocado (optional). Add Italian dressing to cover other ingredients. Can be enjoyed immediately with your favorite crackers or tortilla chips or left to sit a little longer for even more flavor. Verrrrrrrrry nice!!!!
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….Fruit Salsa….
from customer Michael Moss of Fredericksburg
1 ripe mango, diced (or substitute canned peaches or pineapple)
1-1/2 cup picante sauce
1/3 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 cup green onion, finely chopped
fresh garlic if desired
This is excellent with grilled striper!!
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….Easy Sauces….
-Red Sauce-
Start out with a small bowl of ketchup. Add worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and prepared horseradish (comes in a jar) to suit your taste. You can make it as tangy or mild as you like. Just add a little and taste, add a little and taste, til you get it just right.
-Tartar Sauce-
Start out with a small bowl of mayonnaise. Add finely chopped onion, dill relish, and a dash of lemon juice. For a sweeter sauce, use Miracle Whip instead of mayonnaise and sweet relish instead of dill.
Invite me over and let me cook it for you. I’ll bring the wine.
First, put it on a foil. You don’t want to be scraping bits off a pan or a grill. Hopefully your pal left the skin on one side. What that will do it say on the cooking surface and you’ll just spatula off the meat. Second, squeeze a lemon over it (pick out the seeds)and then you can spray it with spray butter or put a couple pats of real butter on top. Sprinkle with some pepper and …mmmmmgood.
Or you can batter that baby up in some breadcrumbs and flour (add salt and pepper) and fry it up in some Extra Extra Virgin olive oil. damn good.
Do not BBQ unless you have a grilling cage made for fish.
Don’t get over ed-U-cated about this.. Make up a beer batter… Slop the fish around in it for a min… Slap it on a hot grill for 2 min a side…
Messy but YUMMY !!
************** Beer batter same as pancake batter except you use beer insted of water..
1. Pan-frying
Make some diagonal incisions at regular intervals on the skin side and pan fry the skin side over medium heat for 5 – 6 minutes and turn over to the skin side and pan-fry it for 1 – 2 minutes.
2. Baking
Bake the fish in foil or parchment for 17 – 30 minutes. Add some wine or vegetables so you can serve those alongside it…
3. Grilling
Heat a grill and grill – how long depends on which power setting you’re using
Accompaniments
Vegetable salsas – A Mediterranean vegetable salsa is a great accompaniment to sea bass. Try this recipe from Starchefs: http://www.starchefs.com/features/cookbooks/latelier/html/bass.shtml
I recommend using the whole recipe though, its from Alain Ducasse’s recipe book and works wonderfully.
Well this is only an idea but if you use the bbq use non stick foil and scale side down. I would actually wrap it all up tight. You can put lots of butter, a dash of salt, and onions. WHen it’s done squeeze some lime or lemon on it…I really pefer lime.
Same if you cook it in the oven. I usually cook trout this way. My kids love it. There are some fabulous spices now too. Lemon pepper is great. You don’t even need the lime/lemon if you want to use that, but I like just a tiny spec of lime regardless! LOL
Biggest tip, do not overcook fish…it really doesn’t need more than about 20 minutes after everything has been preheated, never cook on high heat…just medium low or 325 in the oven.
Stuff whole, open and slit bass with lots of chopped parsley, garlic and a little fresh tarragon, salt & pepper. Add sliced lemon to stuffing if you like.
Score skin of bass both sides.
Rub in salt, pepper and a little cayenne.
Place in aluminum foil, drizzle good olive oil and wrap tight.
Either place on BBQ grill and cook 8 minutes each side, or bake 20 minutes in very hot oven.