Wild Grey Mullet

[Pam Brunning]

I have just bought a lovely wild grey mullet - 1.25 Kg anyone have any good ideas of the best way to cook it?

[Peter the eater]

What a coincidence, Wild Grey Mullet is my current haircut of choice. Sorry. I've never cooked a grey mullet myself but I've had it baked whole at an Italian restaurant -- stuffed with herbs, olive oil and sea salt on top. Very nice.

[Prawncrackers]

I've only ever steamed it whole with slices of lemon. It's been a couple of years since I've had it but I remember it's such a delicious flavour I don't think you need to do much to it. The really fat mullet have a yellow fat under the skin that leeches out a little during cooking. I think if you follow Peter's suggestion but add some sliced par-cooked potatoes under the fish, it will soak up all that juicy yellow oil and taste amazing. In fact, I'm going to be on the lookout for grey mullet myself.

[helenjp]

Gosh, I didn't think it came any other way but wild!

I agree, it bakes very well, and curries nicely too, but I like it smoked even better.

[Pam Brunning]

Yes they are farmed - just try googleing it. I like the idea of smoking a fillet, I think I will tea smoke it like I do salmon. Thanks.

Edited March 25, 2010 by Pam Brunning (log)

[scubadoo97]

Gray mullet are pretty common in our Gulf Coast waters. Not as thick as they use to be but there are still plenty around. The most common way we see them is smoked. The fish is very oily and they are terrific smoked. The smoked row is also very good. Here is typical sight which reflects my memory of smoked mullet in days gone by in old Florida

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.coastconnectionfl.com/images/smoked_mullet2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.coastconnectionfl.com/Gulf_Seafood_s_Menu.php&usg=__xCyzxTAvpOkG4lrElmDtWOIEitc=&h=341&w=605&sz=61&hl=en&start=19&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=FZOCgxuaBvKLeM:&tbnh=76&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsmoked%2Bmullet%26start%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4GGLD_enUS309US309%26ndsp%3D18%26tbs%3Disch:1

[Pam Brunning]

Thank you to all for your help. Here we are, first I filleted the top third and tea smoked it on my wok for 14 minutes from cold. It was very good, good texture and subtle flavour.

Last night I put the rest of the fish in foil on a bed of samphire with a little lemon grass, red chilli and seasoning - not too much salt because the samphire is salty. I poured over some dry vermouth, sealed it and baked for ½ hour until the point of my knife came out of the centre of the fish just warm.

Filleted it and served with a hollandaise sauce thinned with the reduced vermouth juice. The fish had a firm flesh, slightly sweet flavour, which was added to by the vermouth and the samphire had stewed in the fish juice. The only down side was that the vermouth had spoilt the bright green colour of the samphire but it was all yummy!

Edited March 27, 2010 by Pam Brunning (log)

[Blether]

That looks and sounds tremendous, Pam. Can you please describe a bit more about tea-smoking in your wok ?

[scubadoo97]

Pam, your presentations look wonderful. your use of samphire looks so right with the fish. Looks like sea greens

[Pam Brunning]

Thanks all. To tea smoke I put a double layer of foil, scrunched up a bit, in the bottom of the wok then spread over about 60g of Assam tea mixed with 2 tbs. dark brown sugar and put a rack on top - not touching the tea but low enough to get a lid on. Put your fillets on the rack, cover and put on a high heat. I reckon it takes 10 minutes to get to temperature, I then give it about 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets. Switch off the heat and leave for 5 minutes without taking the lid off to finish smoking. Sea trout fillets are lovely done this way and I have done duck breast but they take a lot longer of course. The wok I keep for this job, is quite thick cast aluminium, times will vary with the thickness of the wok. I used a tin one once and it didn’t work very well.

Even with the extractor on the whole house pongs of smoke, but it’s not a bad smell and it is worth it!

I love samphire but it has to be young shoots as it gets very woody when older.

[Blether]

That's great. Thank-you. Over here I've been warily eyeing an Indian recipe that involves ground lamb in a pot, a well in the centre, a load of onion skins and a piece of burning charcoal and a lid. I'm waiting for one of my pieces of cookware to volunteer.

Edited March 28, 2010 by Blether (log)