Simple Food: Sea Bass, How to Prepare For Pan Frying

Sea Bass, How to Prepare For Pan Frying

Today I’m going to show you how to;

De-scale, clean and fillet a whole sea bass ready for pan frying.

De-scaling

Grip the tail and using the blade of a blunt knife, scrape from the tail towards the head in the opposite direction to which the scales lie.

It’s a good idea to do this under running water

Removing the fins

Using a pair of kitchen scissors cut away the dorsal, pelvic and tail fins.

Cleaning

Using a small sharp knife cut open the belly from the head to the tail and pull out the guts, cut out any remaining guts in the cavity then wash out with plenty of cold water.

Now cut off the head just below the gills, and the tail about an inch toward the head.

Open out the body and grab the back bone at the tail and gently pull it out.

Pull out any bones that are left with a pair of pliers, do this gently in the direction of the bone so as not to pull out too much flesh with it.
Trim away any bits of fin that are left where you have cut them off.

Now you have two beautiful fillets ready for pan frying.

Rub a little olive oil into the skins and gently massage a little sea salt on top, then some freshly ground black pepper

Heat a little olive oil in a pan (just enough to cover the bottom of the pan) on a medium to high heat, and plaice the fillets in the pan skin side down.