The market · Fish and seafood · Southern Europe

Sea bass

Lean, white and sweet-fleshed — branzino in Italy, lubina in Spain — and often cooked whole.

sweet · delicate

What to do with it

Classics built on it
MoroccanFish tagine with charmoulaFish marinated in charmoula, laid over potatoes, tomatoes and peppers with preserved lemon and olives, and cooked slowly in the tagine.No one here has made it yetBrazilianMoqueca baianaFish, or prawns, stewed in coconut milk and dendê palm oil with tomato, peppers, onion, lime and coriander.No one here has made it yet

Kinds

Farmed
Consistent, usually 400–600g; whole or as fillets.
Wild, line-caught
Bigger, firmer and far dearer.

Goes with

lemonfennelolive oilsalt

Knowing it

Where to buy
Fishmongers.
Worth knowing
Score the skin, dry it well, and press fillets skin-down in a hot pan for the first 30 seconds so they don't curl.

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