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Preparation In his classic North Atlantic Seafood, Alan Davidson wrote that red mullet grow to 40cm in length and weigh over a kilo. These aren’t the fish that come on the market. The ones landed in southern British water tend to be 20cm to 25cm long and rarely tip the scales at 600g. As well as bright eyes and gills – freshness indicators for most fish – red mullet’s skin, which is bright red, is also a useful guide. It fades to a salmon pink within days. The red mullet McHale used here was landed by a Cornish day boat at 2pm. He prepared it at 10am the following morning. He prefers using a Japanese deba knife with
a 15cm blade for prepping and filleting. Stage one
Lay the fish on a clean tray to prevent any risk of bacterial cross-contamination. It will
16 | Best of Chef | March 2016
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reduce the risk of spoilage and lengthen the freshness of the fish (1).
Scale the fish from the tail to the head.
With very fresh red mullet this is done by hand, as it can be less rough on the flesh than using a brass fish scaler (2). Remove the guts using the knife tip. It’s important not to damage the liver, which is edible. Cut from the anus to the head. Open up the fish and pull out the innards by hand. Reserve the liver and discard the rest of the innards (3).
The blood line runs along the spine. Use a small bundle of cocktail sticks or similar to scrape it away, then wash the fish under run- ning water and dry it (4). Note that if the mullet won’t be served that
day, pad the belly cavity with an absorbent material and wrap up the fish in a thin, c-fold towel that’s damp but squeezed dry (5).
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Stage two To remove the head, make a cut on the slant behind the pectoral fin to the backbone. Turn the fish over and repeat on the second side. Cut through the backbone (6). Many chefs will discard the head and shoulders, or at best use them for stocks. At the Clove Club both have roles on the daily menu.
Split through the middle of the head and
shoulders so that they are in two halves. Sepa- rate the head from the collar, the curved bone with the pectoral fin still attached (7). Discard the gills. Remove the eyes and insides from the two pieces of head, then make a fish broth from the head. For a snack, marinate the collars in grated mandarin zest and juice, garlic and soy for 24 hours. Dip in flour and deep-fry. Serve with a slice of mandarin and a finger bowl.
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