A posting from my good friend, semi-pro fisherman and architect Jonathan Coote, on location in the Marlborough Sounds, Aotearoa:
‘Caught a HUGE 21lb snapper in the sounds on the last day of last year… NY eve! Was a real gift- really felt like I’d been given something special from the universe… fifteen minutes to reel in… took the best part of forty minutes to clean and fillet it and I managed to then take the better part of four hours to make a huge broth as id taken up the biggest Le creuset pot, kombu, white miso, smoked sea salt, fresh bay leaves and shitakes… We pan fried some small chunks and added three or so each to each small bowl – fed 11 people and still had the fillets left over (fried with butter the morning after) which was consumed eagerly… damn delicious!’
(Full instructions, including filleting tips, to follow below…)
1. Scale the fish with the back of a very good sharp flexible filleting blade. Make sure you pay particular attention to the head, fin and spine area – if you are going to make a broth you need a very clean fish.
2. Insert the knife into the rear-end… work your way up into the head area gently and take your time up near the gill area – if you can manage to take the cut all the way up to the head through the breastplate then it will be easier to take the gills out.
3. Pull all the intestinal, liver and innards out. You will have to cut the upper part of the intestine as it joins in at the head end… flush out with sea water or salty water if you’re not seaside..
4. At the top of the head (where head adjoins body) run the knife around tracing the gill shape just in behind the gills. Don’t cut the head off – you’ll need this to hold onto when taking on later steps… cut down to the spinal cord.
5. Holding the head run the knife away from you down the spinal cord gently (take your time you want all of the fillet). It can get a little tough around the abdominal flaps so leave that until last and take the upper fillet off all the way down to the tail. Come back and carefully prise the fillet away from the abdomen area… this takes some patience. When you’re cutting the fillet off the spine you need to bend the filleting knife to let it blade through the flesh (always cut away from the body).
6. Flip over and repeat.
You are then left with a head and a spinal column and all the ‘fins.’ Break up the spine into chunks that will fit into your Le Creuset pot. Fins, the flanks adjacent to the abdominal cavity and all remaining bones are used. The only waste in catching a fish this big should be the bones after reduction. Combine shittake/kombu and sea salt into the pot to make your dashi kombu. Soak for ten to twenty then add some bay leaves and simmer for 1.5hrs stirring continually. Remove the big bones and scrape them clean into the pot prior to removal. Attend your pot carefully you don’t want it to boil. Simmer gently. Stir gently and continue to remove the bones as they come clean. I like to break up the spine bones individually to ensure their goodness is released into the broth. Strain off the liquid when you feel its complete (obviously your tasting and seasoning with Sea Salt all the way along) You can gather up to a pound of meat from the head. The cheeks are the sweetest part so make sure you keep those in there! (I like to pick those off as ‘cooks tax’ early in the simmering process) Add white miso and bring back up to heat. Cut some small chunks of fillet off and season with salt. Brown in olive oil (or butter if you come from NZ) add them into the broth to cook through. Serve up in small bowls with freshly cut spring onions and a few ‘chunks’ of the sweet fillets.
(Enjoy the sun setting on 2010!)
