Bass Shelley Rudman, with garlic & ginger butter

[Mr. X]

Nice simple recipe for bass. Inspired by a fancier recipe in Floyd on Fish.

Ingredients:

Bass (sea ...or large mouth)
Garlic
Butter
Fresh ginger (or powder)
Fresh, whole herbs (e.g. parsley/cillantro, bay leaf - we also used rosemary but might better not to.)
Lemon

Making the butter

Chop & press garlic to taste -- we used a lot, about 2/3 of a head.
Peel a thumb size piece of ginger & finely grate (or use powdered ginger).
Mix with butter to produce (we ended up using about a small about twice the volume of a golf ball). Squeeze a section of lemon into the butter & grate the zest in too.

Fish Prep.

Gut & de-scale the bass, leaving the head on. Remove gill rakers.

Slash each side of the fish 5 or 6 times.

Rub the garlic butter inside the body cavity & used whole, raw leaf herbs to hold it in (careful, their flavour really gets into the meat - & it can overpower the garlic & ginger). Rub most of the butter into the slashes on the sides of the fish.

Cooking
Grill for about 15min either size, depending on size of fish. I was aiming to get the fish really bubbling like BBQ'd sardines -- but didn't quite achieve it. I rubbed a little sunflower oil on the skin & squeezed a little more lemon on -- probably unnecessary tho'. That's it.

[We had melon & grapes with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Yum]

Shelley Rudman was Britain's only medal-winner at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

[Oldsarge]

Just the next block over from my school is a Chinese market where they keep bass alive in tanks. Can't get fresher fish by catching it. Looks like I'll have to give this one a try!

[Mr. X]

That's probably true - this one was in the freezer for a week (although we had the other one baked "fresh" last week, after a night in the fridge). BBQ on the beach has got to be the best way to eat sea food - straight out of the sea. I'm usually a little tired (& not infrequently feeling a little sea sick) after spearing & others usually ready for home by the time I'm done though!

There was a good article in Field magazine this summer on gathering food from the beach (crab, lobster, prawns, shell fish) - they used a long, broom-handled crab hook & long oval net. I would love to combine something like that with a day's spearfishing/kayak trolling/plugging & a beach fire BBQ. I think a team effort might be called for though!

[Marwan]

yummmmm, that looks delicious x, all it needs is a side of shrimp and calmari (both grilled)

[spaghetti]

Fine input, Mr. X (or iMput?: can't spell it!).
Prepared butter with flavours is a good old tradition that's going lost (I also love butter à la maitre d'hotel): I'll try to revive it with your recipe. Bass season is still on here and I've always caught heaps of them in october/early november in the past years (but this year only two: WTF?). What I need is to spear a third one and to buy some ginger somewhere.

[deep thinker]

hmmmm Suddenly I feel like a fish braai. yum...
How would you describe bass meat, not getting them here Im wondering on what local fish this recipe mite work?

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by spaghetti

Fine input, Mr. X (or iMput?: can't spell it!).
... WTF?). ...

You spelt it fine Spaghetti: input. WTF that's a new one on me but not hard to guess! Ginger is a great ingredient. I am told it is an anti-inflammatory -- although not effective on sore muscles in my experience! I used it many years ago on Red Snapper & it tasted fantastic but I was never able to make it taste as good in subsequent attempts (that was in the UK, somebody told me in the US there are more than 30 species of fish are referred to as Red Snapper! They have a lot of different Bass too).

Originally Posted by deep thinker

hmmmm Suddenly I feel like a fish braai. yum...
How would you describe bass meat, not getting them here Im wondering on what local fish this recipe mite work?

Braai -- the only SA word I know - BBQ! Bass has white meat. I usually describe it as medium firm although our last two fish were a little softer than I remembered (we baked the first & that was really soft & moist). Flavour is moderate too, no strong like mackeral & not washed out like pollock. It is a handsome looking fish with shiney, silver grey sides & small spikey fins on the back. If I could find my Len Jones booklet I would try to find a picture of something similar. It is probably the premium saltwater eating fish in the UK - just right in all departments! I enjoy most seafood though and would be as happy to eat nice fresh mackeral or sole.

Having seen pictures of some of the SA fish on the forum & in Len Jones' book, I am sure you'll have no trouble finding something!

[For the record, the fish above was 53cm...maybe 3lb?...& fed 4 adults & a child -- although I think we would all have happily eaten a little more! The head & bones have since been used to make fish broth/stock ...so it must have tasted OK!].

[island_sands]

Ginger is also great for combating nausea at sea.

Sounds like a great recipe Mr. X. I haven't cooked in a while.. but my parents arrive on Thursday and the culinary skills will have to come again

Will definitely try this one

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by island_sands

Ginger is also great for combating nausea at sea.

I do suffer in that area. Maybe I should try some with my Weetabix before spearing!

[island_sands]

Weetabix!? ugh that's even worse... reminds of school days

[deep thinker]

Ive tried ginger against the nausea issue, they say it works best if you chew a piece of it raw, other than the fact that it tastes awfull like that I cant really say it worked for me, infact it makes me feel more quesy . Best thing I found thus far was a night out of heavy tequila drinking the night before and a cheese burger and a coke before the dive . I got to a full 10 or 11 dives down to below 10m instead of my normal 3 or 4 after that.

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by deep thinker

... Best thing I found thus far was a night out of heavy tequila drinking the night before and a cheese burger and a coke before the dive . I got to a full 10 or 11 dives down to below 10m instead of my normal 3 or 4 after that.

A regular night then!?

I knew a college athlete whose coach made him eat healthy & then watched as his performance fell. So they went back to his regular diet - coke, burger & fries and all was well. There is probably something to be said for sticking with something you are used to, as long as you like it (Island_Sands, I won't suggest you try new Oatabix then, it's not quite as pleasant as Weetabix!).

[deep thinker]

Originally Posted by Mr. X

A regular night then!?

Not quite, normally its off to bed early before a dive, this one came kinda unexpected. But worked better than the other option so from now on it will be a regular night before a dive
A mate of mine said something that rang kinda true last night Carbs the night before a dive doesnt work for him, cause it burns off quicker than protien, seein that when we go out to sea it becomes a 5 hour session with a hour trip out and one in as well. So he eats a big fat steak the evening before a dive and it lasts him longer...

[island_sands]

mmmm cant wait to go to SA, for a big steak...... mmmm

[deep thinker]

Originally Posted by Mr. X

Braai -- the only SA word I know - BBQ!

Well then let me teach you a few more...
Biltong - Spiced and dried meat, Droewors - Spiced and dried sausage, and last but not least, Brannewyn & Coke - Brandy & coke. The only words youll ever need, youll never go hungry or thirsty and if you ever get invited to a braai be sure to bring all of the above