Sea Bass

[BBQ Mikey]

So the other day I went out to eat with some friends, and a friend of mine and myself split a few dishes, the main course was Sea Bass served on spinach. It was pan-seared in the way one would do scallops, and had some type of sweet soy sauce to it, pot sticker or perhaps something more acute.

Anyway, it was delicious, unlike any fish I've ever tasted. To me it was reminiscent of scallops but far more delicate and delicious.

It was an EXPENSIVE dish, over the 25$/plate mark. I want to start making it for myself on special occassion (once every month or two) but I havent seen it in any grocers here (Philadephia Suburbs).

Anyone have any advice on where or when to find/how to prepare, and what a reasonable price is. TIA!

[Marcus]

Spinach you say? If I made that recipe, I would do without it. I like it by itself with butter and salt, almost like Popeye, who has it plain out of a can.

[BBQ Mikey]

yeah me too, it was just something to make it look nice, like the fish was served on top of spinach leaves for presentation mainly. i dunno it was a upper scale chinese place.

[jpmcgrew]

Its hard to find as it is being over fished so there are limits on fishing.The USA is allowed a total of 20% of the total limit so it must be certified legal therefor really expensive.Its real name is a (Catagonian?)Tooth Fish caught in the deep cold waters off of Chili it takes many,many years for these fish to reach maturity.I know there are several varieties of fish that are very similiar just cant think of which ones right now.I love,love ,love sea bass so meaty,mild and delicious.MMMMMM!

[BBQ Mikey]

Originally Posted by jpmcgrew

Its hard to find as it is being over fished so there are limits on fishing.The USA is allowed a total of 20% of the total limit so it must be certified legal therefor really expensive.Its real name is a (Catagonian?)Tooth Fish caught in the deep cold waters off of Chili it takes many,many years for these fish to reach maturity.I know there are several varieties of fish that are very similiar just cant think of which ones right now.I love,love ,love sea bass so meaty,mild and delicious.MMMMMM!

Well thanks for the info pal. I must say it was something else, my friend knows alot about food and suggested we order it because its something "you don't really get a chance to eat very much at all" and I didnt understand why at the time.

[jpmcgrew]

Some places offer sea bass which is not the real Chilean Sea Bass but some other variety.I just had some fresh Halibut at the ranch that was very very close to sea bass.I just rememered its not Catagonian but Patagonian.OOPs?

[keltin]

The odd thing is, there is more than one fish that sports the name of “Sea Bass”.

Pacific Ocean: Giant Sea Bass

Atlantic Ocean: Black Sea Bass

Southern Ocean (Antarctica): Chilean Sea Bass

[jennyema]

Originally Posted by keltin

The odd thing is, there is more than one fish that sports the name of “Sea Bass”.

Atlantic Ocean: Giant Sea Bass

Pacific Ocean: Black Sea Bass

Southern Ocean (Antarctica): Chilean Sea Bass

Yes there are different types of "sea bass."

What you probably had was black sea bass which is pretty common in restaurants and fish markets and fished all along the Atlantic coast (not Pacific -- keltin's link even points to the Commonwealth of MA website).

Look for it in really good fish markets. But recall that most types of fish have particular seasons for harvesting.

"Chilean" sea bass is really a Patagonian Toothfish.

[keltin]

Originally Posted by jennyema

"Chilean" sea bass is really a Patagonian Toothfish.

What a name that is....toothfish. The more you say it, the odder it seems.

I imagined it MUST be an ugly fish........YESSIR it is!

Toothfish.

Scroll down to the bottom of that page that is linked to see the picture. You might want to scroll slowly as the image suddenly popping up on your monitor might be a bit startling!

Hard to believe something so ugly can taste good! A true case of not judging a book by its cover.

Edited to add:
Whoops, I just noticed my original post swapped the locations for the black sea bass and the giant sea bass. It’s fixed now.

[ironchef]

You can prepare and/or substitute sea bass in pretty much any recipe that uses halibut, snapper, or cod.