Jane Grigson's Fish Book - Jane Grigson [71]
Another way is to grill mullet. Larger ones can be boned and cut into pieces and strung on skewers with bits of fat bacon and bay leaves, for cooking en brochette. Small ones can be grilled whole after being scaled, cleaned and slashed three times on each side. Brush them with oil or clarified butter*, and serve them with a tomato sauce*, or hollandaise and its derivatives*. Or with sauce andalouse*, which may sound a little old-fashioned with its velouté base, but which goes well with mullet of all kinds.
My own feeling is that grey mullet is best cold, since it has a chance to lose any hint of pappiness and firm up. Plainly baked or steamed or poached, it goes well with mayonnaise. And the cold Provençal olive treatment – p. 143 – is a winner.
HOW TO PREPARE MULLET
Scale the mullet carefully. Both roe and liver are worth saving, and many people treasure the extraordinary length of gut compressed into the cavity – over 2 m (6½ ft) for a fish weighing 500 g (1 lb).
BAKED MULLET PARCELS (Lawalu amaama)
To make this Hawaiian dish as it should be, you need leaves from that Scrabbler’s godsend, the ti tree, otherwise known as the tree of kings or the good luck tree. For each little parcel you need one leaf, split into two longways. The first piece is wrapped round the bits of fish in one direction, the second at right angles to it. The whole thing can then be tied up neatly with a bit of raffia.
In our less exotic situation, the long green husks that enclosed a head of sweetcorn may be used, or a homely square of foil. I am sure that something is lost, perhaps the ti leaf has as much to contribute by way of flavour as a vine leaf, but the result is genial all the same.
Serves 4
2 mullet, each weighing at least 500 g (1 lb)
4 rashers of unsmoked streaky bacon
4 bay leaves, split in 2
8 very thin slices of onion
1 small green pepper, seeded
salt, pepper
Slice each fish across into 4 pieces about 5 cm (2 inches) long. Keep the wrapping in mind – if you are using leaves or husks you may need to adjust the size of the slices. Discard the heads and thin tail end, putting them into the freezer stock bag.
Cut a piece of bacon to go on top of each slice, then arrange the bay leaves, onion and a neat strip of green pepper on top (you will not need all the pepper). Season as you go, remembering the saltiness of the bacon. Tie up the parcels.
You can put the parcels into a baking dish with a thin layer of water in the base, and give them about 20 minutes in a hot oven preheated to gas 7–8, 220–230°C (425–450 °F). Or you can steam them for 30 minutes until the contents of the parcels feel firm. It is wise to have an extra trial parcel as a tester, if you are not used to steaming.
BAKED GREY MULLET WITH JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES AND BLACK OLIVES
One of the discoveries of modern cooking – presumably in the wake of the new interest in Mediterranean eating – has been how well fish goes with certain vegetables. I was brought up to think that only a few potatoes were permissible with fish. But then with a northern diet the alternative vegetables, in wintertime at least, would have been cabbage or turnip or swede which were far too strong, watery and unbuttered to do anything but overwhelm the excellent fresh cod and haddock. This particular combination was a happy accident: I have repeated it since with red mullet and various breams. It works with cod, but would be overwhelming with the more delicate white fish.
Serves 4–6
2 large grey mullet, weighing at least 500 g (1 lb) each
salt, pepper
1 kg (2 lb) Jerusalem artichokes
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large tomato, skinned, seeded, chopped
1 bunch spring onions, about 10, sliced
250 ml (8 fl oz) medium-dry white wine, e.g. Vouvray
about 18 small black olives
Clean the mullet and season the cavities. Set aside. Peel and dice the artichokes – this should give you about 750 g (1½ lb), in other words you will lose about