The Whole Fish, and How to Stop Being Frightened of It

A whole fish is the single most impressive thing you can put on a table and quietly one of the easiest. There is no searing, no resting, no window of doneness measured in seconds. You season it, you put it in the oven, you take it out. The fish does the work.

People are frightened of it for two reasons: the head, and the bones. We will deal with both.

Ingredients

Serves two.

• 1 whole sea bass or dorada, about 600 to 800 g, gutted and scaled. Ask the fishmonger, they will do it in thirty seconds
• 2 unwaxed lemons
• A bunch of flat parsley and a few sprigs of dill
• 2 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 50 g butter, softened
• Olive oil
• 250 g tenderstem broccoli
• Flaky salt, black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200 °C. Pat the fish properly dry, inside and out. Wet skin steams; dry skin behaves.
2. Score the sides. Three or four diagonal cuts through the skin into the thickest part of the flesh, on both sides. This is not decoration. It lets the heat and the seasoning reach the middle so the shoulders are not raw while the tail goes dry.
3. Season everywhere, including inside the cavity, more heavily than feels polite. Whole fish needs it.
4. Slice one lemon thinly. Tuck slices into each score and stuff the cavity with the rest, plus the herbs and the sliced garlic.
5. Lay it in an oiled dish, drizzle with olive oil, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. It is ready when the flesh at the thickest point behind the head comes away from the bone without argument. Give it a gentle prod with a knife tip and look.
6. While it bakes, mash the softened butter with the juice of half the second lemon and a pinch of salt.
7. Cook the tenderstem in a wide pan with a splash of water and a spoonful of olive oil, lid on, for 4 to 5 minutes. It should keep its bite and its colour. Take off the lid, let the water go, and finish with a spoonful of the lemon butter.
8. Rest the fish for three or four minutes. Spoon the remaining lemon butter over so it melts into the scores.

How to serve it without fear

Here is the whole technique. Run a knife along the spine from head to tail, then slide it flat underneath the top fillet and lift it off in one piece. It will come away cleanly. Then take the tail and pull the entire skeleton up and away. It lifts out as a single unit, which is deeply satisfying and makes you look like you know exactly what you are doing.

Two fillets, on two plates, no bones. That is the trick. It is not a skill, it is a sequence.

Notes

Buy the fish with the head on. It looks after the flesh while it cooks and the cheek is the best bite on the fish. If the head genuinely upsets someone at the table, turn the plate so it faces away from them and say nothing.

Do not overbake it. The difference between perfect and disappointing is about four minutes. If you are unsure, look sooner rather than later. It will carry on cooking for a minute out of the oven.

Lemon in the cuts, not only in the cavity. Cavity lemon perfumes. Lemon sitting directly against the flesh actually seasons it.

Cook the broccoli separately. It is tempting to throw it in the dish alongside. Do not. It ends up limp and grey in the fish juices, and the whole point of tenderstem is that it snaps.

A whole fish costs less than two fillets, feeds two people properly, and makes a Tuesday look like a decision. It is the most underused thing at the counter.