Striped Bass recipes from Ken Milam

Recipes

Tips

Fried Striper

Baked Striper

Blackened Striper

Cerviche

Fruit Salsa

Easy Sauces

....Tips....

When you get your fresh fillets home, you need to rinse them with fresh cool water and bag them into whatever sized portions you choose.
One of the best ways that we have found to freeze striper fillets is to put them into zip-lock freezer bags or plastic containers, cover them with water, and add a few drops of lemon juice for freshness. When this freezes, the ice will protect the fillets against freezer-burn for up to several months.
Before cooking your striper fillets, be sure to remove most of the "red meat", (the red stripe down the center of each fillet). This is easily done using a large sharp knife and making a long angled slice down the length of the fillet. Fillets that have been well chilled or frozen and thawed are the easiest to work with. Usually this will split the fillet down the middle into nice sized serving pieces.
Striper is tasty prepared in just about any way you want. Baked, fried, broiled, grilled (ask your guide to leave the skin on one side of the fillet to make this easier), it's all good! Our favorite recipe is cerviche.

....Fried Striper....

Season moist fillets to taste and place in a zip-lock bag with cornmeal. Zip up and shake to coat. Fry in hot oil until golden brown & fish is white and flaky inside.

One variation we really like is to season the fillets, then coat them in a bowl with mustard (usually yellow, but Dijon is good too), add a couple of drops of Louisiana hot sauce, then coat and fry as described above.

You may want to add a little extra salt when seasoning, as frying seems to remove some of it.
We use peanut oil for frying fish. It holds up well and is reusable. Just try to keep it from overheating (when it smokes), and you can clean it by frying French fries last, then strain it when cool to remove the cornmeal and crumbs, put it back in original container and keep in freezer until next time.

....Baked Striper....

Season fillets with your favorite herbs, spices, etc. Place in lightly oiled shallow pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes until it flakes easily and is opaque in the center. Serve with tartar sauce or red cocktail sauce.

Season fillets to taste, coat with Progresso Italian flavored bread-crumbs and bake until golden brown.

Dip fillets in BBQ sauce and roll in crushed potato chips and bake until done.

Season fillets with garlic, cilantro, and a dash of cumin. Add some of your favorite picante sauce or salsa during baking.

OR CREATE YOUR OWN RECIPE!!

....Blackened Striper....

Heat up your favorite cast-iron skillet and season your fillets. We like cajun seasoning or Cavender's Greek seasoning, or lemon pepper, but use what you like. Melt a couple tbsp butter (optional) in skillet and add enough cooking oil to cover bottom of the pan. When the skillet begins to smoke a little, add the fillets and pester them while they sizzle so they won't stick. As they reach whatever degree of blackness or brownness you like, flip 'em over and do the same on the other side. Some folks like to add picante sauce to the final stages of this for something different.

Be Warned!! This will probably smoke up your kitchen something awful! Do it outside if possible. Or you can opt for lower heat and add some garlic, or Italian salad dressing for another flavor altogether.

....Cerviche....

Cut fillets into cubes (1/4 to 1/2 inch). Place in deep bowl and cover completely with fresh squeezed lime juice. Add diced onion, bell pepper, hot peppers if desired, garlic (coarse powdered or fresh), chopped fresh cilantro, and whatever other seasoning you like. Cover and let stand in refrigerator several hours or until fish is tender and white. Add diced tomatoes and avocado (optional). Add Italian dressing to cover other ingredients. Can be enjoyed immediately with your favorite crackers or tortilla chips or left to sit a little longer for even more flavor. Verrrrrrrrry nice!!!!

....Fruit Salsa....
from customer Michael Moss of Fredericksburg

1 ripe mango, diced (or substitute canned peaches or pineapple)
1-1/2 cup picante sauce
1/3 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 cup green onion, finely chopped
fresh garlic if desired

This is excellent with grilled striper!!

....Easy Sauces....

-Red Sauce-

Start out with a small bowl of ketchup. Add worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and prepared horseradish (comes in a jar) to suit your taste. You can make it as tangy or mild as you like. Just add a little and taste, add a little and taste, til you get it just right.

-Tartar Sauce-

Start out with a small bowl of mayonnaise. Add finely chopped onion, dill relish, and a dash of lemon juice. For a sweeter sauce, use Miracle Whip instead of mayonnaise and sweet relish instead of dill.