For every seafood dish, the freshest ingredients make all the difference in making it a fantastic meal you will remember forever. The best way to ensure that you get the freshest fish possible remains grabbing your fishing rod, finding the perfect fishing spot, and casting your line. As the fish start biting, you can be like Chef Mario and catch yourself the freshest striped bass the Atlantic Ocean has to offer! In this video, Chef Mario goes through catching, cleaning, skinning, and preparing your fresh striped bass for its transformation into a delicious meal!

After the Catch

After catching your striped bass, the next step revolves around filleting, skinning, and deboning your fish. Breaking down your fresh fish can be an involved process. However, the result becomes something you can be proud of — plus you get the freshest fish possible. Chef Mario recommends having a sharp knife for this process, as a dull blade can lead to choppier and uneven cuts that butcher the fish more than you intended. You want to ensure that the fillets you harvest from your catch are full and intact.

Once you have the fillets cut and separated, you can begin to remove the skin from your striped bass. Starting at the tail of your fillet, make an incision with your knife. Then start to run the blade along the skin’s length underneath the meat with the knife angled downward. From here, you can make deliberate knife cuts to finish removing the skin from the meat. Now you may begin to trim some of the excess red fatty bits off of your fillets for a clean and leaner looking fish. You can also take a pair of tweezers to remove the bones from the fillets. 

The Pre-Cook Dredge 

Chef Mario cooks his fresh striped bass with the cornstarch and panko bread crumb dredge that provides a nice crunch and texture. Evenly coat your striped bass fillets and set them aside as you get your vegetables ready for cooking. Cut, prep, and cook your vegetables of choice before you fry your fish. The vegetables will take longer than the fish to cook, and you want to have everything ready and hot at the same time for the most pleasant eating experience. 

Bring It All Together

Frying the striped bass in the pan won’t take too long to cook to perfection. The combination of the ideal pan-fried striped bass and your fresh vegetables results in an excellent meal from the freshest ingredients you can have at your disposal. 

Need ideas for your social distancing parties in the Philly area? You can find more cooking tips from the master by subscribing to Cooking with Mario on YouTube today! You can also get the best restaurant catering in Bucks County, PA by contacting Catering By Mario’s today!