This Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass is flavoured with a delicious Asian marinade of soy sauce, ginger and mirin. It's perfect pan seared until flaky and tender with an incredibly crispy skin! A delicious Asian sea bass flavored with soy ginger teriyaki marinade!

The best way to cook sea bass is to pan sear it until it gets a crispy, crackly skin with perfectly cooked, tender white flesh. For this recipe I used a Chilean Sea Bass which is salt water fish with a firm, white, flakey flesh.

Prep Time

    •    Prep time: 15 minutes (plus marinate time for 15 minutes)
    •    Cook time: 15 minutes
    •    Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients

    •    sugar
    •    ginger
    •    soy sauce
    •    vegetable oil
    •    rice wine vinegar
    •    mirin (This is a Japanese cooking wine, substitute with white wine)
    •    2 x sea bass fillets (I use Chilean Sea Bass but any white fish will work. Be sure it's scaled and deboned. Pat dry with a paper towel.

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients for the soy ginger marinade together. Pat the sea bass dry and score the skin.
2. Marinate the fish in a bowl covered with plastic wrap or a resealable plastic wrap. Let it marinate on the counter for 15 minutes.
3. Heat a pan on medium to medium low heat and add a bit of oil. Wipe off excess marinade and cook the sea bass skin side down until crispy. The fat from the skin should render out, leaving a crackly, crispy skin. Flip over and finish cooking until it flakes apart.
4. Serve your Asian sea bass immediately skin side up with sides of your choice.

TIPS: How to cook Sea Bass for crispy skin?

1. Pat skin dry - Before adding the marinade, pat the skin dry with a paper towel.
2. Score the skin - Scoring the skin prevents it from curling up during the cooking process, ensuring flat, even contact with the cooking surface.
3. Wipe off excel marinade -  Scrape off any excess marinade before cooking to reduce steaming.
4. Medium to medium low heat - I prefer slowly rendering out the fat in the skin until it gets crispy. This should be done on medium low heat to avoid burning the sugars in the marinade.
5. Skin side down - Cook skin side down and don't flip it until the skin is very crispy.
6. Don't cover the pan - Leave the pan uncovered the whole time to prevent steaming the sea bass.
7. Plate skin side up - Keep the crispy skin facing up and avoid adding sauces on top which will softened up the skin.

This great family recipe is thanks to Drive Me Hungry at https://drivemehungry.com/chilean-sea-bass/