How to Cook and Serve Chilean Sea Bass
Looking at expanding your seafood repertoire? Need some fish cookery inspiration?
We have you covered! This all-access, deep dive into one of our favorite fin fish is sure to inspire.
Chilean Sea Bass, or Patagonia Toothfish, is a succulent white fleshed fish with mild, sweet, and buttery flavor. When portioned into manageable fillets (like our 8 oz. Chilean Sea Bass portions), this fish performs beautifully in the kitchen with very little muss or fuss. There are a few preferred cooking techniques that work best with CSB and, after this brief read, you’ll be able to produce seamless, mouth-watering dishes at home!
Oven-Perfect Fish
Chilean Sea Bass is a rather delicate, lean, and flaky white fish, which makes it perfect for “gentler” cooking methods, primarily, oven cooking. What do I mean by a gentle cooking method? Well, these are the sort of ‘set it and forget it’ cooking methods where there’s not a lot of flipping, stirring, or agitating involved. When you reduce the amount cooking movement (or potential sticking), you reduce the risk of our delicate Chilean Sea Bass fillets breaking apart or overcooking.
Baking
Baked Chilean Sea Bass is deliciously awesome and opens up numerously tasty options. Baking temperatures (300-350°F) hover in the moderate-heat range, this means that baked fish will cook slowly and more evenly. Even though you wont get as much browning as some of our other oven-cooking methods, you will have more freedom when it comes to seasonings and accompaniments. Dry spice rubs, toppings, and stuffings perform spectacularly with baked Chilean Sea Bass because there is less risk for burning. Single sheet-pan meals, with oodles of vegetables, work well with baked CSB too.
Seasoned Chilean Sea Bass at 350°F (preheated oven) should cook within 15-20 minutes with an internal temperature of 145°F.
Stuffed or Topped Chilean Sea Bass at 350°F (preheated oven) should cook within 20+ minutes. Stuffed CSB should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F. Topped Chilean Sea Bass should be cooked to an internal temperature of 145°F.
Broiling
Broiling, with a steady temperature of 500°F, is our super-duper high heat cooking method. This is where you’ll achieve browning and searing…with a little help. Since Chilean Sea Bass is a leaner fish, a little oil or butter (about 2 tsp. per fillet) brushed or spread over the fillets will aide in browning and searing. We love a good compound butter spread over our to-be-broiled fillets.
Since the cooking time for broiled CSB is shortened (we’ll get to those times in a sec), marinating or seasoning at least 30 minutes before cooking will help infuse the fillets with flavor. Oven rack positioning matters as well, you want to be near the heat source (radiating from the top) without being so close that you run the risk of burning your fillets. The second shelf from the top is a safe place to broil your Chilean Sea Bass. Lastly, if you’re using a buttery or juicy marinade for your broiled fillets, instead of using a baking sheet, use a casserole dish. This will help minimize splatter.
Broiled Chilean Sea Bass at 500°F (or broiler setting) should cook within 8-10 minutes with an internal temperature of 145°F.
Roasting
Roasting sits between our other two oven-cooking methods on the temperature spectrum at around 400-450°F. When it comes to Chilean Sea Bass, we use the roasting method when we want a saucier meal. These sauces can be anything from flavorful broths, curries, marinaras, creamy sauces, etc…The higher temperature ensures that the sauce and the fish are cooking (or warming) at approximately the same rate. If the temperature was lower, our CSB fillets and sauces will take a much longer time to cook. If our temperature was higher, we run the risk of burning or evaporating our sauce too quickly. Roasting is our ‘Goldilocks’ zone. When roasting your saucy CSB meal, be sure to loosely cover the top of the roasting pan or casserole dish with aluminum foil. This creates a little steam-convection action inside the pan as well as reduces the risk of burning or evaporating the sauce.
Buy Chilean Sea Bass Online And Get It Delivered Fast!
Our Sea Bass as well as all of our seafood options are carefully packed the same day your order ships. Delivered right to your door, fast, so you can spend less time shopping and more time with your loved ones (or planning your next delicious Chilean Sea Bass-fueled meal). It doesn’t get much more convenient than that!
Do you have a favorite Chilean Sea Bass recipe, tip or trick? Or, do you have any CSB questions or troubleshooting needs? We love to hear from our customers and are always available to help. Live chat with us on our website or reach out to us @cameronsseafoodonline on Instagram or @CameronsSeafood on Facebook.
About the author
Patterson Watkins is a professional chef with over 17 years of experience. With a robust career in restaurants, contract dining and catering (including 4 Summer Olympic posts preparing food for the athletes!) Patterson joined the Cameron’s Seafood team at the end of 2018 to concoct some delicious recipes with our premium seafood items as the centerpiece.
