The chef and the head waiter who cook the head and tail of the sea bass like you'd never imagined

BarcelonaWe can make puns, like "We think with our heads when we want to cook fish" or "Let's be sensible about food waste," but, if we get serious, the reality is that the word sustainability This technique is put into practice if we cook the head and, ultimately, all the parts of a fish beyond the loin, which is the usual fare on restaurant menus. Since cooking the eyes can be difficult, we seek advice from the best. In our house, Chef Fabio Gambirasi, from the Agreste Mar restaurant (inside the Serras Hotel), always has on the menu the dish called Head and tailBut he only prepares it on the days that the two fish suppliers he works with bring him fresh fish and large garments.

"When I have a fresh fish weighing four or five kilos, especially sea bass, monkfish, or grouper, that's when I make it, because I think they're the most delicious," says the chef at Agreste Mar. It all begins with a ceremony in the dining room, when Roser Asensio shows the customer the filleted and cleaned fish on a tray. They then explain that these parts have traditionally been considered less desirable and should be eaten when fresh, so the dish is listed on the menu but they can't always prepare it, as it depends on what's available at the market.

The parts of a sea bass

The sea bass is divided into the following parts: the head – which includes the eyes, nostrils and mouth – the gills – attached to the head – the brain, the pancreas, the kidney, the stomach, the intestine, the gonads, the swim bladder and, finally, the tail fin line).

In the kitchen, Fabio cooks the whole head in a pan with a little extra virgin olive oil. Then, he transfers it to the oven with a sauce he makes with a squeeze of lemon or lime, thyme, garlic, and rosemary. Once cooked, he chops it up and separates the cheeks, the belly flap, and the top of the head, covers it with the sauce, and lets it rest while he cooks the tail. "I use the end loin, the one that touches the tail, which has a subtle flavor," and, moreover, he's gotten used to saying it has good nutritional properties. Once the tail is cooked, he moves on to the belly. "Of course, the head part is more substantial because it has two belly flaps, two cheeks, the cheeks; the top part of the head, which you have to eat with a spoon, and also the eyes, because you eat the eyes too; they're made of gelatin." With the eyes, we run into cultural aversions. We don't share the common belief that we eat the eyes of animals that are part of our diet, but there are others, like the Japanese, who do. In this regard, chef Carme Ruscalleda has always maintained that monkfish eyes are two delicious gelatinous treats, and that if we overcome our preconceived notions, we can enjoy them immensely.

Meanwhile, Fabio and Roser acknowledge that this dish they serve at Agreste Mar might not be very common in other restaurants. "We've become accustomed to eating only the fish fillet, because chefs plate it boneless, and it's easy, but it's a shame that we miss out on such succulent parts of the fish as the head and tail." Furthermore, there's the issue of resourcefulness and sustainability, concepts that are currently fashionable in the culinary world, and which are put into practice with this dish, because they don't throw anything away. "We don't even throw away the skin; we leave it attached to the fish so that it can also be eaten." They make fish stock from the bones. So the entire fish has a culinary purpose.

Finally, chef Fabio Gambirasi explains that he is familiar with the seafood sausages that some chefs, like Ángel León, prepare using fish innards. "I don't do it myself, because I don't have any of the fish left uncooked, but I understand it's another way to use it," he says, adding that with female fish, when they have the roe (the eggs), he marinates it with salt and sugar, dries it, and then leaves it for a week to seal it with wax for a longer curing time. After that time, it's ready to be cut and served. In the case of male fish, he cuts the seminal vesicle, which contains the sperm, into small pieces, coats it in flour, and fries it. He serves both with the dish. Head and tail. It's clear that the chef and the head waiter think with their heads. With or without a pun.