Buttery, Saucy Fish Head
Across Asia, eating fish head is the norm. Whether it’s a whole steamed fish, binchotan-grilled cod collar, or a banana leaf-wrapped mackerel sold by curbside vendors, fish heads will be cooked, and fish heads will be eaten.
But for those who are not used to eating fish head, or see it more as a superfluous haute cuisine garnish rather than an actual edible part of the fish, this recipe will convince you otherwise. And even if you do eat fish heads *fist bump*, this will make you love them even more!
The recipe itself is actually majorly inspired by a dish at Fallow restaurant in London. I’ve not actually tasted the dish, or even been to the restaurant. (It’s half a world away from Malaysia where I live.) But thanks to the restaurant’s burgeoning YouTube channel, I got a good gist of how the dish is made, and translated this stunner of a restaurant dish into a home cook-friendly version.
The dish is made of three main components — a grilled fish head, a buttery hot sauce-based emulsion, and a herb oil. Each one very adaptable to your taste preferences, or whatever you have in your pantry.
For the fish head, I used salmon, but cod, snapper, grouper, trout, and most other large fish would work the same. For the emulsion, you just whisk cold blocks of butter into a garlic butter and water mixture, and get it smooth and extra buttery, then simply season it with lemon juice, salt, and your favourite hot sauce (or sriracha if you must). And lastly for the herb oil, Fallow uses “foraged local herbs, a bit of wild garlic, and parsley stalks”, but for me, for home-cooking simplicity, I just blended some blanched spring onions with oil to make a verdant green, very fragrant herb oil.
Then just go on and grill the fish head, pop it in the oven to cook through, and drench it in the sauce, herb oil, and lemon juice, before layering on a blizzard of flaky salt, pepper, and lemon zest.
When I made this and ate it, I was floored. I’ve eaten a lot of fish head in my life, being Asian and all. But never one like this. Yes, grilling fish head is always good, but the buttery rich hot sauce emulsion is really what makes the dish for me. It’s unexpectedly, spoon-lickingly tasty to begin with, but as you eat, the juices and bits of char from the fish head will meld with the buttery sauce and make it increasingly more flavourful. And once you’ve finished teasing out all the bits and pockets of meat from within the fish head, you’ll want to lick all that sauce off the plate. It’s crazy good stuff.
So whether you’re making this for yourself, cooking it for a date to impress, or serving it at a usually-conventional-food-loving dinner party to nibble at and get them out of their comfort zone, I can confidently say this will be an offal-ly popular hit!
Buttery, Saucy Fish Head
Serves: 1-2
Total Cook Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
1 large fish head, with collar attached (I used salmon, but other fish like cod or snapper works too)
2 cloves garlic, minced
120g (½ cup) unsalted butter, cubed and chilled in the fridge
30ml water
1/2 lemon
30g (2 tbsp) your favourite hot sauce or sriracha
Black pepper
Salt, to taste
1 stalk spring onion, green parts only, cut into thirds
120ml (½ cup) vegetable oil, or another neutral oil
Method
Clean the fish head, removing the gills and any bloodline along the backbone. Rub 1 tbsp of oil all over the fish head, then sprinkle and rub two pinches of salt all over it.
Heat an oven to 180°C (356°F).
To cook the fish head, heat up a grill or griddle pan placed over high heat. Then, put the fish head on the grill and cook for 2-3 minutes, until the grill-side is nicely charred. Flip the fish head and char the other side for another 2 minutes. Then, transfer the fish head onto an oven-safe tray, and transfer to the oven to cook for 10 minutes.
Sauce: In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, saute the minced garlic in 15g (1 tbsp) of butter for 2-3 minutes, until fragrant. Then, add in the water and bring to a simmer. Add in the rest of the butter, cube by cube, whisking constantly to dissolve the butter. The sauce should thicken up into a spoon-coating consistency. Add in the hot sauce and the juice of ¼ of the lemon, along with ¼ tsp of salt, or more to taste.
Spring onion oil: Bring a pot of water to a boil. Then, blanch the spring onions for 15 seconds, and immediately take it out and plunge into an ice bath. Squeeze out the water, and transfer it into a blender. Add the oil to the blender, and blend on high for 20 seconds, until smooth. (This recipe makes extra.)
When the fish head is done, take it out of the oven. If you have a blowtorch, you can use it to char up some of the parts that haven’t taken on enough colour yet.
Then, to serve, transfer the fish head onto a plate. Spoon the sauce all over the fish head, and drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of the spring onion oil over the fish too. Then, garnish with flaky salt, black pepper, lemon zest, and a bit more lemon juice. Serve and eat immediately!
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