When you own a restaurant, you use lots of fresh ingredients and you’re almost always broke (ain’t no joke), so you want to make sure everything you spend is worth it—and you can never, never, never let ANYTHING go to waste. We buy fresh whole fish for the Claypot Caramelized Striped Bass, but that recipe doesn’t include fish heads and fish tails. So to make them useful (and us less broke), we grill the heads and fry the tails, which is deliciously simple, especially served with Vietnamese fish sauce and whichever pickled vegetable strikes your fancy.
2–4 SERVINGS
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 pinch Kosher salt
1 fish head
1 fish tail
Ground black pepper, for seasoning
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Mushroom bouillon, to taste
Scallions, chopped, for garnish
Coco Rico Vietnamese Fish Sauce (optional)
BALLS OUT
40–80 SERVINGS
4 cups vegetable or canola oil
32 bunches scallions, chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
20 fish heads
20 fish tails
Ground black pepper, for seasoning
2½ cups all-purpose flour
2½ cups cornstarch
Mushroom bouillon, to taste
Scallions, chopped, for garnish
1. Bring a pan to medium-high heat. Add oil, scallions, and salt, then mix. When scallions wilt, your oil is done. Remove from heat, set aside. Store in a container and refrigerate.
2. You can grill or fry your heads and tails (we prefer to grill the head, and fry the tail). Grilling is a great option because heads are often too big to fry, and a nice char from the grill really brings out the flavor of the fish, particularly its cheeks, which in my opinion (and most of Asia’s, as I’ve been told) is the best part of the fish.
3. If you’re frying just the tail, heat 1 inch oil in a small pot over medium-high heat to 350°F. If you aren’t able to use a barbecue grill or oven broiler, increase the oil to at least 2 inches to make room for that head.
4. Clean the fish head and tail under cold water until there is no visible blood coming from the head. Make sure to remove the gills if there are any. Pat dry.
5. If you’re grilling, turn the grill up to medium-high heat. Brush both sides of the fish head with cooking oil. Salt and pepper like you see in slow motion in all those fancy cooking shows and make it rain. Massage in salt and pepper, inside and out. Grill that head for about 5–7 minutes. Don’t turn over until the head can be lifted relatively cleanly without losing much amazingly delicious skin in the process.
6. If frying heads and tails, double up on both flour and cornstarch in the next step.
7. Combine flour and cornstarch in a bowl. Season with salt, pepper, and mushroom bouillon and mix. Taste the flour mixture and adjust seasoning.
In mixing bowl, coat fish tails (and fish head), if you’re not grilling it, in flour/cornstarch mixture. When the pot of oil is ready, fry coated fish parts for about 5–7 minutes until golden brown, turning frequently. Remove, shake off excess oil, and plate. Drizzle on 1 tablespoon scallion oil and garnish with scallions and a side of Coco Rico Fish Sauce for dipping.
