Fish tales (and heads)

[vgqn]

I grilled a whole striped sea bass on fennel fronds yesterday. The fish was okay, but boringly blah, even stuffed with shallots, fennel greens, and lemon. Using the fennel fronds to wrap the fish in seemed like such a cool idea, yet didn't really add anything in the end except mess -- feathery bits of burnt fennel crumbling off everywhere. Supposedly the fennel fronds will subtly flavor the fish, but it was clearly too subtle for me. What they did do was insulate the fish, so that after 30 min on the grill, it still wasn't done. By then much of the fennel was burning away, so bits of the fish were sticking to the grill anyhow -- there went another supposed advantage of this technique. I ended up popping it in the microwave to finish it.

Oh well, it was a worthy experiment. But I think I'm better off making broth with the fennel stalks (though there's a limit to how much fennel broth one needs). Compost, there's always compost. And I won't bother buying striped sea bass again.