Sea bass

Citric acid denatures protein without heat. That is not a marinade, it is cooking.

Anise oil penetrates lean white flesh in a way herbs on the skin never do.

Baked in a crust: the shell steams the fish and seasons it once.

Steamed Cantonese, hot oil poured over. It kills mud, nothing else.

Inside the cavity, not on the plate: it perfumes rather than acidifies.

Lean fish, hot grill. The oil is what stops it welding to the bars.

Lean flesh takes the bitterness where an oily fish would fight it.

Firm white flesh takes the chilli oil without the heat cooking its way through.

Stuffed in the cavity, the seed perfumes the flesh from the inside out.

Cut in strips and hit with smoking oil so it wilts and sweetens.

A thin salty pour under steamed flesh, never over it.

Woody herb survives the grill where soft herbs turn to ash.

Acid, salt and glutamate for a fillet that brings only texture.

Acqua pazza: wine, water, garlic, and the fish makes its own stock.

Green heat rather than yellow: sharper on white fish, and it lands a beat later.

The plant that grows where the fish swims. Both come pre-salted.

Sicilian crudo: bitter citrus, raw fish, oil, nothing cooked.

Ceviche and pisco run on the same lime; the floral note lands on the raw fish.

Delicate white fish steamed with a leaf that would flatten anything heavier.

Rose-resin scent over clean flesh. A perfume, not a heat.

Steam it over the brew and floral terpenes settle on the flesh.

Pepita crust toasts faster than the flesh cooks, so it stays green not brown.

Shared nine-carbon aldehydes. Sliced raw, it is the sauce.