If you have at least a day to marinate your fish, this copycat from Chef Nobu is an incredible way to enjoy Chilean Sea Bass using easy to find Japanese pantry ingredients.
This recipe is similar to Nobu's miso marinated black cod. If you have sake, you can use Chilean sea bass in that recipe. It's sweeter than this one, and it is the recipe that is most copycatted. However that recipe was specifically made for black cod, which is silkier and smaller than Chilean sea bass. This recipe was made specifically for Chilean sea bass.
I like serving this with salad greens to cut the richness of the fish. Edamame beans or Japanese mushroom rice would work well too.
Ingredients
This recipe has just 5 ingredients based on the recipe from Nobu: the Cookbook, where Chef Nobu uses morinori paste, which can be hard to find but tastes very similar to the combination of ingredients below.
- Miso Paste - This comes in red, white, and yellow varieties that vary a little bit in saltiness and color. Use the one you have available to you.
- Jalapenos (optional) - To make this spicy, mix a minced jalapeno into the marinade.
See recipe card for quantities.
Nobu's version with Moromi Miso
In Nobu: the Cookbook, Chef Nobu marinates the Chilean sea bass with morinori miso paste and minced jalapenos.
Moromi miso paste is a chunky, mildly salty Japanese condiment made from fermented soybeans, grains, salt, and koji. Unlike smooth miso, it’s coarse, with visible grain pieces, and is meant to be eaten as a dip or topping rather than dissolved into soups.
Rooted in the “moromi” stage of soy sauce and sake making, it has bold, layered flavors and gentle sweetness from long fermentation.
You can find it in small jars in Japanese grocery stores, but it can be hard to source and the flavor is akin to miso paste. This recipe estimates the flavor using regular miso paste, soy sauce, and mirin.
Instructions
You will need 2-3 days to marinate the fish. If you don't have that much time, marinate for at least 1 day, but the flavor really penetrates more deeply the longer you marinate the fish.
- Step 1: Combine the marinade ingredients. Spread over both sides of the fish.
- Step 2: Leave the fish to marinate for 2-3 days. The salty miso will draw moisture out of the fish.
- Step 3: Remove the excess marinade. The fish will be seasoned enough at this point. Excess marinade will make it too salty.
- Step 4: Cook in preheated 400 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes until dark, golden brown.
Hint: Watch out for bones! If you'd rather avoid dodging them with your fork, remove the pin bones prior to marinating the fillet.
About Chilean Sea Bass
Chilean sea bass, better known as Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), is a deep-water fish prized for its pearly white, buttery flesh that’s hard to overcook. Not a bass and not strictly from Chile, it swims in cold waters across the southern Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans.
Its chichi name was crafted in 1977 by California fish merchant Lee Lantz to make it sound more appealing to American consumers.
As G. Bruce Knecht writes in Hooked, he thought "It had a texture similar to Atlantic cod’s, the richness of tuna, the innocuous mild flavor of a flounder, and its fat content made it feel almost buttery in the mouth. Mr. Lantz believed a white-fleshed fish that almost melted in your mouth — and a fish that did not taste 'fishy'."
Initially, he thought of calling it Pacific Sea Bass or South American see bass, but Chilean sea bass sounded more specific and exclusive. The fish took awhile to catch on until finally in 1980 a company that needed halibut for fish sticks bought the Chilean sea bass because halibut prices had gone too high. Apparently, no one noticed the difference in taste.
By 2001, it became so popular that it became unsustainable and overfished. Chefs banned together to take it off their menus to save the species and prevent illegal, unregulated fishing.
By 2013, Monterey Bay Aquarium put it back on its best choice seafood list. Now, you can find it across the country, though the price per pound is comparable to premium fish sauce as halibut, ahi tuna, and swordfish.
It is not as silky as black cod, but it has a much, much larger flake, due to its size.
Top Tip
Accidentally overcooking the fish in this case, won't result in dry fish, but a burned fish. Chilean sea bass is very forgiving and doesn't get dry too quickly.
However, the sugar in the marinade, makes the fillet turn dark, so stay close to the oven as it nears the ned of the cooking time.
Recipe
Nobu's Miso Chilean Sea Bass (copycat with no sake)
Ingredients
- 1 - 1.5 lb Chilean sea bass or black cod
Miso Marinade
- 3 Tb miso paste red, white, or yellow
- 2 Tb mirin sweet Japanese rice wine for cooking
- 1 Tb cane sugar or your sweetener of choice
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce or tamari
Optional
- ½ ea jalapeno minced
Instructions
- Remove the pin bones and skin from the Chilean sea bass filet, if desired.
- Mix together the marinade ingredients. Add the minced jalapeno if using to the marinade. Smear over both sides of the fish.
- Place in a nonreactive container, such as a glass dish. Cover and marinate in the fridge for 2-3 days.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Have a rack placed into the middle of part of the oven.
- Wipe off the excess marinade from the fish. Place onto an oiled or parchment lined baking sheet, skin side down.
- Bake the fish for about 20-25 minutes, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees F in the thickest part of the fillet.
- The top of the fish should be golden brown with speckles of black. Cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Fish skin sticks to parchment paper. So be sure to grease the parchment paper if you don't want the skin to stick.
- Remove the pin bones from the fillet, if you'd rather avoid dealing with them on the plate.
- The fish should be marinated for at least 2 days for the deepest flavor. Reduce to a day if you don't have that much time.
Nutrition
Fortune Cookie
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