Today we focus on the Dorade Royale or Gilthead Bream as it is also known.
Taste and Appearance
Nutritional Information
Farming Techniques & Sustainability
Preparation
Serving Suggestions
The Big Fish Little Fish Co. has been on the New Smithfield Market since 2008. Our small dedicated team has been in the seafood industry all our working lives and it's safe to say we know our onions! We are excited to be able to share this with you.
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Taste and Appearance
As the Sea Bass has gained notoriety on home and restaurant tables, the humble and under rated Dorade Royale has had to be content with living in its shadow. Whilst the Dorrade Royale is slightly different in shape to the Sea Bass, it shares the familiar silver grey colouring of its aquatic cousin. The Dorade is part of the Bream family and has a rounder profile to its body. Like the Bass, it has, when raw, flesh that is light grey in appearance. Once cooked the flesh turns beautifully white and yields in small flakes. Dorrade Royale have a mild sweet flavour profile and have a medium oil content. This gives the Dorrade Royale a fuller flavour than Sea Bass, but is still very much suitable for people who's tastes are not suited to particularly oily fish. The Dorrade's skin will crisp up nicely once de-scaled so can be eaten.
Nutritional Information
An average portion of 150g of Dorade Royale would provide 208Kcal, 9g of fat and 28g of protein. It contains zero carbohydrate and zero sodium. It has a very low glycaemic index and delivers approximately 55% of its calories from protein and 38% from fats. Of the 9.0g total fat per 150g in Gilt-head bream, 2.5g are saturated fatty acids (SFA), 3.7g are monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and 2.8g are polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The amount of cholesterol is 90mg.
Farming Techniques and Sustainability
Our Dorade Royale supplier is called Noordzee and is based in Turkey. They have an annual capacity of 12500 tons from their world class off shore aquaculture plant. Adopting a customer oriented production and service approach in line with changing market demands, Noordzee focuses on products and services allowing its customers to be more competitive in all their activities. In this scope, production is performed at the desired numbers/weights according to customer demands, and the fish are produced in high quality and hygienic conditions in accordance with food safety principles at global standards. Preserving cold chain and ensuring on time delivery are among their foremost principles.
They guarantee that fish are grown up to harvesting size in ideal conditions, fed with quality feeds, processed, packed and delivered to the customer in perfect condition.
Focusing on hygienic production and offering added value to customers with high product quality, Noordzee performs periodic measurements and analyses using modern laboratory facilities in all production stages. Noordzee products are produced with high quality standards and in accordance with hygiene rules, and offered to our customers under highest quality and maximum safety guarantees.
Control centres of cages keep records of all activities regarding the fish, from hatchery to harvest, thus ensure traceability of fish in all systems.
The main production principles of Noordzee Fish Farms are complying fully with environmental regulations, controlling factors that might cause pollution and minimising the risk of any potential damage to the environment. All farms have Global GAP certification.
Preparation Techniques
The Dorade Royale can be prepared in a few different ways. It may be gutted and scaled, filleted and pin boned or, if you wish to stuff your fish, it could be boat filleted which retains the shape of the whole fish whist removing the majority of the bones. It really depends on the dish you will be preparing and your personal preference. I love fish on the bone personally, it is in my opinion far superior flavour than fish fillets. The British public have become a little squeamish about removing the flesh from the bone at the table. I have noticed over the years the proportion of whole fish dramatically decrease in relation to the volume of fish fillets we sell both in restaurants and in our fish retail shops.
Recipes We Love!
We would love to hear what you though of the dishes!
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