Instructions
If you ask me, we’re just spoilt for choice. We live in a vastly privileged country where almost anything is available.
Certainly this applies when it comes to seafood, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. We are, after all, ‘girt by sea’.
Just on that point, is anyone else troubled by the fourth line of our anthem? I’ll happily rejoice, I like the golden soil, and I realise that wealth comes from toil, but ‘girt’? Every time I join the Wallabies in pre-match festivities I feel like an extra in a Jane Austen adaptation: ‘I’m sure you will note, Mr Darcy, that Hampstead Estate is girt by splendid gardens!’.
I know anthems are generally incomprehensible nationalistic drivel, but shouldn’t we at least write ours in the language of our people? I sometimes wonder what other nations think when they hear Advance Australia Fair. We get to the ‘girt by sea’ bit, and they turn to one another and ask, ‘what did he say, dear?’. And I’m talking about the English! Oh, and before you start on about alternative national songs, I’m still wondering who Matilda is, and what she wanted to dance about!
But I was talking about choice. We chomp down our native barramundi with commendable aplomb. We feast on salmon like it’s going out of fashion (which it is, just between you and I). But what about the hundreds of other species we trawl? Most hardly get a look in. Particularly mullet.
For an all-weather year-round reliable catch, it’s hard to go past mullet. It is a strong flavoured fish, and is rich in nutritious oils. It cooks well as fillets, or as whole fish, and suits a variety of techniques from grilling, to frying to poaching, to baking. I always pair mullet with vinegar or a citrus-based vinaigrette or sauce, as fruit acids cut through the oiliness of the flesh.
Oh, and in these tighter fiscal times, we’re talking about a cheaper fish that will leave enough in your wallet for coffee and cake!
So, next time you’re down at the fishmonger, look out for some of the more common catches. You’ll probably find yourself girt by mullet!
Baked mullet with carrot pastinaca salad