Red Mullet

The red mullet has always been prized by gourmets although curiously it has never become an expensive luxury. It is sometimes called the “woodcock of the sea” because it should not be cleaned but cooked whole, with its “trail”, as a woodcock should be cooked. It is an extremely delicate fish, nearer to a fine perch than any other sea fish. In the 1850s the Duke of Portland, a notable gourmet, insisted that, taken straight from sea to table, it was the only fish worth eating and its liver an