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Full gilthead bream guide
How to spot it, where it lives, how it is caught and how to cook it — the complete guide, in one easy read.
There is something about a gilthead bream worth working for. That brilliant gold bar across the brow gives the fish its name, but the character wins you over: a wary, solitary feeder that slides into the estuaries on a rising tide. Hook one and it pulls hard for its size. Cook one and you will taste why the whole Mediterranean fights over it.
What is a gilthead bream?
The gilthead bream, Sparus aurata, also written gilt-head bream or gilthead sea bream, is a sea bream named after the gold band between its eyes. It is the sea bream most often sold in UK shops and restaurants, almost all of it farmed in the Mediterranean, but wild fish are now caught around the south and west coasts of Britain too, especially in estuaries. It has firm, sweet white flesh and is excellent eating.
How to spot it
Start with the brilliant gold bar that runs straight across the brow, between the eyes; it is the marking that names the fish. Below sits a deep, flattened body of silvery-gold fading to a white belly, clad in large, neat scales. The head is noticeably big, roughly a quarter of the whole fish, with prominent lips and pointed, surprisingly strong teeth built for crushing shellfish. A single long dorsal fin carries eleven firm spines. Put the gold brow, deep body and large head together and the gilthead is hard to confuse with anything else.
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FAQs
Quick fish questions
Short answers for the questions families and coastal readers often ask first.
How do you cook gilthead bream?
Scale, gut and score it, then grill it hard or roast it in a hot oven. The skin blisters and crackles while the flesh stays moist. A whole fish wants only lemon and fennel; fillets are good with a sharp salsa verde.
How do you fillet a gilthead bream?
Slide a sharp knife in behind the gill and run it along the backbone from head to tail, then repeat on the other side. The bones are clean and well spaced, so two tidy fillets lift away with very little waste.
What does gilthead bream taste like?
It has firm, white, mellow flesh and is widely rated as excellent eating right across the Mediterranean. Cooked on the grill or in a hot oven the flavour is clean and moist, not the least bit fishy.