How to Cook Fresh Reef Fish like a Michelin-Star Restaurant Chef
When you’re dining with your toes almost dipped into the Coral Sea on the Great Barrier Reef, you can expect there’s going to be some spectacular reef fish on the menu.
At Orpheus Island Lodge, the dining experience is designed to take full advantage of this blessed position. The degustation menu is created fresh every day by Head Chef Paul Wilson based on what is thriving in the island’s vegetable garden and what’s caught just offshore.
Here, coconuts, mangoes, and wild passionfruit, tropical fruits like black sapote, and kaffir lime grow in abundance alongside curry leaf, bananas, papayas, tomatoes and butterfly peas. There’s even a pumpkin patch, chia seeds, and chickens too. Apart from the salmon and kingfish (season depending) all the seafood is caught within 150 nautical miles of the kitchen.
When it comes to Great Barrier Reef fish, Coral Trout and its sub species are the reef fish species showcased most often. Paul tracked down local fisherman Chris Bolton after arriving on the island ‘many moons ago’ and says, “I have full trust in whatever he sends me is going to be the best I would be able to find in Australia, and probably the world.”
Paul says there’s no “best way” to cook reef fish – so many factors play into how he decides to even treat the fish, let alone“cook” it. “It all comes down to quality and handling of the fish,” he says.
“After receiving our weekly delivery from Chris you will see many raw dishes or very light cooking because the texture is so buttery. I always leave the biggest fish for the end of the week so the skin has time to dry out. I still remember the first time I had a 10-day dry aged Red Emperor many years ago, it’s seriously something else.”
The most popular reef fish dish is a new addition to the menu – and one with a clear no-waste ethos – utilising the heads and wings off the fish after they clean them all up on Thursdays. “I make a crepe with the leftover sourdough (affectionately called Debbie) and season with a leek butter and native finger limes,” Paul explains.
And if you’re a keen angler yourself and head out to catch some North Qld fish during your stay at Orpheus Island, Paul and his team are more than happy to prepare your fresh reef fish for your dinner that night.
