I am cooking a recipe of Asian style sea bass. What would be a good, cheaper alternative to sea bass that is readily available in a UK supermarket?
3 Answers
Depending on exactly the recipe you are using it in, I'd either go for a meaty white fish such as Cod, haddock, or the cheaper fish like pollock.
You may also be able to get away with something like mackerel, which isn't as white and chunky but is much cheaper.
You should be able to get all of these in a UK supermarket.
You could also try a fishmonger (either in the Supermarket or independent) - ask them what you could use instead.
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Many Asian-style sea bass recipes call for steaming or frying the fish, and in my opinion that's not the best technique for mackerel. The other options sound reasonable, though. Just keep in mind that many recipes for sea bas are for cooking the whole fish, which might not be feasible for the larger alternatives like cod. Commented Aug 9, 2011 at 15:02
Try tilapia - you can definitely get it at Tesco and Waitrose now and possibly other supermarkets too. It has small, thin fillets like seabass, has a nice delicate flavour and is not expensive.
Coley is also a cheap alternative. From an ethical stance, we should be trying to use a range of types of fish and not just cod or haddock.