“We slice the bass and sear both sides through parchment paper. It gives a very light brown, but there’s no crust. I want this to be all about soft texture. Striped bass is perfect, because it’s not too firm or too flaky. It’s just seasoned with a little sea salt. This is meant to be a very clean dish: Like everything we do, there are three main flavors, maximum.”
“We cook Manila clams and razor clams, in a little white wine, thyme, and garlic; the octopus is lightly poached in clam jus; and the shrimp is lightly poached in court bouillon, a delicate water-based stock. It’s all done ahead of time and then reheated in the cooking liquid at pickup. We reserve some jus for the foam as well.”
“We buzz the cooking liquid from the shellfish with a little bit of milk and butter; it adds some shellfish flavor to the main dish. For the sauce, we roast the bones of the bass in the oven with shallots and then deglaze with vin jaune and make the sauce with a little stock, some whipped cream, and a further splash of vin jaune. Vin jaune is a little bit like sherry.”
“You don’t want to put too many ingredients with shellfish. But you need a starch, so there are some Yukon gold potatoes, which are buttery, so they go well with the clarified butter we cook them in. And the Japanese mizuna lettuce is there to give your palate a break: It should be bass, shellfish, bass, shellfish, mizuna, potato…”