TENDER AGE
Don’t mention the “F” word to fish-ageing proponent Josh Niland from Sydney’s Saint Peter. “We never push it to the point of fishiness,” the chef says. “The aim of dry-ageing is to sum up what the fish actually tastes like.” So wild kingfish aged for nine or 10 days might taste as though it had been dressed with lemon, say, while Spanish mackerel acquires complex, savoury mushroom-like notes. “Dry-ageing produces significant changes to the fish’s flavour and the way it acts in the pan,” Niland says. “It’s not a gimmick and it doesn’t work on all fish – you can age mulloway for 15 or 16 days, for example, but it tastes a lot better on day two.” Sokyo chef Chase Kojima, from Star City in Sydney, prefers wet-ageing to bring a fish to flavoursome ripeness, working with the likes of tuna, ocean trout and alfonsino. saintpeter.com.au, star.com.au