Species sheet · The Edible Ocean
Gilthead seabream
The real one, the bream with the golden brow.
- In a salt crust, 30 minutes for a kilo, its best cooking by far
- Or pan-fried fillets, skin properly crisp, four minutes skin side down
- Raw as a tartare with lime, if it is genuinely fresh
- In French
- Dorade royale
- Scientific name
- Sparus aurata
- In the water
- Sandy bottoms and coastal seagrass, Mediterranean and east Atlantic, down to 30 metres.
- Season & buying
- All year farmed, wild mostly from autumn to spring.
- Common length
- ~40 cm
- How to identify it
- Straight golden band between the eyes
Dark spot where the lateral line starts, on the gill cover
High compressed oval body with a domed forehead
On the plate
Firm fine white flesh, slightly sweet, the benchmark Mediterranean fish.
Avoid: Confusing it with black bream or pandora: only the golden brow is conclusive.
It is born male and turns female at about two years old, so a school is always made of young males and old females, without exception.
In Umay recipes
2 Umay recipes call for it.
