ABOUT
Fish Butchery is a modern Australian Fish Shop by Josh Niland and the team behind Saint Peter and Charcoal Fish.
THE FISH / We offer to you a selection of fish curated to include only the highest quality. We work direct with the following fishermen and many more:
Bruce Collis/ Corner Inlet VIC
Ben Collison/ Bowen QLD
Pavo & Heidi Walker / Mooloolaba QLD
Coorong Wild Seafood/ Coorong, SA
Fin's Seafood/ Western Australia
THE DIFFERENCE / The way we handle our fish ensures the best possible results for our customers. All our fish is stored in a static coolroom at 0-1degC where we keep it until it has aged to reach its full potential. All fish is handled dry - the last time it touched water was when it left the water it was swimming in. This extends the shelf life of your fish and offers a real difference in the final cooked product.
THE PROCESS / Supplying fish to Saint Peter means our Fish Butchers are used to meeting the highest of standards. We process our fish very differently to any other available on the market. Our thought process with fish has all been born out of the thinking that most of what can be achieved with an animal can be achieved with a fish. By correctly handling a fish, we can start to taste glutamates being activated within the protein making the fish taste more savoury and overall more complex and distinct to the fish species in question.
STORAGE / Firstly our fish never touches any water or ice. Small fish are stored on perforated trays and large fish are hung on hooks in our static coolroom.
SCALING / We scale large fish by cutting off the scales in sheets with a knife, a small head scaler is used for smaller species. We do this to minimise damage to the flesh caused by the scaling process. The effect of this is that the delicate skin of the fish is not damaged; allowing the fish to be dry aged, assisting it to crisp in the pan and promoting better presentation on the plate.
GUTTING / We remove the gut of our fish very carefully by starting at the gills and pulling the organs out in one piece. This allows us to sort through the organs and use 90% of this 'waste'. We have developed a working knowledge of which offal is delicious and what to do with it - we now open this option and knowledge up to our customers. Once the gut is removed the cavity is wiped clean with paper towel, again, no water is used.
QUALITY CONTROL / For large fish we then cut a section from the tail and cook it to see how the flesh performs. This ensures that you, the customer, gets an exceptional fish both in flavour and cooked texture. Smaller fish are also rigorously checked for the same reason.
DRY AGED FISH / We age fish to make the fish more delicious, make the species of fish taste more identifiable & also to remove a percentage of moisture from the fish that in turn allows the fish to cook more evenly and perform better under multiple cookery methods. Dry ageing shouldn't be viewed as only storing a fish for an extensive period of time to result in a delicious outcome but more so the process of not washing the fish, hanging the fish on the bone and holding it at the correct temperature then finding a moment where it tastes better. This may be day 2 or 3 or it may be day 12 or 22? It really depends on the fish.