Found world wide in coastal waters, this fish can grow to 47 inches and 26 pounds but the photo specimen was 15-1/2 inches, weighing 1 pound 6-1/2 ounces. They are caught wild and farmed and are not considered threatened. They are not often seen in North American markets except along the Southeast Coast, but are a very important commercial fish in many parts of the world. It is a good eating fish - look for it in Philippine and Southeast Asian fish markets.   Photo © cg1.

General:   Gray Mullet has nearly white flesh, mild but with good flavor, but it doesn't keep well. It should be purchased as fresh as possible and eaten the same or next day..

Cooking:   Because of its broad head it is most suitable for use as fillets. Fillets are very good for pan frying and you can fry fillets skin-on, producing a nice crisp skin. Dust both sides with rice flour and fry the inside first, then flip skin side down. The skin will shrink some, then relax.

Gray Mullet fillets can be poached. Whole fish can be baked. Make a few shallow diagonal cuts so skin shrink won't tear the flesh. Flesh of a baked mullet is too tender to lift whole fillets off the bones.

Cleaning:   Gray Mullet is covered with very large strong scales that take a bit of energy to scrape off. The body cavity is large and filled with really yucky stuff. The gills pull out fairly easily.

Fillets:   This fish fillets quite easily but it's best, when you get to the rib cage to cut the ribs from the spine with kitchen shears and then pull them from the fillet with your long nose pliers - they are large, few, and pull easily.

Fillet yield is moderate due to the fish's heavy head, a 1 pound 6-1/2 ounce fish yielded 9-5/8 oz of skin-on fillet (43%) and 8-1/4 oz of skinless fillet (37%).

Skin:   The skin has moderate shrinkage in cooking and then relaxes. It can sometimes be peeled off by hand but the usual knife method works well. You will loose most of the belly when skinning, but there really isn't much there to lose.

Head, Bones & Fins make a serviceable light flavored stock, but a significant amount of oil needs to be separated from it before use (use a gravy separator).

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