Frozen Red Mullet and Goatfish: Whole Round and Cleaned, IQF

Product overview

Red mullet is a name that covers more than one fish, and the first job of any offer is to say which. In Mediterranean and European kitchens it means Mullus: the plain red mullet (Mullus barbatus) and the striped red mullet or surmullet (Mullus surmuletus), small, rose-pink bottom fish with a pronounced flavor, sold whole and usually fried or grilled. In Asian trade the same English name is often applied to goatfish of the genus Upeneus, such as Upeneus sulphureus and the goldband goatfish (Upeneus moluccensis), which belong to the same family but are a different and usually less costly product. We sell both, always under the scientific name, and never substitute one for the other. Neither is closely related to gray mullet (Mugil cephalus), whose roe becomes bottarga.

Goatfish is a regular part of the demersal trawl landings in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea, and is also landed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and India. Mullus comes from the Mediterranean and the eastern Atlantic, with Turkey and North African states among the partner origins we work with, and is caught by trawlers and by small-scale gillnet and trammel net boats. Mediterranean catches are seasonal and smaller in volume, so red mullet offers depend on what partner packers hold after each season. The FAO catch area, vessel flag and packing plant are stated on every lot.

The fish is offered whole round, which keeps the liver that Mediterranean cooks prize, or cleaned, meaning scaled, gutted and gilled, and it is frozen IQF so that a kitchen can take out only what it needs. Grades run by fish weight, commonly 50⁠–⁠100 g, 100⁠–⁠150 g, 150⁠–⁠200 g and 200⁠–⁠300 g, and the two larger grades are Mullus only, since Upeneus goatfish seldom grows beyond about 150 g; the smaller sizes are fried whole, while larger fish are grilled or filleted in the kitchen. Red mullet is fragile: its large scales come away easily, its skin color fades with poor handling, and an ungutted fish can soften at the belly if chilling is slow. Inspection, which can be arranged per lot, therefore covers skin color and scale cover, belly integrity, eye and gill condition, size uniformity within the grade, glaze and any freezer burn.

Fried and grilled red mullet is a fixture of Greek, Turkish, Italian, Spanish and Levantine menus, and frozen stock bridges the gaps between local seasons for importers in Southern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Goatfish serves everyday versions of the same dishes as well as South and South-East Asian curries and fried fish. Importers often fill a container of small whole fish by combining red mullet with frozen sardines or squid, and our reefer shipping guide explains how to hold such mixed loads at a steady temperature.