Foods & cuts · Sea bass
Whole sea bass
A lean white round fish cooked whole, and the standard case for fish sticking to a grate — lean flesh and delicate skin with nothing to spare.
What it is
- Form
- Whole fish
- Typical weight
- 400–700 g
- Typical thickness
- 40–60 mm
- Cut
- Not a cut of anything
Why it behaves as it does
Sticking is the defining failure and it is a surface problem rather than a timing one: a lean fish has little fat to release, so the skin bonds to hot metal and tears when moved. Every practical remedy is about the interface — a clean, hot, oiled grate, or a basket, or not moving the fish until it releases on its own.
When is it done?
Food-safety endpoint
Food Standards Agency
In the UK, fish is cooked when the flesh has turned opaque — no longer transparent — and separates easily with a fork.
The rule and its source
In the UK, fish is cooked when the flesh has turned opaque and separates easily with a fork. The regulator gives no temperature for fish.
Well established
Food Standards Agency — States this directly
“fish flesh should turn opaque (no longer transparent) and separates easily with a fork”
- How it was measured:
- A visual and textural test, not a thermometer reading. The same document gives 70 °C for 2 minutes as the general combination for food, and does not apply a figure to fish.
- Where it applies:
- England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-16
Texture endpoint — how you actually know
Flesh opaque at the spine, dorsal fin pulling free
The flesh at the thickest point is white through to the backbone, and the dorsal fin lifts out with a gentle pull. The fin test is the one that works through skin on a firm-fleshed round fish, where a fork would break the surface to find out.
Where this comes from
Fish is timed by thickness rather than by weight. Clemson gives ten minutes per inch at 450 °F in an oven, with five minutes added in foil or sauce and double for frozen fish; Weber gives 8–10 minutes per inch on a grill. Doneness is a physical signal — the flesh just begins to flake and loses its translucency.
Well supported
Clemson Cooperative Extension — States this directly
“bake for 10 minutes per inch thickness of the fish, turning the fish halfway through the cooking time”
- Method:
- Stated for baking at 450 °F, NOT for grilling. The oven is the assumed appliance.
- How it was measured:
- Measured at the thickest point, after stuffing or rolling if either applies.
- Add 5 minutes if cooked in foil or in a sauce; double to 20 minutes per inch for fish cooked from frozen.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
Weber-Stephen Products LLC — States this directly
“General rule for grilling fish: 4 to 5 minutes per ½ inch thickness; 8 to 10 minutes per 1 inch thickness.”
- Form:
- Expressed per unit of thickness rather than per portion.
- Close to but not identical with Clemson's 10-minutes-per-inch rule, which assumes a 450 °F oven rather than a grill.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
Clemson Cooperative Extension — States this directly
“Fish is cooked when its meat just begins to flake easily when tested with a fork and it loses its translucent or raw appearance.”
- Form:
- A physical signal rather than a temperature — the shape a texture endpoint takes.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
How long it takes
Whole sea bass, indirect heat
Estimated cooking window
15 min–29 min
Moderate confidence
Why this is a range, not a number
- Thickness varies between pieces
- Weight varies within the range this covers
- Cookers hold temperature imperfectly
- How often the lid comes off
Cook to the endpoint, not to the clock. The window tells you when to start checking.
What this rests on
BBQHQ publishes a window for this cook.
- Observations
- 1
- Documents
- 1
- Publishers timing this cook
- 1
Clemson Cooperative Extension
Why confidence is not higher
- The window is BBQHQ's arithmetic on a source's per-unit rate, not a window the source published.
- Several documents, but all from one publisher.
- At least one source does not state the cooker temperature.
How the sources were combined
THE WIDEST OF THE WHOLE-FISH WINDOWS, AND THE WIDTH IS THE FISH RATHER THAN THE EVIDENCE. A sea bass sold whole at 400-700 g spans 40-60 mm through the body, which is half as much again from one end of the envelope to the other, and Clemson's rate carries that width straight through into a 15-29 minute window. A reader with a fish and a ruler can do much better than that band, and the page says so: the rate is more useful than the window BBQHQ derived from it, because the reader knows a thickness BBQHQ cannot.
What makes the window as wide as it is
- Thickness varies between pieces
- Weight varies within the range this covers
- Cookers hold temperature imperfectly
- How often the lid comes off
When it goes wrong
- It stuck to the grate
- Food sticking to the grate — 2 distinguishable causes.
- It fell apart
- Fish falling apart on the grill — 2 distinguishable causes.
Afterwards
Cooling, keeping and reheating what is left is general guidance for barbecue leftovers. Neither UK authority publishes anything specific to whole sea bass, and BBQHQ does not invent a distinction they do not make.