We went into the weird and wonderful masterclass planning to cook sea cod sourced through Fair Seafood from Cape Jaffa. The day before, the fisher called – no cod available. What came instead was bronze whaler, ethically caught and traceable to the same stretch of Limestone Coast water. It’s exactly why every recipe on this site carries a note on species variations and seasonality: your first choice won’t always be there, and that’s not a problem if you understand what you’re cooking. Bronze whaler is firm, sweet, and holds up to something bold – urchin butter is exactly that. Fold the roe through cold butter with lemon, lay a thick disc across a fillet before it goes into the oven, and two things most people find unfamiliar become something they want to cook again at home.

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⏱️ Preparation Time: 20 minutes
🍳 Cooking Time: 10-12 minutes
🍽️ Serves: 6

👩‍🍳 Cooking Method: Combi oven, Moisture Plus oven, Conventional oven

📝 Ingredients:

• 900gm bearded rock cod, centre-cut or thick fillets (6 × 150gm portions)
• 30ml extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt flakes and white pepper to taste
• Baking paper, to line the tray
• For the Urchin Butter
• 200gm unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 80gm fresh sea urchin roe (uni) — approximately 10-12 lobes
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 10ml fresh lemon juice
• 2gm sea salt flakes
• 1gm white pepper

👩‍🍳 Method:

1. Dry age the fish (recommended): Place fillets on a wire rack over a tray, uncovered, in the vegetable crisper for a minimum of 1 hour, preferably overnight. This draws surface moisture from the fillet and concentrates the flesh.
2. Make the urchin butter: Using a fork, gently fold the urchin roe through the softened butter – retain some texture in the roe rather than making a smooth paste. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and white pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning. Roll into a log in cling wrap and refrigerate until firm. The butter can be made up to 48 hours ahead.
3. Prepare the fish: Remove fillets from the fridge 20-30 minutes before cooking. Pat thoroughly dry with paper towel. Brush lightly with olive oil and season with salt and white pepper.
4. Preheat the oven: Set to Fan Plus at 200°C and allow to come fully to temperature. Line a multi-purpose tray with baking paper – this captures the butter as it melts and makes clean-up straightforward. Lay fillets on the tray. Slice a disc of urchin butter approximately 8-10mm thick and place one disc on top of each fillet before the tray goes into the oven on shelf position 2.
5. Bake for 10–12 minutes. The urchin butter will melt and pool across each fillet as it cooks, basting the flesh continuously. At 10 minutes the surface will be starting to colour and the flesh at the thickest point will be just turning opaque. The fish is ready when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest point reads 54°C – the flesh will be just cooked through, still moist, with no remaining translucency. To check without a thermometer, press a thin-bladed knife into the thickest point – the flesh should separate cleanly and still be just moist inside.
6. Rest and serve: Remove from the oven and rest on the tray for 2 minutes. Drizzle some of the pooled pan butter over each piece before plating and serve immediately

🥣 Serving Suggestions:

1. Lemon wedges alongside and a spoon of the resting pan juices over the fish before the butter goes on.
2. Steamed broccolini or asparagus spears – something with a clean, slightly bitter edge cuts through the butter.
3. Crusty sourdough to catch the urchin butter as it pools on the plate.
4. A light watercress or shaved fennel salad dressed with lemon vinaigrette works well alongside.
5. Pair with a full-bodied South Australian Fiano, Chardonnay, or a textured skin-contact white.

📝 Notes:

• Urchin butter makes more than you need for one meal. Freeze the remainder wrapped tightly in cling wrap for up to 2 months – and if you have a log saved from a previous batch, this is exactly the dish to use it on. Slice directly from frozen, allow to temper for 5 minutes on the benchtop, then place on top of each fillet before it goes into the oven. The butter is also excellent on grilled bread, pasta, or sautéed vegetables.
• Sourcing sea urchin roe: Fresh roe is available from Fair Seafood and quality fishmongers. Look for firm, bright golden-orange lobes free of any bitter or ammoniated smell. Good-quality Japanese uni packed in trays works well if fresh roe is unavailable.
• Alternative species: Coral trout, blue eye trevalla, and bronze whaler all suit this preparation – each carries sufficient fat content to stand up to the richness of the urchin butter. Ask your Fair Seafood fishmonger what is available and in season.
• Dry ageing: Even 1 hour uncovered on a wire rack in the vegetable crisper makes a visible difference to how the fillet takes the butter during cooking. Overnight is better if time allows.
• Thick fillet check: If fillets are significantly thicker than 3cm at the centre, add 2 minutes before checking. The urchin butter can mask an undercooked fish on the plate – always check the temperature or knife test first.
• Moisture and steam: The urchin butter on top of the fillet does most of the basting work during cooking. If you have a Moisture Plus oven, 1 burst of steam on insertion at 200°C adds an extra layer of protection for the flesh in the opening minutes – worth doing with very thick fillets. Without it, the result is still excellent.

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🧊Storage:

Fridge Friendly Instructions:

Cooked sea cod is best eaten immediately. If storage is needed, keep in a glass container (300-400gm, serves 1-2) for up to 1 day.

Reheating: Steam oven at 65°C for 5-6 minutes. Conventional oven at 160°C for 6-8 minutes, loosely covered with foil. Microwave is not recommended – it toughens the flesh. Serve urchin butter cold or at room temperature alongside reheated fish rather than melting it during reheating.

Freezer Friendly Instructions:

Urchin butter: up to 2 months, wrapped tightly in cling wrap inside an airtight container. Slice from frozen as needed.

Cooked fish: not suitable for freezing.

🥗Nutritional (6 servings, amount per serving):

• Calories – 335
• Kilojoules – 1,402
• Total Fat – 22gm
• Saturated fat – 12gm
• Monounsaturated Fat – 6gm
• Polyunsaturated Fat – 1gm
• Trans Fat – 0gm
• Cholesterol – 135mg
• Sodium – 380mg
• Potassium – 520mg
• Total Carbohydrate – 1gm
• Dietary Fibre – 0gm
• Sugars – 0gm
• Protein – 32gm
• Vitamin A – 15%
• Vitamin C – 4%
• Calcium – 3%
• Iron – 6% 

*The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie / 8370 Kilojoule diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie/kilojoule needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated.