I catch a lot of striped bass, and while I love to eat the fillets, I am always more excited about the heads and bones because they make a surpassing fish stock. And to me, fish stock is one of those zephyrs of the food world, a mystical wonderment that lasts only as long as it takes to make and eat it.

Yes, you can store fish stock, and it’s OK, but never as amazing as when it has been freshly made.

So that means I normally find myself making fish risotto or chowder right off the bat when I have a good haul of stripers, Pacific rockfish or lingcod. The fillets get eaten later. Yes, I am aware this is opposite to what most people do. Pretty typical for me.

Fish stock isn’t like normal stock. It’s a fairly quick affair. My venison stock takes all day, or even overnight. All my fish stock asks of you is 45 minutes or so. Strain and enjoy. A long-simmered fish stock gets cloudy and bitter and fishy. I don’t recommend it.

What fish? Really almost anything. I’ve made fish stock with bass, walleye, perch, black seabass, white seabass, lingcod, Pacific rock cod, stripers, tilefish, porgies, redfish, sea trout, spotted bass, bluegills… you get the point.

Be sure to rinse the heads and bones well to remove slime, and be absolutely certain to snip our the gills. Gills in your stock will ruin it, as the blood in them will cloud your stock and give it an “off” flavor very quickly.