The first dish we made was a roulade of the black bass bellies and lower loin cured with Edward’s peanut finished Surryano ham. The bellies and lower loin of the bass are not large and need to be stacked together to provide a more usable product. We bonded these irregularly shaped pieces of fish together with Activa GS and then used the GS to bond the ham to the fish. The ham gently cures the fish and provides a protective outer layer. We first applied this approach to scallops, but in that case we discarded the ham before serving, using it only to season the fish.
For this preparations we let the bass bellies cure for 24 hours and then sliced them into little disks. We dressed the fish with Meyer lemon juice and olive oil. The dish could not have been simpler and this simplicity allowed both the fish and the ham to share center stage.
