Charcoal Grilled Fish

[helenas]

From the Dinner thread:

Trout on the grill, kissed with hickory smoke, stuff with fresh chives, oregano, salt and pepper. It was good enough to stand alone.

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Last weekend we made a whole baby salmon, a 4 plus pounder, no other flavor besides hickory smoke - slowly cooked to a perfect texture best described by Greg Malouf: "... the slow-cooking merely sets the salmon firm oily flesh to a gelatinous, almost buttery soft wobble..." - just imagine such thing!

Other fish we tried whole were snapper, sea bass, grouper...

I'm very interested in mackerel: has anybody tried to grill one? I did once, and it was a total undercooked disaster!

[Soup]

I love grilled mackerel, they are great. It also happens to be light on wallet, added plus.

All I do is salt very heavy and light on the black pepper. I then grill.

I use a Janpanese hand-held grate which goes over the grill. It is made out of copper wire (about the size used for cloths hangers) which is meshed together. The mesh grates are then hinged together. Put the fish in the middle and you just turn the mesh grate rather than trying to turn the fish.

This allow you to keep all the skin which I believe to be the best part.

Once made, the fish is too salty to eat by itself but perfect with rice and kimchi. Give it a try.

Soup

[carswell]

My favourite grilled fish is probably striped bass. If I have any dried fennel stems on hand, I toss them on the coals under the fish in the last minutes of cooking and let the smoke perfume the flesh. You can do the same thing with fresh or dried thyme branches.

Mackerel takes nicely to grilling. A tip from Martin Picard, chef-owner of Au Pied de Cochon, is to stuff the fish before cooking with fresh tarragon branches. What would overpower more delicate fish works beautifully with strong flavoured mackerel.

[Kevin72]

I briefly marinated some mackerel in olive oil, lemon juice, and rosemary, then tossed it on the grill. As others here have said, it really takes to the big, smoky flavors well. Give it another shot.

[helenas]

thanks for words of encouragement on grilled mackerel - could anybody also provide some guidance on timing and texture?

Since i never had this fish rather than in its marinated form i don't have a clue what to expect.

my other idea i forgot to mention is a whole flounder - thinking of it as a poor man halibut - does it make any sense?

[LindaK]

My personal favorite, if it's in season and my budget allows, is fresh swordfish. Just a bit of salt and pepper, lightly oiled to prevent sticking. And though it sounds crazy on the bbq, a small pat of butter just before taking if off the grill. nothing is better.

A close second is a whole trout, when grilled whole it stays very moist. My favorite method: lightly brushed inside and out with evoo. inside: salt and pepper, one minced clove of garlic per trout and one or two fresh sage leaves en chiffonade. When I want to be over the top, I saute a slice or two of pancetta per trout, sliced, and use that for stuffing as well. Always a big hit at a dinner party.

[carswell]

thanks for words of encouragement on grilled mackerel - could anybody also  provide some guidance on timing and texture?

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Timing will depend on factors like the heat of your fire and the thickness of the fish. It'll be about the same as an equivalent thickness of salmon. The texture is closer to that of other "oily" fish like salmon or bluefish than, say, sole or snapper. To soften the flavour, you can let the fish sit briefly in an acidic marinade (made with citrus juice, as Kevin72 suggests, wine or tomatoes, for example). You should also frequently baste the fish with something similar as it grills to keep it from drying out. Another thing about mackerel: the dark strip of flesh that runs along either side is the strongest tasting; some people remove it before cooking but that's probably not advisable when grilling.

my other idea i forgot to mention is a whole flounder  - thinking of it as a poor man halibut - does it make any sense?

You can grill just about anything. I've never tried flounder but suspect you'd have to be careful about overcooking due to its thinness. Also, the increased surface area would make the often problematic sticking skin even more of an issue. Lastly, the fish's shape would make it a tight squeeze in many grill baskets. If you try it, let us know how it turns out.