A home cook seeks to elevate their whole grilled fish technique beyond traditional methods, exploring bold new flavor profiles while keeping the dish intact and cooked over heat. Inspired by Thai-inspired approaches—such as marinades or fillings that go beyond standard lemon-herb blends—they’re open to creative twists, including infused oils, aromatic pastes, or unconventional seasonings, while steering clear of salt-crust methods. The goal is to maintain crisp skin and moist flesh, with techniques like proper resting and careful seasoning playing key roles in past successes. Readers share their own inventive methods for achieving restaurant-quality results at home.
Whole grilled fish with crispy skin has long been one of my favorite dishes by quite a wide margin. That said, I somehow lack the nerve to step outside my comfort zone and try a true variation. Here is my usual go to: - A fresh, bright eyed, shimmering, firm and well rounded sea bream, sea bass or snapper with scales removed and fins trimmed. 3 to 4 cuts on each side, season generously with minced garlic, kosher salt, mixed peppers, cayenne, parsley and sometimes grated lime or lemon zest - taking care to season in the cuts as well as on skin. Bask with good olive oil then fill the belly with lemon slices, rosemary, parsley, garlic and cherry tomatoes. I then use a fish grilling basket to cook on bbq or heavenly charcoal until I get, in best cases, moist flesh and perfectly crisp skin. I then let it rest in aluminium foil for a few minutes and eat it with a squeeze of lemon wedge, each bite having a decent piece of skin on. I sometimes finish with some cilantro & garlic infused melted butter. Edit: one common variant I sometimes to is to pour some sauce vierge on the whole thing. Now I wish to step out of that trope or improve on it in unusual ways. I have been simmering the following recipe in the back of my mind for a while and would be looking for something else in that vein. https://www.eatingthaifood.com/thai-grilled-fish-recipe-pla-pao/ Only constraint: the fish is whole and grilled. Also: please skip variants implicating the salt crust method as, even if the method is interesting, I don't really wish to buy salt by the ton. Don't hesitate to also mention techniques that you found helped you getting the best results. Thanks in advance! submitted by /u/NStavroguine [link] [comments]
