Best Grilled Whole Fish With Four Pepper Ginger Sauce Recipes

GRILLED WHOLE FISH RECIPE

Steps:

• As you choose your fish, pick fresh fish on ice at your grocery store. Choose fish with clear eyes (fish that have cloudy eyes are less fresh). If you can smell the fish, it should smell like the sea and not fishy. Have the fishmonger clean the fish, also removing the gills and tail.
• Dry your fish with paper towels and use a knife to cut 3 slits on each side of the fish. Each slit is about 1 inch deep.
• Add salt and pepper all over the fish (on the skin, slits, and inside of the cavity).
• Add minced garlic in the cavity and the slits.
• Add the lemon wedges and green onions in each of the slits and the cavity.
• Finish stuffing the fish with leeks, scallions, shallots, rosemary, and parsley.
• Use the soaked toothpicks to keep the stuffing inside the cavity.
• Add a generous amount of vegetable oil all around the fish.
• Heat your charcoal. I like to use natural chunk charcoal and fill about 50-60% of my chimney starter. This fills about 40-50% of my small charcoal grill with about 2-3 inches distance from coals to the fish.
• Once your coals have a nice white coat from heating up, they're ready to pour onto the grill. If the coals aren't covered in white yet, they may not get hot enough on the grill and if you heat them for too long before pouring out, their life is shortened. Cover the grill for a few minutes so it warms up.
• Scrub the grill grates on the top and bottom with a metal grill cleaner.
• Whole fish directly on the grill: Place the fish directly onto the grill and sit tight (don't try to move the fish around before it crisps and cooks or you'll end up breaking the skin). Each side takes about 6-8 minutes with the lid covering the bbq. Once the first side crisps and is easier to lift, you can carefully turn it over. Once the whole fish registers with an internal temperature of about 145°F or the meat is firm and opaque, then it's finished. Whole fish in foil: Wrap the fish with foil and place it onto the grill. Each side takes about 6-8 minutes with the lid covering the bbq. After about 7 minutes, carefully turn it over. Slightly open the packet and use a thermometer to check the fish. Once the whole fish registers with an internal temperature of about 145°F or the meat is firm and opaque, then it's finished.
• Serve the fish fresh off the grill with some rice and garlic noodles.

GRILLED WHOLE FISH WITH LEMONGRASS, CHILES AND COCONUT

Steps:

• Season cavities and outside of fish with salt and pepper. Rub skin all over with coconut oil.
• Thinly slice 1 lime and 1 shallot. Cut another lime into wedges and save for garnish. Fill each fish cavity with lime and shallot slices, a handful of cilantro stems (discard the rest) and the lemongrass.
• Prepare the sauce: Coarsely chop the remaining shallot and juice the remaining lime. In a mini food processor, combine shallot, 1 tablespoon lime juice, the cilantro leaves, the mint, the chile, the garlic, the fish sauce and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pulse until herbs are chopped, then add coconut milk and oil. Continue to pulse until a coarse, chunky sauce forms. (Don't overdo it; you want a relish-like texture, not a purée.) Taste and add more salt, fish sauce and/or lime juice if necessary. (Alternatively, chop everything really finely by hand and stir in the coconut milk and lime juice.) Sauce can be prepared up to 4 hours ahead. Refrigerate until needed.
• Light or heat the grill to medium-high heat. Place fish in basket and grill until blistered and just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes per side. (Poke the fish along the spine; it should be tender but still juicy.) Serve, garnished with lime wedges and mint leaves, with sauce on the side.

WHOLE FRIED FISH WITH GRILLED LIME, CILANTRO AND GINGER VINAIGRETTE

Steps:

• Preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Add the limes cut-side down and cook until deeply charred, 5 to 8 minutes.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk together the olive oil, rice vinegar, honey, grated ginger, soy sauce and fish sauce. Season with salt and pepper, then set aside.
• Add the frying oil to a cast-iron skillet large enough so the oil comes no more than halfway up the skillet sides. Heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the jalapeno and 2-inch piece ginger to the oil.
• Place the fish on a cutting board and pat dry with paper towels. Make slashes crosswise on a diagonal along the body of the fish every 2 inches on both sides, cutting all the way down to the bone. Season the fish generously inside and out with salt. Mix together the rice flour, coriander, lime zest and 1 tablespoon salt in a shallow bowl. Dredge the fish in the seasoned rice flour.
• When the oil is 350 degrees F, grip a fish firmly by the tail and carefully lower head-first into the skillet, making sure to lay it down away from you. Repeat with the other fish. Fry until the flesh on the bottom side is cooked through and the skin is deeply browned and crisp, about 4 minutes. While the fish are frying, baste the inside of the heads with hot oil periodically.
• Use tongs and a fish spatula to carefully turn both fish over. Fry until the flesh on the second side is cooked through and the skin is deeply browned and crisp, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and season both sides with more salt.
• To serve: Place both fish on a platter. Spoon the ginger vinaigrette over the top and around the fish. Garnish with cilantro and scallions and place the grilled limes around the edges.

GRILLED WHOLE FISH

Steps:

• Preheat grill for direct-heat grilling over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, drizzle cavity of each fish with 1 tablespoon olive oil, then season generously with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper.
• Aromatics help keep whole fish moist while grilling. Stuff 1 fish cavity with lemon slices and dill and the other with lime slices, basil, and Thai chiles. If using just 1 filling, double amounts called for.
• Fasten each opening with a wooden skewer or toothpicks that have been soaked in water so they don't burn. This keeps the aromatics inside and also makes fish easier to handle on the grill.
• Using a paring knife, make long, 1/4-inch-deep diagonal slashes at 2-inch intervals on both sides of fish so they cook evenly throughout. This also allows any seasonings on skin (see step 5) to penetrate.
• Rub both sides of each fish with remaining olive oil and season with salt and pepper, working all into slashes as well as heads and tails -- both are edible, and the tail becomes delightfully crisp when grilled.
• Brush hot grill with vegetable oil; immediately place fish on grill. Cook, undisturbed and uncovered, until undersides are charred and flesh along gills on undersides turns opaque, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Turn fish with 2 large spatulas. If they stick, wait a few seconds until skin sears enough to release cleanly. Grill on other side until charred and fish are just cooked through and opaque, 5 to 7 minutes more.
• Serve fish with lemon and lime wedges and more herbs. To serve, cut fillet free from top side of fish and remove with a spatula. Remove bones to free other fillet.

STEAMED WHOLE FISH WITH GINGER AND SESAME

Steps:

• Rinse fish with cold water, pat dry and season inside and out with salt and pepper. Place both fish on a heatproof platter or shallow baking dish. (Dish must be slightly smaller than inside dimensions of steamer.)
• Whisk together sweet wine, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, chile bean paste and 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Pour over fish and let marinate, turning once, for 30 minutes.
• Set up steamer with 3 inches of water in the bottom, then set rack 1 inch over water. Bring water to a rapid boil. Place fish, still on platter with marinade, on rack and cover with lid. (If using a bamboo steamer, cover top with a dish towel to retain steam.) Steam fish for 10 to 12 minutes, until just done. Flesh should look opaque, and there should be no pink at the bone when probed gently with a paring knife. Carefully remove platter from steamer.
• Meanwhile, place a skillet or wok over high heat and add vegetable oil. When oil looks hazy, add scallions and toss to coat. Sprinkle lightly with salt and stir-fry until slightly charred, about 2 minutes.
• To serve, scatter scallions over fish and top liberally with cilantro sprigs. (To make a tastier cilantro garnish, dress sprigs lightly with sesame oil and salt.) Using 2 forks, serve top fillet from carcass. Remove and discard skeleton to reveal lower fillet. Give each diner some fish, scallions and cilantro. Spoon pan juices over each serving.