YPDIW: Grilled Fish
Fish is a fantastic thing to grill during the summertime, though a lot of people seem to be afraid of it and think that it’s daunting or difficult.
So I thought I’d go over common mistakes that people make when grilling fish, why they’re mistakes, and also how you can grill your fish to perfection every time.
Underheating the Grill
One of the biggest mistakes people make when grilling in general is not heating their grill long enough, they let the grill warm up for a few minutes then throw their food right on top and hope for the best.
You can’t cook fish on a cold grill, the fish will just sit there on the grates so by the time the grill does get hot, it’ll be overcooked and, worst of all, you won’t get those classic marks that is iconic with grilled food.
Cooking cold fish
Even if people get their grill hot enough, I’ll also see people take their fish out of the fridge and cook it straight away, the problem with this is that the cold fish will take longer to heat up and therefore take longer to cook.
Constantly moving the fish
By far, the worst thing you can do when cooking any kind of fish is move it around too much.
I’ve seen it, people will put their fish on the grill, then take their spatula and try to move it around because they’re afraid it will burn.
This isn’t a steak, the fish is not going to stay intact from all of that movement, it’s just going to stick to the grill grates and fall apart, it’ll also cook unevenly.
Using the wrong tools
Another huge mistake people make when cooking fish is moving it around with tongs.
Fish tends to be very delicate and flaky, and tongs, especially grill tongs, are simply too heavy-handed to move the fish around gently, so the fish could end up falling apart.
What you are left with flakes of unevenly cooked fish that looks like a dog chewed it and leave part of that beautiful fish on the grill. Who wants to eat that?
Now I am going to show you the right way to grill fish. I’ll be working with salmon, but these rules work for any fish that you want to grill.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, freshness is key when cooking fish. So make sure your fish has no blemishes or rough spots, and has no lingering odor. Letting the fish hang out in the fridge for about a day or two isn’t hurt too badly, but after 4-5 days you should throw it away.
Also, if you can help it, try to look for relatively flat fish to ensure even cooking.
Before you grill
The first thing you want to do is get that grill as hot as you can and let it heat up for about 10-15 minutes before you even think about putting your fish on, this will ensure that the grill is hot and ready when you are.
While the grill gets hot, you can also take the fish out of the fridge and let it come up to room temperature, this will allow the fish to cook quicker as you aren’t starting with a cold piece of fish.
When you’re almost ready to get cooking, you’ll want to pat the fish dry with some paper towels, this will remove any surface moisture and help ensure that the fish doesn’t stick to the grill.
You’ll also want to lightly season the fish with salt and pepper, just because fish live in the ocean does not mean they come pre-seasoned, and rub a little oil onto the fish to, again, help prevent sticking.
The Grilling
Now comes the essential part, cooking the fish.
To start, generously scrub and grease your grill grates, then lay the fish on the hottest part of the grill and leave that there.
You want to start by putting the salmon skin-side down as you want the skin to get nice and crispy. If you’re cooking skinless fish, then make sure the pretty presentation side goes down first.
Once that fish goes onto the grill, leave it there. Let it cook for about 3-4 minutes to get the skin crisp and to start developing those grill marks. Believe it or not, fish will release itself from the grill grates when it is ready.
As the fish cooks, you’ll notice the edges start to turn white, and as that white travels up the side of the fish, that’s the indicator that the fish is cooking. You’ll want to flip the fish with a thin spatula when that white part gets about 2/3 of the way up the sides of the fish.
Most grill spatulas tend to be quite thin, this is good when flipping something delicate like salmon, but a fish spatula would also be very useful.
Once flipped, let the fish go for a few minutes longer. It’ll take about 3-4 minutes to get the fish to medium-rare, but if you like it more well done then you can certainly let it cook longer.
(By the way, if you haven’t tried it, cut a lemon in half and put that onto the grill. The lemon will caramelize a bit, giving you wonderful juice to squeeze on top of your fish.)
To make sure the salmon is cooked the way you want it, a digital thermometer would be handy, but you can also check it by gently squeezing the sides. The softer the fish feels, the more rare it is, the firmer it feels, the more well done.
Finally, as with cooking any kind of protein, you will want to let the salmon rest for a few minutes after cooking so it’ll be juicier and more tender.
If you’ve done everything right, then you’ll end up with tender, flaky, intact fish that has that classic grill flavor, crispy skin, and you will certainly get your money’s worth.
