BBQ fish

[Noelm]

Anyone do much BBQed Fish?? I have found that unless the BBQ plate is properly cleaned, and by that I mean actually removed from the Barbie and washed, it never seems to come out real good, also Cutlets seem to be the best by far, followed by the drier types of Fish, like Tuna and Marlin or Broadbill, for more "normal" Fish, Bream and so on, a Webber and one of those Fish double sided hinged wire gizmos work really well, anyone got any "secrets" they would like to share for BBQ Fish? outside cooking with the Family in the warmer months is one of my favorite pastimes.

[Volvo]

Noel, i just went to all stainless steel plates mainly for that reason and havent looked back..Cleaning them is a breeze and meats etc come up nice n golden brown..
As for barbi Fish?? Occasionally do a Mackerel Steak or two without being too fussy but if you really want a treat gill n gut you whole fish..trout ,Lipper Reds, grunter or Black jew..
Stuff the stomache with Onion,carrots n cellery...
Two three slices into the side of each fish and place a dollop of butter into each slice....Coupla stabs with a shap knife in between your slices and place a knob of garlic into each puncture..
Mix an equal parts Olive Oil n lemon into a cup with halfe a handfull of Oregano leaves n beat the crapout of it till it emulsifies and rub over your fish..
Wrap in foil and place on the rack of your webber over the coals with lid utop and flues open..
Wouldnt go too heavy with the amount of heatbeads at the bottom and you should end up with a treat if you havent or dont allready do your fish this way ey..
Cheers and Kalli Oreksi

[Noelm]

so you found that the Plate needed to be spotless to get good results?? normaly I just do a simple salt and pepper and a brush with some Oil, then onto a hot BBQ Plate and your done, but the Webber does come out a treat sometimes, not too sure how or why the heat beads could be better, but they are, don't use it much for Fish cooking though, just use the old Barbie.

[Volvo]

Mate might be a bad habit but always liked a spotless plate for my barby cookin..
been through a variety of cast iron plates and no matter what, ive always found them to soak up oil as thay are porous..
Been told to yep!!!turn the heat up full bore , burn the oils n fats out etc, etc but halfeway through a cookup the stuff still leaches out making my food look a tad black..
For me anyhows the stainless has solved the problemo ...And now look forward to lighting up the barbi more regular along with either my mini webber or Souvla...
For Whole fish i would never go past the webber ever!!!! ( ryhmes ey lol.)..
Especially good sized fish like mentioned above...
lately for cleaning the plate ive just been using a halfe mixture of vinigar and water in a spray bottle with the plate cold. Bit of a scrub n wipe and another wipe with just fresh clean water and Bobs your Auntie..
Mind you Stainless plates aint cheap ...

[missami]

Hey guys...I'm a chef by trade. So i might have a couple of ideas. One idea we use at work on the hot plate (specially after meat has been cooked on it) is putting baking paper (GLAD BAKE) on the hot plate first. drizzle oil over baking paper and place your fish on top. Cooks perfectly with out charcol meat theft on the fish. Other wise keep fish whole (guttered and scaled obviously), score the fish, (using your knife cut on the same angle you would cut the head off.) Slice into both sides of the fish about 3-4 or more times (depends on size) Drizzle oil over flat hot plate and place fish on plate. (Scoring the fish with keep the skin from drying to quickly and shrinking.

[BGG]

Absolutely agree with missami. The baking paper on the BBQ is the go. We use for eggs , fish and anything else that's a bit delicate

[Wahoo]

Noelm,


get the plate very hot, add a cup of tap water on it, and just watch all the grime lift off, scrape away the crap ( watch the steam while doing this as it does burn the hand) i do this 2 - 3 times before i cook, plate comes up spotless, i know a few PPL say it will warp or crack the plate, but i have been doing this for about 3yrs now and never had a problem, not a flash barbi either, just your run of the mill BBQ, S/S plate sounds the go


for the guys with S/S plates, what grade S/S is it?


Daz

[disorderly]

Yeah I agree with Daz....Plate has to be real clean...do a few high temp water cleans with associated scraping's or if you have a high pressure cleaner(guerney) then this cleans it up real nice....really get the nossle right on the plate and lift every bit of crap.... the trick is to have it clean as possible and cook it fast so it doesn't dry out...also pull it off when it's still not quite cooked as it will further cook due the inherent heat within...absolutely nothing worse than overcooked fish....there is only a minute or 2 between perfection and dog food with cooking fish.

Scott

ps... if that is all to hard, the fish in foil method is a bit more forgiving....still though always pull it off slightly underdone as it will still cook a bit further.

[Noelm]

I have used the paper method a bit over the years, but still find that a really nice clean Plate is by far the best, it is not a real big deal, but to bring out the best, the few minutes it takes is well worth it, I must admit, I have never tried to cook Eggs on the Paper, might just give that a whirl next time, because Eggs also require a reasonably clean Plate (well I reckon anyway)

[FNQCairns]

Will buy some of that Glad bake, top idea! For BBQs the further away from a teflon topped cooking result I can get the better, so I deliberately do not clean the plate real well I let a good soaking blast of heat with a wipe and extra oil do it's job for red meat and vegetables etc Always been a problem for me cooking fish on a proper BBQ plate, again the paper idea is just a great idea!! thanks.

cheers fnq

[Outsider1]

I have used the paper method a bit over the years, but still find that a really nice clean Plate is by far the best, it is not a real big deal, but to bring out the best, the few minutes it takes is well worth it, I must admit, I have never tried to cook Eggs on the Paper, might just give that a whirl next time, because Eggs also require a reasonably clean Plate (well I reckon anyway)

I agree Noelm,

my plate "regime" is similar.

Starts after I have finished cooking, leave the burners on for up to 10 minutes at full heat. This burns off what ever is on the plate(s) and gets them real hot (got this tip from the place I bought my last BBQ). Then hit it with tap water (careful not to burn yourself) and let it bubble away to nothing. I then clean off the remains with a scrapper and newspaper. A light oil (spray can is easiest) to reseal the plate to finish when it has cooled.

Then next time I use it, full heat and then tap water to clean off before the next meal is cooked. Sounds time consuming but it isn't and works a treat. Also seems to stop rust and corrosion on the plate as well.

Cooking in foil is always reliable and helps keep in the juices and helps stops the fish drying out. I tend to use the oven for this most times these days though. You can't beat the plate though for cooking prawns or bugs etc, just don't overcook them.

The baking paper is also a good one and a quick alternative to a full clean up first. I would use if I was doing 2 cooking sessions for example.

Cheers

Dave

[Noelm]

just about to do some minor modifications to my BBQ on the weekend, I might get 1 stainless plate and keep it for doing Fish only (maybe) and keep the old cast ones for Steak and so on, I find that most new type Barbies have way too much open grill space and not enough solid plate, but I guess a lot may like the grill thing, seems to be too much flame flare up for me, so I am cutting the open bit down to about 1/3 of the total instead of 1/2, I will make a Stainless sold plate if I can't buy one the right size, I want it to fit in the Dish Washer (but that is only a "wish" not a necessity) anyway, I had some very nice Kingfish Cutlets on my spotless Plate last night, a light brush with some Oil, a sprinkle of Salt, a grind of Pepper, onto the hot plate, hhhmmm.

[missami]

Just a couple of ideas for cleaning the bbq. 1. for both flat and ribbed plates you could go the corossive way and use bbq and hot plate clean (clears the sinus really well too) or 2. only for flat plate, get it smoking hot and use cheap table salt and cover the whole plate couple mill thick with salt and just let it cook/smoke/burn till salt turns black, brown or grey (at least a good hour or two) and scrap off (if you scrap off when hot be careful) then wash down with water. Salt method I use only once a month. Works wonders.