There’s a bad joke among old skool strawberry nosed newspaper sub editors when training newbies. “Fresh fish sold here” is the sign above the fish shop. “Fresh” can be removed because of course it’s fresh. “Here” because that’s obvious. It’s a shop, so lose the “sold”. And the “fish” because you can smell it a mile away.
It’s a lesson in brevity that I’m ignoring because I can.
This particular fish I didn’t smell,or even see coming. I didn’t even kill it; smash it on the head; bash it on a rock; or stab it with a big knife.
I’m lucky that I bought my from a fishmonger dead, its blank eyes starring me out. All I had to do was take it home, scale, gut and prepare – tonight on hot coals on one of those cool tiny $20 Vietnamese BBQs that I gave away a while back.
Usually, fishmongers will scale and gut it for you but I daren’t ask as these ocean perch were so damned cheap.
The shopping expedition started off like any other with me deciding that I wanted to make a tuna tartare at a time of year when they aren’t plentiful and would cost about $50 a kilo.
But at the market we found these beautiful fresh orangey-pink fish at $3.99 a kilo. I asked for two. No not two kilos but two fish costing less than three bucks – you heard it right. How could I expect it scraped and gutted for that?
These are big headed fish, ideal for stock and soups and the flesh on one is enough for a person. First the landlady, for once not wearing her ocelot print velure tracky dacks and novelty slippers but still feeding her New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc habit, scraped the scales off the fish.
The tip here is to wear an apron and hold the fish deep in a sink as the scales do go everywhere. There are special devices that can make this easier, which is useful for larger fish. My current father in law has a home made plank with nails in it which he scrapes across fish, the ones big enough to have a movie made about.
Next it’s my turn as it turns out my Sauv Blanc swilling friend is squeemish. I don’t have a dedicated implement for fish and simply take a sharp 25 inch chef’s knife and stab the fish in the neck between the gills, cutting it open up to its arsehole. I simply ripped the guts out and dumped them.
The landlady, while I’m under attack from a fishy pussy, makes a paste in a pestle and mortar out of small hot chillis, red shallots, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, lime juice, olive oil and seasoning. The exact formula doesn’t matter but the end result is far more aromatic if pounded rather than whizzed up in a food processor.
I cut the fish flesh diagonally, rubbing this marinade into the fish inside and out leaving it to stand for, it couldn’t have been, 30 minutes.
It was then simply a matter of BBQing the fish for probably about ten minutes.
You can’t eat much better than this for three bucks.
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Weather is perfect for it this Sunday. It is my favourite toy at the moment.
I bet that was absolutely delicious! I can smell it now!
The first par took me so far back I almost kinked my neck.
Good summer idea with the fish and the tabletop BBQ (it looks to be a likely replacement for an elderly hibachi that parted company with me between QLD and Hobart some years ago).
Given my rather slack prep habits, a mortar and pestle (along with a sharp chopper) seems to handle most of my ‘food processing needs’ these days.
Penny,Mine too.So cheap and simple. There’s a place I hear that that amazing special charcoal which I must get rather than use heat beads.
Reemski, it was and simple too.
Our Man, We are both showing our ages.Shame i didn’t sub the intro better though. The Viet BBQ is worthwhile and great value replacement. I forgot to have a rant about gas and electric BBQs too.
Dingaling, can’t go wrong with fresh fish, what a bargain too. Reminds me, I should go fishing one of these days, it’s been too long.
Great looking little fish Ed. The eyes have it.
The fish looks a little scary. It looks like staring at me for help…haha. Fresh fish are always best, no matter how you cook it. Wish I can get it here.
Fish Pussy. Classic! Loved the photo when I clicked through to Flickr
Bet this would have tasted fantastic, especially with the smokey aroma from the coals.
Pretty great meal for $3.
Yes, love using fish heads for soups and makes for great fish stock whilts BBQ’ing the rest!. Nice find.
Cheap, delicious and healthy!
Let me at that fresh fish.
Please feel free to contact me if you’d like a tabletopBBQ…no longer $20…sorry Ed, now $30 or two for $50.
On the charcoal front its worthwhile seeking some out in favour of heat beads….however i came across some compressed coconut fuel for small BBQs at The Essential Ingredient in Prahran the other day.
They are round and come in packs of 6 for about $15…worth checking out. Happy BBQing
hey ed, did you give away the last two bbq’s? when we were traveling by boat down the mekong river in Laos in 98, we stopped at a small village and were invited to share some local bbq’d delicacies. They were cooked in the traditional way on skewers and flattened over the grill- i declined, but the recipe goes something like this….
take 6 large rats and skewer from one end to the other.
place splayed on bbq and flatten between grills.
turn until well cooked.
arrange in hand, holding skewers like lollipops with heads pointing up.
serve.
Ed, the guaranteed freshness of your meal had me hooked.
Although it will still take a preparatory bottle of wine I am sure, you have brought me several steps closer to cleaning and gutting my very own fish. Thanks for the consult!
H
hi Marty. sitting at home and read all the comment so i would like to say the fish bbq is just great , yes specialy fresh fish is just jummy with very simply deeping sause ( salt, pepper, lemon juice) is great, i ll cook fish for tonite.