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Cooking Fish

Black_Fly

Black_Fly

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I’ve got this LW voyager grill that I got years ago with the intention of cutting down the amount of oil needed for extended trips. However, the first trout I tried to roast on it ended up in the dirt. I really haven’t had much better luck since that trip. Anyone know the secret to cooking tasty fish on a grill? I can do it with foil, but that means packing out messy, stinky foil.
 
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I have never tried this, but I wonder if parchment paper would work. I use it in the oven all the time, even at high temperatures like 450. If you had the grill high enough so that flames were not touching the parchment paper, it should be good to go. When finished, you could just burn the paper.
 
memaquay said:
I have never tried this, but I wonder if parchment paper would work. I use it in the oven all the time, even at high temperatures like 450. If you had the grill high enough so that flames were not touching the parchment paper, it should be good to go. When finished, you could just burn the paper.
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That’s worth a try! I may test it on my grill at home. Thanks.
 
Small wire grill works good. We used to catch salmon in the San Juan Islands and go ashore and build a red alder fire. Best fish there is.
 
Saute rather than deep-fry will use a lot less oil.
For cooking on a grill: pre-heat and oil the grill, dry the fish and coat with a bit of oil; be patient, a more solidly cooked fish will be less likely to stick and separate; roll rather than lift to turn. Heard a suggestion to cook over slices of lemon...added flavour too.
Fish baskets work well also - finer mesh than many grills and leaves the fire with the fish so anything that sticks is easier to eat.
 
1) Open the can and drain the fish. Save the oil for the caesar salad later.
2) Halve the avocado. Knife out the pit and scoop out the flesh.
3) Combine the fish and avocado along with a dollop of the homemade mayonnaise you prepared from the free range chicken eggs you gathered in the morning. Chickens are easy trippers but don't expect any to share the ride home.
4) Spread liberally on the toasted sourdough you baked fresh earlier. Don't forget to save some of that starter for next years trip.
5) Quick now, hurry up and snap a selfie for the instagram followers. (dang! Forgot the white asparagus.)
 
carpenter said:
Saute rather than deep-fry will use a lot less oil.
For cooking on a grill: pre-heat and oil the grill, dry the fish and coat with a bit of oil; be patient, a more solidly cooked fish will be less likely to stick and separate; roll rather than lift to turn. Heard a suggestion to cook over slices of lemon...added flavour too.
Fish baskets work well also - finer mesh than many grills and leaves the fire with the fish so anything that sticks is easier to eat.
Click to expand...
I sauté too, but it’s still a lot of oil. I’m trying to trim as much weight as possible from my truck so my post-surgical body won’t die in mid-portage. I’ve had 4 surgeries in 3 years. Hope that’s the end of it.

Then, there’s what to do with the used oil? It’s a conundrum.
 
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carpenter said:
Saute rather than deep-fry will use a lot less oil.
For cooking on a grill: pre-heat and oil the grill, dry the fish and coat with a bit of oil; be patient, a more solidly cooked fish will be less likely to stick and separate; roll rather than lift to turn. Heard a suggestion to cook over slices of lemon...added flavour too.
Fish baskets work well also - finer mesh than many grills and leaves the fire with the fish so anything that sticks is easier to eat.
Click to expand...
Yeah picking a big fish up can be a fatal mistake, I learned. 🥴
 
When I used to saute fish I didn't use much oil, not really enough to cause a cleanup issue. But any oil left in the pan is easily used up by making a little bannock to go with the fish.
Black_Fly said:
I’m trying to trim as much weight as possible
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If that's the main goal then I think you'd save the most weight by leaving the fishing equipment at home. You would also save the weight of everything that goes into preparing and cooking the fish.

Most people tend to bring enough food for the entire trip and fish are just a 'bonus.' If that bonus is important to you then go for it but I think you can be better fueled for less weight without it.

Alan
 
We bring some squares of Heavy Duty aluminum foil. Oil it very lightly and parcel up whatever you're cooking; fish, vegetables, mixed grill also tossed in just a little bit of oil (or marg, ghee, whatever)...Cook on indirect heat so's not to burn the contents. After emptying the parcels onto your plates open up the foil and lay it over the heat to burn off food residue. Often they'll burn fairly clean to be re-used, otherwise the thoroughly scorched foil can be folded away into garbage to be packed out. Very little oil, very little foil. Miniscule amount of garbage.
My favourite fish recipe is a curry. I know. It's just weird.
 
I bought the Purcell Trench Streamside grill years ago to roast lake trout on a trip. Without aluminum foil, it’s not very useful. Think I’ll test the parchment paper idea at home. Burning the crud off foil might be the best option (which I’ve done). When my family went tripping, I used an aluminum Dutch oven, which worked on my fuel stove. Fish did well in that with minimal oil. Not really an option with a twig stove. Breading tends to soak up oil, so skipping that should help. I just gotta bake instead of fry. Be nice not to need anything but a fire, the grill, and a fish. I’m sure native Americans had a trick or two for cooking fish on a fire.
 
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Have you ever tried a reflector oven? Maybe just a little butter in the pan, then let it bake by the fire. I've never tried it, but I do enjoy my reflector over, mainly to bake biscuits and such.
 
I'll likely get skewered for this - boil it. Yeah, I know - sacrilege, but think of it as a chowder. And: no special cookware required; more nutrients retained; way easier to clean up; and no billboard-like advertisement to every animal within 2 miles.
 
scratchypants said:
I'll likely get skewered for this -
Click to expand...

Speaking of:

PG Downes, in Sleeping Island, mentions, and pictures, their method of cooking fish over a fire.

One end of a stick was shoved down the fishe's mouth and the other end shoved into the ground (or was wedged between rocks) so the fish was supported in front of the fire. Once the first side of the fish was cooked it was rotated on the stick to cook the other side. The cooked meat was then forked from the carcass.

There used to be a website that had that picture in a collection but I can't find it now.

Alan
 
Walleye is a great eating fish. I like small bass too which we can find in the West much easier. I even like Northern pike with the bones taken out. All are good in a pan with bacon fat or some butter. Grilling them over fruitwood is good too. Most of my fishing has been in cold water in the West which means trout and salmon. Small bass is readily available on some rivers.

Smoking fish is my favorite way to prepare it. Brine overnight in salt, water and some kind of sweetener. Cold smoke it around temps under 140 degrees for around 6-7 hours. Splendid and it keeps for several weeks.
 
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