Odysseus2016 wrote:
will give it a go again. Always used to feel you lose some juiciness if direct on the braai - but maybe continual basting will do the trick
Just first sear the flesh side like a steak, to seal in the juice, then turn and cook the fish slowly not too close to the heat, on the skin side till it crisps up, then i turn again and get a browning on the flesh and serve. Take care not to over cook. Leave the scales on for braai'ing like that or put slices of onion or lemon to stop the skin from burning. The smokey flavour beats tin foil anyday.. You can baste or if you don't over do the fish and its fresh it is not needed..But butter, garlic, black pepper, salt is the norm, apricot jam if you feel like a capie for the night. I was shown how to braai katonkel also by an east african buddy, the way they do it, in a grid with the fish horizontal with its side like its swimming next to the fire, and the grid vertical. Then just slowly cook the spiced and buttered fish, they use coconut oil and spices, turning occasionally basically smoking the fish next to the braai rather than braai'ing it. A freshly caught and bled bonnie slowly done like that is unbelievable.
Otherwise..I was given a batter recipe by a commercial fisherman that I still can't beat. This will keep you busy till get bored of fish, this is how I was shown to fry fish and I'll never get bored of it..Love it.
2 cups flour (Stone ground, organic makes a noticable difference)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp white pepper ground
1 tsp black pepper ground
2 tsp dried or 2 Tbl spoons fresh marjoram/oregano
2 tsp rajah's medium curry powder
Put that all in a bag with no holes or an old clean ice cream tub,l shake and mix. You can freeze it between uses and for deep frying its fine to use till basically kla, 3 or 4 good fry's and just put back immediately in the freezer after each use and take out just before using again.
Slice your deboned, fillets of fish into chunks or fingers or schnitzels or whatever..Soak in a bowl with 50/50 mix of egg and milk..2 eggs is fine for a large meal for 2. Then get your oil hot in a small pot and have tongs ready and a plate with a few sheets of paper towel ready..Take your bag and have it ready too. Take a few pieces of fish, let the bulk of milk/egg drip off and drop them in the flour mix, do a bunch at a time. Close the bag/ziplock/tub and give it a good shake and everything will get lekker coated and the mess is contained..the oil should be hot, drop the first piece in and then the next till the pot is full, the oil should almost cover the fish. Don't waste time, immediately flip the pieces over and do the other side till golden, if the first side is not golden do a last flip and take out and put on the paper. Have your oil on a decent medium heat but not too hot, work the next load in quickly so the oil does not get too hot, load and flip and then load the bag with the last fish and shake..take out or flip again, empty the pot and repeat till done, take the oil off the heat. I reuse the oil once for deep frying fish or chokka, filter and fridge. Makes it economical for when the menu is fish, fish and fish. Like in my case this winter..
As soon as you are done, close the bag or tub and in the deep freeze. I've done this since I was shown and I haven't gotten sick so its just fine..After maybe 4 uses if there is still flour I'll toss it into the compost. Don't overcook the fish again, but semi deep-fried like this is hard to beat for white fish and oily fish.
I must get myself that book, I need new recipes also..but here's one last one to try out..
To go with the above..make some of this, way cheaper and better for you than the store stuff and then you also realise how much oil you consume...
Home made mayo, no added sugar/preservatives.
1 large/xlarge egg
200-250ml sunflower oil
1 tsp Mustard Powder
2 tsp White vinegar (I like rice wine vinegar for this)
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 pinch salt to taste
1 pinch black pepper
1 pinch smoked paprika (optional)
1 splash "fish sauce" (optional)
1 Stick blender
500ml consol jar
Take a 500ml clean consol jar, crack one large egg into it, just the whole thing, dont separate..farm organic eggs are the best but any decent egg will do. Then add the vinegar and lemon juice. Then add everything else except the oil. Blitz it up a few times so its is mixed well but don't over blitz it, you want to start an emulsion but not break it. Once that is mixed, it only takes a few blitzes, pour in the oil in a steady steam while continuously blitzing up and down, it should emulsify up nicely and thicken up the more oil you add, after 200ml or so it will hit a point and be like mayo, you can add more for thicker to taste. Once mixed stop blitzing or you might make it separate again. Sometimes I get a batch of k@k eggs that just separate. Fry those, get some better eggs. The fish sauce gives it a bit of that zest that sushi mayo has, it may not be the fancy japanese stuff, but its pretty close and it far beats your average supermarket stuff. I can't go back haha.. Once done, clean the stick immediately blitzing in warm soapy water and cleaning, and close the jar and put in the fridge till you use it. Use a clean spoon to decant out, it has no preservative so you must be clean and don't leave the lid open but this makes about 350-400ml of mayo and it will last for 4 days, but it normally gets eaten long before that..Be careful its really good so watch your belly if you start nailing the mayo on chips and every meal! I make it for every seafood basically, if there isn't in the fridge I knock some up in 2 minutes. A mate showed me this too.
Like I said, I can't go back to store mayo.
But gotta get some new recipes myself..anyone got any good contributions? Sparra...
