Grilling Flathead?

[diver1]

anyone done it? was it any good? how do i do it so its more like the stuff u buy (as in nice n moist ) not all dry.

[joel99]

Coat the fillets lightly in flour and pan fry them in a bit of olive oil. Your probably getting dry fillets cos your overcooking them so either cook you fillets as you have been doing on a lower heat, or keep the heat up and just take them off a minute or 2 earlier than you do. Flathead fillets aren't that big so they don't need to much, and remember that the flesh will still be cooking inside once you take it off the heat.

Another way to do it is to dip the fillets in an egg mixture, toss into some bread crumbs with salt and pepper and maybe some sesame seeds, then shallow fry until golden. You can get fancy and add herbs and spices to the breadcrumb mix but I don't think you need to.

Cheers, Joel

[diver1]

i meen grilling, as in under the griller

[joel99]

Hahaha ok then...

Well try wrapping in some foil to keep the moisture in?

Good luck

[pjbink]

i meen grilling, as in under the griller

That's your problem - grilling is a dry cooking method and flathead is a dry fish. You need a moist/ oily cooking method (like frying) to keep the fish moist.

[james7]

Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on the fillets, add a little bit of butter, and one or two (depending how many fillets) tablespoons of milk, then wrap in foil and place under the griller. Don't overcook or they'll dry out. Do a couple of "test" fillets first, separately wrapped, to give you an idea of how long to cook. If you keep opening the foil to check whether they're done, they'll dry out.

I personally like a bit of lemon pepper to give them a bit of flavour.

Cheers

Peter

[Hodgey]

Another way to do it is to dip the fillets in an egg mixture, toss into some bread crumbs with salt and pepper and maybe some sesame seeds, then shallow fry until golden. Cheers, Joel

I do 90% of my fish this way.

If you want to have a crack at grilling flathead fillets, here are some suggestions from the 'net':

Option 1:

600g flathead tails, cut into 8cm pieces

30 ml Jingilli extra virgin olive oil

300 ml coconut cream

4 Tblsp Thai-style red curry paste

2 medium brown onions, halved and sliced 5ml thick

4 Tblsp fish sauce

1 Tblsp palm sugar, thinly shaved

1 small birds eye red chilli, seeds removed and finely sliced (optional)

1 bunch Thai basil

1 lime

½ bunch Coriander

Heat a wok with half of the coconut cream (taken from the top of the tin) until separation occurs. It should look split at the edges of the wok and the whiteness almost faded. The bouquet of roasted coconut should be prevalent. Add the red curry paste, combine and fry until fragrant (30 seconds).

Add the sliced onions and stir-fry quickly for 1 minute. Add the lime zest and juice, palm sugar, fish sauce, chilli (optional) and remainder of the coconut cream. Finish by adding the torn Thai basil leaves and roughly chopped coriander.

Grill the flathead pieces on a preheated oiled hotplate and place into serving bowls. Ladle a portion of the curry over the fish and top with a little extra coconut cream and coriander. Serves 4

Option 2:

180-200g of skinned flathead fillet a person

half a cup of flat-leaf parsley

salt

pepper

extra virgin olive oil

minced garlic

lemon wedges

Allow 180-200g of skinned flathead fillet a person. Slice each fillet in half lengthways, making sure to remove the bones running up the middle. You should have thin, long pieces of flathead. Scatter about half a cup of flat-leaf parsley on the fillets, season with salt and pepper, then roll into a tight spiral. Use wooden skewers to secure the fish. Heat the grill so that it's hot, add a little extra virgin olive oil to the surface, then cook the fish 3 to 4 minutes each side. Turn the spirals carefully and brush each side with extra virgin olive oil mixed with finely minced garlic (a ratio of 50ml to 2 cloves).

Serve with lemon wedges.

You could also look at some of the Baked Snapper recipes located in "the Kitchen" section of the forum, for cooking whole fish.

Cheers

Hodgey

[sniper]

pull fish out of bucket fillet grill 7min each side serve

[Frantic]

Being a chef and running a seafood restaurant for 8 or so years, ive grilled lots of fish from a humble leatherjacket to a 4.5 kg snapper whole,the reason why most fish are quite dry from a griller is people forget to baste it like a roast .if you want to do a flattie whole i would turn him upside down use a knife or scissors to just cut through his ribs near the backbone so he lays out nice and flat, make a cut down each side diagonally from start of ribs to his last rib but not to deep, season with a bit of salt and pepper in the gut cavity and on the fish squeeze of lemon then into some flour ,then lay him out flat onto a dish that has quite high sides like a 1cm with sum oil and butter in it about 3 to 1 ratioroll him on this and get coated up dont worry if theirs a bit extra on bottom of tray because youll use a big spoon while cooking to spoon the oil up and onto the fish ( i use a pair of tongs for this which takes a far bit of practise otherwise you where it down your arm which wont be pretty especially when its hot ).have the griller quite low to mod otherwise she will just burn,let it start to cook for first 5 min then keep basting every couple of minutes.a usuall flattie of approx 50 cm shouldnt take any longer than 8 to 10 min obviously with so many variables the time can change depending on size of fish and heat of griller and space between bars or gas and fish , A telltale sign thats its cooked will be when his eyes have popped if in doubt use a knife and have a peek up near the thickest part, at least for the first few. cutlets are similar u should be just be able to move the center bone,omg i just started to think of how much fish and prawns ive cooked over the years geez your taking tonnage here. And dont forget to stick him in head first due to back of the grill being the hottest you dont wont to toast his tail before the rest of its done.I think the only seafood i havent cooked is sea urchins and sea cucumber's. BTW that big snapper took about 25 min fed all the staff and was exceptional

craig