Fish braai

[Cole]

The last few months, my family has gotten into the habit of having a weekly fish braai. We love it, and it got us thinking, what kind of fish can we expect to throw on the barbie when we get there? What is your favourite fish in Oz? What are the options, and what do they taste like, and how do you like to prepare them? Is it cost effective?

[Mara]

We have never had fish on the braai in Australia, however, we do love fish. The fish that we mostly have here is, Ling (similar in texture and taste to Kingklip), Blue Grenadier (when we buy fish and chips), and of course Salmon (hubby likes it with crispy skin).

From time to time one of the supermarkets in our little town has Salmon portions, 5 pieces separately vacuum packed, so you can cut off as many as you need an leave the rest. They charge $20 for the pack and the portions are a good size for an adult.

[DXB2OZ]

Having never been good at cooking fish (although I love eating seafood), I have battled here. I find fish and chips very different, but I get the idea that it varies wildly from suburb to suburb. Mara, will definitely try Ling, thanks for that.

When we do order fish and chips, we tend to go for flake.

[bbop]

We enjoy Pike, Snapper and Baramandi on the coals

[Mara]

DXB2OZ Next time you get fish and chips, ask for blue grenadier and see if you like it. I, for one, do not like flake at all.

[SurferMan]

Flake is shark most of the time miss Mara. I can be sublime or crap, depending on how it was bled and treated. You can throw any fish on the braai guys, if you need/want recipes or tips n tricks, toss me a line. It is my favourite thing to cook. I do cockles, pipis, squid, fish, skate, crayfish, prawns, oysters, if it flaps I'll cook it!

The main tricks is use indirect heat, unless you are cooking a big fish or just colouring it up at first. If you are cooking a big fish, like say a 3-5kg rockcod (coral trout in Aus) then slah it deeply across the thickest flesh. Close the tail of most fish in a bit of foil. Make sure the grillis clean. (Something that seems to be foreign to Aussies - a clean grill!) Your Coals should never be super hot for fish, heat count on hand should be 3 seconds or so.

Cook to the french technique of "coussious" (Spelling shot sorry) Where the fish feels like the section between your thumb and forefinger. If you cook the fish until the white milky sap comes out, your'e stuffed it up. Fish cooks after you have take it off the braai.

Best fish in Aus for braai:

Firm white flesh;

Coral trout

Snapper - emperor, bended, blue, red, yellow, striped et al

Grouper

Swordfish

Flake (get gummie shark, its amazing)

Jewie/Mulloway (kabeljou or geelbek or cape salmon for Saffers)

Medium white flesh

Barramundi

Murray Cod

Bream

Sea bass

Tailor (Shad for the Saffers)

Whiting

Oily flesh

Mackeral

Anchovies

Sardines

Tuna ( oh lordy please DONT overcook this - 30 seconds max. If you go more, please dont tell me! : )

[TeeTMI]

We recently found out that what is known in Melbourne as Couta (or Barracuota) is Snoek.

I had a thread on it a little while ago and it is similarly known by other names around the country but I can't remember.

A fish braai sounds great - hurry up summer (or maybe I must just find an adapter for the skottle).

[SurferMan]

Couta is an awesoe fish Tee, but tricky not to overcook and dry out. I use a special marinade to ensure a juicy and tasty result. A whole couta fillet is unbeatable, and if the braai master knows his stuff, you will have many a fond memory of said braai session.

Oh, I dont need summer to braai, I have been known to take shelter in the garage in heavy rain or cold and braai alone. Then grab the goods and jet back upstairs.

[Sunnyskies]

We are big fish fans, but found that it can be tough to get good fish in Australia. Surferman is lucky by living in a small town right by the sea and can pick his own food from the sea. For those who live more inland or even in an area where you are dependent on Coles/Woolworths/Aldi for your food you don't get a wide choice of fish, and what is on offer is incredibly expensive ($35/kilo for salmon fillets). Usually Salmon, Barramundi, Whiting, flake and some gross seafood mix or prawns is the fare generally on offer.

If you live in a city with a market spend a bit of time going through the markets and if you are lucky you will find a good fishmonger. We used to go to a fishmonger at Victoria Market who usually had mackerel (king and queen), dorito, all types of snapper, salmon (you could buy a whole fish at a better rate), blue grenadier, flathead, etc etc. Plenty of fish for choice. But it was a bit of a mission to get out there.

Then we discovered that the Asian community loves their fish (bit of a no brainer thinking about it now) and we found the Asian markets that were closer to home. There were two great fishmongers there that sold just about everything and anything.

The best thing about a market is that you can buy a whole fish at about half the price of fillets for the same thing and if you like to braai your fish you preferably want the whole thing.

Having moved to Brisbane with a much smaller Asian population we were slightly back to square one in terms of finding fish, but we have now found a few great fish markets that sell just about anything, and at a pinch we can buy at our local fresh produce market.

Generally we don't spend more than $17/kilo for our fish and we have a wide array of fish to choose from. I've become super skilled at being able to fillet a 5kg monster. When I dish up my special Asian styled Salmon to my Aussie friends they are always amazed at the fish that I can get, as a lot of people won't look further than Coles/Woolies.

[SurferMan]

Sunnyskies,

That was an awesome post. Since I will be moving to Brissie soon, I take it upon myself to find the best mongers.

Have you tried to catch your fish yourself? I found with a few tweaks, every time I go out, I nail the fish. So much so, that I now give away fish to mates. It took me 4 years to nail the fishing formula, but now pretty much every time I go out, I get my quota. Im not talking massive fish, just tailor, whiting and herring. tasy and healthy. Best of all, fresh and free!!!!!

I buy NOTHING that is marked foreign/overseas. Period. Too risky. Only buy local and apply the nose, eye, touch test for everything. If I am not happy, I dont part with my coin. I too am skilled at 5kg plus fish!!!! I

I have filleted 50kg plus salmon, and marlin over 200kg! Shark, my biggest was around the 50kg mark, you dont want them after that for the mercury levels, and it gets hard to remove the ammonia taste. Little sharks are tasty as! Try stay under 15kg. Gummy is awesome.

[Sunnyskies]

Can't fish. If I was on survivor with a fish sling, snorkel, line and tackle I would still starve. My husband is a spero but he prefers to look and not shoot. My son has a nifty rod but we have never caught anything we want to eat. So we buy. I generally don't buy anything over 5kg. My knife is very sharp and my sushi skills good, but I don't like to freeze fish for more than a week or two and my fish board is only so big.

Fortunately Brissie is not too big so not too much of a schlep to drive 15km to my favourite monger. Never would do that in Melbourne due to traffic congestion. Although if you move to North Lakes I'm not sure what the fish position is.