BBQ Curried Whole Rockfish

BBQ Curried Whole Rockfish;

Curry Sauce; heat in a sauce pan, 1-2 cans of coconut milk (i've found that the cheaper the coconut milk the richer & better), 1 heaping tablespoon of yellow curry powder per can of milk, 1/4 stick of salted butter, less if you use 1 can of cmilk. Sprinkle some salt & bring to a low boil stirring to mix all ingredients.  Take off heat & let cool. 

Take the whole scaled rockfish & cut 3 slices in each side from top to bottom, all the way to the spine. Marinate the whole fish in the cooled sauce for a couple of hours or overnight if you have the time.

I BBQ whole fish as low and slow as I can. I've found that the quickest a small rockfish will grill is 45 min.  IMHO I've found that an 18-22 inch Rockfish needs at least an hour, possibly an hour fifteen. 

Take your whole fish & slap it on the grill.  Baste it with the remaining sauce every 10 min or so.  At the 1/2 way point (after 30 min.) flip the fish continue basting every 10 min. 

The fish is done when it flakes cleanly off the spine.  There seems to be point around 45-1 hour where it's not cooked thru to the spine, I have noticed after 10 of these that the key is that entire chunks will slide off the spine leaving it completely clean.  You can re-boil the sauce to pour over rice or veggies or whatever.  Serve & your done.

If you don't have time to marinate & your going to bbq immediatley, you can simply brush on the hot sauce as the fish goes on the grill & every 10 min thereafter.

In closing I am somewhat of a curry-hack, although I have been trained by currying folk from far & wide.  I'm sure there are many nuances to currying & I would welcome suggestions for a better result.

It looks like something is missing from this recipe.  Should there not be some sort of curry powder in the curry sauce?  The sauce of coconut milk, butter, and salt do not constitute curry sauce in my book.

I think you would need the red curry paste for this recipe.

doh, you're right, forgot;  throw in 1 heaping tablespoon of yellow curry powder per can of milk while heating in saucepan.  i modified original post, thanks.

good post pj. I have been cheating and buying coconut curry from andronicos.

I fry the filleted ling cod first, then simmer in the curry. serve with basmati rice.

J

I was carpooling with Sackyak last week and asked him how he cooked his big verms. He said he used PJ's curried whole rockfish recipe and went on to describe the technique. I asked him if the fish got dried out after an hour + on the grill and he said it comes out really moist.   Etienne and I fish with PJ from time to time and I remember reading his recipe back in 2006 but never tried it because of the cooking time and use of prepared curry. I grew up in a restaurant family where you make your own curry powder. All that said, I used PJ's recipe with only the follow additions: 1/2 tsp garam masala, 1 tbl minced ginger, 2 tbl minced shallots to the curry sauce. I threw some potatoes on the grill with the fish and added some veggies the last 10 minutes. Let's just say it was awesome. It was so moist I was looking for live worms.   Just kidding. I refreshed this recipe because I am sure there are others besides me who never tried it and YOU SHOULD!!!

Scott

I tried this with four gophers whole.  The curry dressing/sauce was really easy and tasted fantastic!  I really enjoy curry, so i dumped a bunch of curry in there, like 2x PJ's prescribed amount and tossed in some chopped lemongrass. 

maybe I didn't have my flame hot enough, but i had a problem with losing some fish to the grill ultimately had to move it to the kitchen oven. 

I think this is going to be a recipe I will be using quite a bit during the season.  thanks!

Thanks for the original and thanks bumping it up again, looks like something I'll try,

Ditto...this is my go to for the small to med RF's (the ones that are to small to fillet). I also add more curry and some chili flake. I need to learn FM1's butterfly butcher trick