North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

About the only place we cook is out the back on the BBQ.

Usually put barra bits in flour and cook.
Or Flour then egg & crumb . Recently the wife got some LSA (Linseed, sunflour & almond) crumbed mix that you put on "everything". So I did, & crumbed it in LSA & it wasnt too bad with its chewy nutty texture. But dont expect it on the menu again for a while.

Other mixes in the egg & lemon are cajun to marinate for a few hours.

Overdid the lemon the other week, so have gone off it for a while (lemon tree producing again in the next few months, so will reaquire tase buds for it again).

I'm looking to extend my culinary abilities & are looking for a few tips

If we're having people around or looking for something a little different, I sometimes cook it whole. Needs a hood-type BBQ that you can roast in. Clean and scale the fish (which is a PITA, hence we don't do this real often!), rub with lots of olive oil and salt, lemon slices and smashed garlic pieces in the gut cavity and along the topside, a sprinkling of herbs and into the bbq. Works best with a piece of foil underneath the fish, with the fish elevated on a rack (any oven rack does the job, a fish rack is even better). a decent fish will take 35-40mins, but comes out with crispy skin and beautiful flesh. Does well to impress the guests in the middle of the table, or alternatively impress the missus and win a few brownie points back (to get back up around minus 150).

add some curry powder tothe flour.

Clean and scale, then roll out alfoil to be 6-8" longer than the fish, but don't tear off..lay fish on and stuff gut cavity with onion tomato, lemon slices, chilli, smashed garlic and a shake of black pepper... put 2-3 good slices in the topside and lay some butter in them, sprinke with salt and pepper and fold foil back over...cut/tear off level with start...go round fish and roll both edges of foil together, making a closed parcel. Poke a couple of small holes with the point of a knife in the top to vent, and put on the barbie plate for around 1/2 hour.

Steams in the juices and is moist and verrrrrry tasty.

Give the stomach bag a good wash in salty water and stuff with the minced/chopped liver, heart, minced onion/garlic, curry powder and breadcrumbs and enough milk to make a 'puddin', tie the ends with cotton and cook on the barbie plate next to the fish parcel, turn it till browned all over...Barra Haggis..Yuuuuum.
graham

Big thick fillets grilled FAST & HOT on the hooded gas grill.

Melt a couple of Tbspn's of butter (I do it in the mico), add lime juice and brush on fillets.

Sprinkle whatever seasoning you choose - cracked pepper & salt if you're basic - paprika, cajun mix, or anything really, for
a bit of "exoticness".

Get grill racks REALLY clean, crank the barbie up as hot as she'll go, and spray oil on racks.

Whack fillets on grill, close lid & don't be tempted to lift lid (no matter how much smoke !! ).
After 5 minutes turn fillets & baste with any leftover butter/lime & close lid for another 5 minutes.

The essence to this (and the fear I think most people have) is not having the fillet crumble to bits when turned, or
eventually removed. The key is to cook it HOT, trust yerself to turn in ONCE only, and get a nice crispy (albeit slightly
'singed' ) outer side which holds it all together.

Simple, yet delicious

I like a just legal barra no more than 60cm knock the fillets off dust your choice of sprinkles on the outside of 1 fillet, I like cajun a few thin lemon or lime slices red onion rings and capsicum anything you like basically little ginger garlic or chilli etc lay the other fillet head to tail on top more sprinkles then wrap in foil 10 minutes each side on a hot bbq plate unwrap and slice into portions to serve

One of my favourite bbq or coal fire barra cooking when out bush is to fillet the fish and keep them for ron and throw the carcase on the coals with a bit of salt and pepper. The flavour is unbelievable nd you can feed a 3 or 4 with one frame. Magic.