Charcoal-grilled fish

Charcoal-grilled fish is the simplest dish there is and the easiest one to ruin. Only three things matter: a fish with natural fat, coals that have burned down to embers rather than flame, and turning it once and once only. Anyone who keeps flipping it ends up with it in pieces.

Ingredients

• 4 mullet or sea bream, butterflied
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Cumin, coriander, chilli, salt
• Chopped parsley

Method

1. 1.The marinade

   Mix the garlic, lemon, oil, spices and parsley, brush it over both sides of the fish and inside, and leave it half an hour. Do not overdo the lemon or leave it for hours: the acid starts cooking the flesh and turns it mushy.

2. 2.Get the coals right

   Wait until the coals are embers under a coat of grey ash, with no flame. Flame chars the outside while the inside is still raw.

3. 3.Heat the grill

   Heat the grill properly over the embers before the fish goes on, and oil the fish rather than the grill. This is the single step that stops it sticking.

4. 4.Grill it

   Lay the fish skin-side down and leave it 6 to 8 minutes without touching it. It will release from the grill on its own when that side is done; turn it then and give it another 4 to 6 minutes.

5. 5.Check it

   Part the flesh at the thickest point with a fork. If it flakes and looks opaque white with no translucency, it is done. Take it off a moment before you think it is ready.

Tips

• Mullet is the first choice for charcoal because of its natural fat. Sea bream and porgy are excellent too. Keep fillet off the charcoal: it is thin, dries out and falls through the grill.
• If the fish is very large, ask for steaks on the bone instead of grilling it whole, so the inside cooks through.

What this recipe uses

Grey mullet (bouri)

Sea bream (denis)

Red porgy (marjan)

Sardines

Atlantic bonito (balameeta)

Questions about this recipe

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