Simply Smoked Sea Bass Recipe
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Chilean sea bass is a good fish for demonstrating Close Proximity Smoking, a technique created as a means of ensuring delicate fish such as this aren't completely overpowered by harsh wood smoke on the grill.
Makes:
Servings: servings
Takes:
Equipment
- GrillGrates
Ingredients
- 2 Chilean sea bass filets, 6-8 ounces (170-227 g) each
- Morton Coarse Kosher Salt
- 2 teaspoons dried tarragon
- 1 tablespoon neutral cooking oil or mayonnaise
- 4 ounces hardwood or fruitwood pellets, wood chips, or sawdust
Notes:
About the salt. Remember, kosher salt is half the concentration of table salt so if you use table salt, use half as much. Click here to read more about salt and how it works.
Metric conversion:
These recipes were created in US Customary measurements and the conversion to metric is being done by calculations. They should be accurate, but it is possible there could be an error. If you find one, please let us know in the comments at the bottom of the page
Method
- Prep. Remove the skin from the sea bass. When cooking fish hot and fast, leaving on the skin makes it a crispy treat. But some skin is too thick to crisp, especially if it is not in contact with metal. So for this technique, the skin must go. In this video below you can see how to remove the skin.
- Lightly salt the fish and sprinkle on the tarragon. If you wish, paint the fish with oil or mayonnaise. This helps keep it from sticking. Yes mayonnaise. It is mostly oil and surprisingly it does not change the flavor of the fish.
- Fire up. Preheat the grill with the GrillGrates directly over hot flames or coals.
- Cook. Toss the wood into the valleys of the GrillGrates directly below where the fish will sit. It should start smoldering quickly. Place the fish directly over the smoke and close the lid. After no more than 4 minutes, flip the fish. The underside should have dark grill marks and a golden color from the smoke. Cook another 4 minutes and test the internal temp. Take the fish off when the internal temp is between 125 and 135°F (51.7 and 57.2°C).
- Serve. Plate and serve immediately.