How do you keep fish from sticking to the grill?

[ptmusic]

I'm somewhat of a newbie at grilling. Fish seems to be the toughest. When I flip the fillets over, they stick and fall apart a bit.

Any tips?

-ptmusic

[nothumb]

Oil the fish and the grill better. Keep your grill cleaner. Grill high quality fish and if possible a more dense and less flaky fillet (certain species are better for grilling, i.e. swordfish, shark, etc). Having the skin on helps somewhat.

The other thing you can do if all that fails is wrap the fish in foil or lay foil on your grill. I don't like this option much however.

NT

[guller]

Pam cooking spray, tin foil, or both.

[Los Feliz Slim]

Steaks (swordfrish, tuna, salmon, etc) are much easier to grill than fillets. If you must use a fillet, grill it skin-side down, close the lid for a time, and don't flip it.

[eric5148]

You can get a fish grate, which is basically two grill grates on a hinge and it has a handle. You put the fish between the two grates, and then when you flip them, you can flip the whole grate, and they can't fall apart.

[touchfaith]

Brush some olive oil on the (clean) grill before starting or use a one of those flipable basket things (they work better)

[vulturesrow]

Their are also baskets you can put the fish in as well, which is sort of a compromise between the foil and laying it directly on the grill.

[liquidboss]

http://www.pam4you.com/images/headers/header_original.jpg

[Talk2BigSteve]

Cook it in the oven.

Steve

[HtotheNootch]

Fish grates work. Foil works. You can grill over a plank - cedar shingles work well (make sure you soak the pplank).

I've also recently started grilling fish over slices of citrus fruit. Just slice oranges, or whatever and then put them in a bowl. Pour olive oil over the fruit and mix to make sure they're well coated. Season with salt and pepper. Place the slices over a bid enough area on the grill so the fish does not come in direct contact with the grill. This puts a nice citrus flavor on the fist, and makes for a great garnish/side dish.

[stankybank]

use aluminum foil

[The Stranger]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm somewhat of a newbie at grilling. Fish seems to be the toughest. When I flip the fillets over, they stick and fall apart a bit.

Any tips?

-ptmusic

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're grilling fish for a 4th of July BBQ, you are a real pussy.

[eric5148]

I didn't know there were rules. /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[casinogosain]

Choices (in my order of preference)
1. Use a fish basket
2. Pre-grease/oil the grill grates
3. Use a large fish spatula to lift the entire fish at once.
4. Deal with the chunks that fall off by eating them

-Ash

[jrbick]

Olive Oil on the grill and the fish. Don't grill filets, grill steaks. If you want to grill filets use the basket as already mentioned or (highly recommended) cedar planks. I really like how the citrus-fruit-grate sounds.

[jrbick]

[ QUOTE ]
Fish grates work. Foil works. You can grill over a plank - cedar shingles work well (make sure you soak the pplank).

I've also recently started grilling fish over slices of citrus fruit. Just slice oranges, or whatever and then put them in a bowl. Pour olive oil over the fruit and mix to make sure they're well coated. Season with salt and pepper. Place the slices over a bid enough area on the grill so the fish does not come in direct contact with the grill. This puts a nice citrus flavor on the fist, and makes for a great garnish/side dish.

[/ QUOTE ]

How do you flip the fish? Are you talking about doing this with steaks (i.e. salmon)? If that's the case I can see that it wouldn't be much of a problem.

Would this work well w/ Tuna and still cook thru ok w/o drying it out or should I seer tuna first and then put it on fruit?

[rusellmj]

[ QUOTE ]
How do you flip the fish? Are you talking about doing this with steaks (i.e. salmon)? If that's the case I can see that it wouldn't be much of a problem.

[/ QUOTE ]

I grill filets (salmon and other)on a cedar plank and don't turn them. Gonna have to try the citrus slices. Sounds great.

[touchfaith]

[ QUOTE ]
How do you keep fish from sticking to the grill?

[/ QUOTE ]

Shave

/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Wintermute]

Grilling fish filets is easy, you just need to know how to do it. Here's how:

1) Thoroughly coat the flesh side of the fish w/ olive oil. You don't have to do a damn thing to the grate of the grill.

2) Medium-high heat, flesh-side down for 7-9 min.

3) Flip onto skin side. To check whether it's time to flip, just grasp the fish lightly with some tongs and try to rotate it. If the flesh sticks to the grill, wait another minute--when it's ready, it'll release easily.

After you flip, 3 more min skin side down. If you do it just right, the skin will stick to the grill, leaving you with one perfect grilled fish filet.

This is straight from Weber grill cookbook, and I can vouch from experience.

[djoyce003]

I oil the fish and pam the grill....also fish that is more dense is key. You can't grill things like trout and walleye very well because it's just too flaky. Stick to things like tuna, mahi, halibut, salmon (skin on)...Also, most people don't let it cook on one side long enough..its important to almost let the fish cook through before you flip it. Most people think that you have to flip it quickly to keep it from sticking...this is actually the opposite.

[tek]

Don't take their sweatpants or licensed sports shirt off until they are cooked /images/graemlins/grin.gif