Roasted a Red Snapper

[John Setzler]

I am NOT a fan of cooking whole fish.  There is some mysterious attraction to having a whole fish plated with the head on.  In my opinion, THIS is the last time this fish will look appealing in any way.  Once it goes to the heat, the color fades, they eye clouds over and it loses most of its visual appeal.  

I LOVE FISH.  I love cooking it.  I love eating it.  I'd just rather have a big fat filet or some sort whether it be salmon, a tuna steak, swordfish, mackerel, sea bass, roughy, trout, large mouth bass, or whatever it might be.  

I cooked this one today to make a video of the process.  I slit the upper side of this one and stuffed in some lemon slices.  I squeezed lemon juice over the whole fish and in the cavity as well.  I stuffed onion, rosemary, and dill inside the cavity.  I salt and peppered the outside of the fish and drizzled it with olive oil before roasting it on the grill at 425-450-ish for about 30 minutes until it was done.  It tasted great but it was visually unappealing (to me) after it was cooked.

[keeperovdeflame]

John, 

I understand your issue, food is tasted with the mouth, the nose, and the eyes.  I like whole fish and think it looks good cooked , but everyone is different in their preferences. I think cooking a fish whole has the same affect as bone in steak or pork, the connective tissue  next to the bones, as it cooks, adds to the flavor giving the meat a rich taste. My wife will eat whole trout, if I pull the meat off the bones, but she prefers a fillet or even chunks of plated meat. So, when I cook a fish whole I cut the head off her's and remove the bones. Best of two worlds IMO.  On vacation in Maui, recently, i discovered a new thing for me. Fish Collar, the area in front of the gills including the cheeks and the tissue above and below them on the head and chin, so to speak. I had them egg washed and fried, and also grilled. You pick the meat off the bones with a lobster fork. Truly delicious. My wife did not want anything to do with them, until I coaxed her to try a piece off the end of my fork. She loved it. Taste is in the eyes for sure. 

[Aussie Joe]

I love whole fish especially snapper. Or red emperor I've never thought about the look the way you describe it. To me that's yep it's ready can't wait to eat it. But can understand where your coming from

Outback Kamado Bar and Grill[emoji621]

[cwhuling]

The best part of cooking the whole fish, the cheek meat!! I cook the whole stripped bass, and the cheek meat never makes it to the serving plate.


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[Ronin_Jedi]

.....

On vacation in Maui, recently, i discovered a new thing for me. Fish Collar, the area in front of the gills including the cheeks and the tissue above and below them on the head and chin, so to speak. .....

The Chinese and Taiwanese (most Asians really) leave the head on. The honored guest normally has the head pointed in their direction. (Same with chickens, ducks etc.).

As you indicated the cheeks were tasting and delicate. The one thing I'll avoid next time will be the eyes. Like eating pebbles; crunchy and without flavor.

Oh, if offered, forego silk worm pupae. They do NOT taste like vanilla, as I was lead to believe. And thousand year-pld eggs are palatable with generous servings of beer.

But I digressed. Now back to our regularly scheduled thread.

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[Garvinque]

My Grandfather used to make fishhead soup, he would remove the eyes and the heads would slowly simmer with different spices and such and serve with rice so good!