blackened red snapper

Here is a cook I did a couple months ago. LINK  Love blackened snapper.

In my opinion, this is how to blacken fish.

1. Get a CI pan warming up raised direct around 400 dome (I'm just guessing here, I always use a propane burner outdoors).

2. Melt some butter.  Brush butter on one side of the fish.  Sprinkle the blackened seasoning like a rub on the buttered side.  Put it on proportional to the thickness of the fish (so you don't have overly salty thin edges of the filet).

3. Lay the fish seasoned side down on the CI.  Let it cook a few minutes.  Keep an eye on your temperature.  You don't want it too hot and burn all the flavor out of the seasoning, yet you want it hot enough so it just starts to burn.  The pan should be around 450F.  plus or minus.

4. Right before you flip, butter the top side and season like before, then flip.

5. Cook until done, remove.

Some people put butter in the pan also prior to adding the fish - this cools the pan down and burns the butter.  If you want to oil the pan I would just use a little vegetable oil.

You don't want to butter and season both side before you put on the pan - you damage the bottom side on the plate and the butter can render out of the seasoning on the top before you flip.

@NDG - my pleasure. 

Forgot to add - I cook the presentation side first.  Flip to the skin side.  Transfer without flipping to serving plate.  Scrape CI clean between batches.  Don't try to cook too much at once - you want room to get the spatula under the fish.

@500 - Tilapia blackens fine.  Fish is done for me around 125F.  It's not practical to measure the temp in thin filets, so I just go by feel, or separate some of the meat flakes in the thickest part and look at it.  When the center is just about to turn opaque, it's done, pull it.  With Tilapia and a hot skillet, 2.5 minutes a side should do it.  Fatty fish is a little more tolerant to overcooking.  Think filets cook super fast, biggest risk is to overcook them. 

Anyway, it's really easy - look inside, when it's done, feel the fish, remember how that feels relative to raw and you can do it by feel with a little practice.

Thanks for the direction on how to do this.