Blackened Grouper Disaster

EGC · March 2009

Not sure if I should label this OT, since I don't have an egg to use at the beach. If anyone thinks so, I'll edit the post...

Started with an one inch think group filet. It weighed about a pound.

The seasonings and my helper.

Seasoned filet. I'm pretty sure I put on too much, because it didn't taste very good. This was the first of multiple errors.

Got the skillet HOT, about 20 minutes sitting on high. Nice gray ash formed. At this point, I'm feeling pretty good about things.

Next error. I drop in a pat of butter. It smokes like mad. I'm thinking wow, that's more smoke than I expected. Then, it bursts into flames. Sorry I didn't get a picture, but I was trying to avoid burning down the inlaws beach house. Fire alarms were going off. Smoke filled the house. Finally found a lid to put on the flame to put it out. Whew. Each time I pulled the lid, the fire came back to life. Lost some arm hair, but no real damage. Opened all windows and doors. Uggh. 5 minutes later the smoke detector finally shut off.

I'm still moving forward with this cook, though. Skillet back on the heat, in goes the filet. More smoke, but no fire.

It took a long time for this to cook. Started at 2 minutes a side. Nowhere near done. It was finally done after about 5 minutes per side.

Here it is in a soft taco with marinated red onion, red pepper and green pepper.

Roasted tomato and mozzarella salad with a little basil. The veggies were much better than the fish. Here's a pic of the marinated veggies, EVOO and balsamic vinegar.

The fish had a metalic taste to it, burned and spicy. Definitely not what we were looking for. Thumbs down from the whole family. The only good news is that I didn't burn down the house. I don't think that even the BGE could've saved this cook. Next time, I'll use a much thinner filet, less seasoning, and won't drop in the butter. Hope everyone got a chuckle out of this mess.

AZRP · March 2009

More than a chuckle, I did the exact same thing years ago. As I was reading your post I said to myself "Oh no, he's doing that indoors". When I did it, I not only had fire, but there was so much smoke, I couldn't see to put it out. All the smoke alarms were sounding. Needless to say, unless you have a commercial draft hood, fish should only be blackened outdoors. I do it now on a turkey fryer burner on the back porch. -RP

fishlessman · March 2009

its not right renting a beach house without an egg. if your ever up in maine you can rent mine and ill drop off my egg for the week.

old maine beach house, private beach, nestled in the pines, and an egg cooking away.

tjv · March 2009

you gonna have your hands full with that helper in 10 years.

I think one mistake folks make with blackening is the thought you need to get the pan screaming red hot. I prefer, just hot, hot. How about that for scientific lingo....LOL. Actually, how hot is best judged by trial and error.

Butter and other oils have two temperature limits. First when they smoke, second when they flash. My general rule is 400 to 450 I'm on the edge of burning most oils and past butter's burn point. Above 500, it's touch and go on a flash.

http://www.missvickie.com/howto/spices/oils.html

If you blacken fatty meats, ribeyes, best to remove as much fat as possible...not that I'm speaking from experience or anything.....filled the neighbor's yard with smoke on one of my first ribeye blackening cooks. Thought for sure the fire department was going to show up......

AZRP · March 2009

Tom, according to Paul Prudhomme, you can't have the pan too hot. He says go beyond red to white hot and that is what got me in trouble the first time. I tend to agree with you that you don't really need that much heat. Even doing it outdoors, its a **** trying to flip the fillets with flames 2 feet high over them. -RP

EGC · March 2009

Sounds like a good deal to me! If this house weren't free, I guess I could complain. Maybe that's an idea for a business, rental eggs for beach houses. Anyone interested?

BobS · March 2009

I am still laughing -- but with you and not at you. You didn't even mention the mess you must have had on the stove. :laugh:

For me the secret (besides doing it outside)is adding the fat, as a coating on the fish, instead of adding it directly to the pan.

The pan is hot but the fat is between the cold fish and the pan, so it reaches the smoke temp, but not the flash temp.

I have never tried to cook something that thick, but it is understandable why it would take longer. If you want to blacken thick cuts like that, you might want to try hot-tubbing a thick fillet to get the internal to around 100-110 before you try blackening it.

I have never done it, but it should work.

Big'un · March 2009

Wow! When I saw the skillet heating up in the house, I was shuttering. This is definatley an outdoor activity. At this point, you know that. I like to melt the butter and either brush it onto the fish or dip the fish. Glad things worked out as well as they did. That's a precious little chef you have there!

Blackened Grouper Disaster

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