Masgouf Rockfish -- first attempt

[sparky1423]

I have been dying to masgouf a whole fish. I finally got my chance after live lining today at the Bay bridge. Still some fine tuning to do, but I would consider it a success. Next time I will split the fish from dorsal to belly, rather than belly to dorsal. I have seen this in other masgouf photographs. During the cooking process the rockfish came off the support rod and I had to do emergency surgery to finish the cooking process.

Maybe by splitting the fish differently, there will be more girth for the metal rod to support the weight of the fish. I just wanted to share some pics of the good eats!

[Shady]

Nice! Love the pick with your dog in the background hoping he can enjoy some Masgouf rockfish too!

[sparky1423]

He got a little something for good behavior, he doesn't stray far from the fire pit when something is roasting.

[Yak Fish]

Nice man. Now you're getting me itchy for this. I did Masgouf some smores today over the kettle grill :-)

[Goody]

Looks good there!

[mytmouse]

Looks delicious!!! Man I wish I had a backyard... LOL

[HokieDJ]

Like the fire pit with the grill plates.

[Meadeo]

Looks good.

I do lots of outdoor grilling and using Pine Branches is not something i would recommend for cooking. They can make you pretty sick even.

Remember always use hardwoods (Oak, Cherry, Hickory, Apple, Pecan, Maple etc) when cooking on an open fire and be sure they are well seasoned.

Meadeo

[AbuMasgouf]

Hey Bro! Your assessment is right. You need to split the fish from the top rather than the bottom (traditional way of gutting the fish). That's what makes Masgouf a unique way of prepping the fish. The dorsal bones will then provide you the support you need to hold the fish up while cooking. It should look like this:

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So that when you hang it, it will look like this:

20130525_194706.jpg

Check out this video, I show how I cut the fish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHAEdb3K0so

But if anyone can emergency surgery to finish the cooking process, it's definitely you Chef!

What did you season it with?

[sparky1423]

Goody eye Meadeo, I was hoping no one would pick up on that! All my good oak was underneath already turning to coal...some black clouds were rolling in and I wanted to get a quick flame on the fish before the rain. I panicked and threw in my cheap starter wood. The aromatics of pine are not good also, but it was pretty mild while burning. I was the only one eating the fish besides my four legged fellow...but thank you for the good heads up!

Looks good.

I do lots of outdoor grilling and using Pine Branches is not something i would recommend for cooking. They can make you pretty sick even.

Remember always use hardwoods (Oak, Cherry, Hickory, Apple, Pecan, Maple etc) when cooking on an open fire and be sure they are well seasoned.

Meadeo

I rubbed it with some "good" paprika, garlic, and ground up roasted coriander seed. I had some left of sweet chili sauce left over from potstickers so I used that as a quick glaze and carmelizing.

Hey Bro! Your assessment is right. You need to split the fish from the top rather than the bottom (traditional way of gutting the fish). That's what makes Masgouf a unique way of prepping the fish. The dorsal bones will then provide you the support you need to hold the fish up while cooking. It should look like this:

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So that when you hang it, it will look like this:

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Check out this video, I show how I cut the fish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHAEdb3K0so

But if anyone can emergency surgery to finish the cooking process, it's definitely you Chef!

What did you season it with?