Blackened fish tacos


 
M

MartinB

TVWBB All-Star
Strictly speaking I don't know if it's grilling because it's done in a skillet.... A very hot cast iron skillet that has to be heated on a burner....... Blackening was popularized by chef Paul Prudhomme to give food cooked in a kitchen chargrilled flavor. It's not something you would try in your home kitchen unless you have industrial ventilation and fire extinguishers handy.... It's best suited for the patio. I mean, when you flip the fish and that butter on top of it hits a the skillet it will burst into flames so that kind of counts as grilling....

I got ...about 14 lbs speckled trout filets from a recent fishing trip...... So we fried up a couple lb the first weekend and then made these the other night. We are making a dent.

But the results are awesome with sour cream /mayo/lime/ garlic/chili pepper sauce
 

Attachments

  • PXL_20230820_232514692.jpg
    PXL_20230820_232514692.jpg
    119.1 KB · Views: 33
Last edited:
Wow, 14lbs. of filets? I definitely want to go fishing with you! I love fresh fish and I'm jealous, your fish taco looks fantastic.
 
Really want to give this technique a go but don't want to burn down my house! Sounds sensible to not do indoors. Great looking results those tacos look delish.
 
Question (since I just bought a griddle plate to stick on top of my grill grates)--- could you have done it outside on a griddle plate? I have had to use an iron skillet inside once to finish some smash burgers when my propane tank went out and the spare tank malfunctioned.
 
I agree blackening must be done outside. I use an outdoor propane burner with stand and a dedicated cast iron pan for blackening.

I've never blackened speckled trout; they get the hot oil treatment. Redfish, grouper, tripletail, snook, red snapper, shrimp, bay scallops and chicken breasts are excellent with Paul Prudhomme's Blackened Redfish Magic.

Thanks for sharing!

Cheers
 
Mike-BBQ said:
Question (since I just bought a griddle plate to stick on top of my grill grates)--- could you have done it outside on a griddle plate? I have had to use an iron skillet inside once to finish some smash burgers when my propane tank went out and the spare tank malfunctioned.
Click to expand...
Yes, a griddle would work just fine.
 
Griddle should work fine. The only potential pitfall could be the hot butter running off the edge into the fire below and then you got fire on top and below the griddle. But there really isn't that much so that probably won't happen.

You can blacken any fish and it taste like.... Blackened fish. That was kind of the point, to make redfish palatable enough to sell. I remember when nobody kept them , they were trash fish. Back when there was no limits on trout and people would literally fill ice chests.

The downside to blackening is you will get your Skillet hot enough or griddle to burn all the seasoning off of it. So if you want to use it for something else low temp you're going to have to clean it up and reseason it. I use a 14 inch cast iron skillet, about 12 and 1/2 in on the bottom, on a propane burner.

I have never tried to get my skillet cherry red.... But I have heard people have... And that's how it should be done. Possibly so..... But I'm not that hot. It's still damn hot....
 
Last edited:
Cast iron on a grill is definitely grilling IMHO. So many ways to utilize the grill effect. Many more than thos slab "grills" used in restaurants. Cast iron is da bomb!

Martin, can you link or post a little more about the technique? Why you would need cherry red and ruin the seasoning is beyond me. I've gotten fine, fast, dark sear using my 6x9" CI skillet at high heat without screwing the skillet up. (Meat, fish, chicken). Thanks.
 
RichPB (richlife) said:
Cast iron on a grill is definitely grilling IMHO. So many ways to utilize the grill effect. Many more than thos slab "grills" used in restaurants. Cast iron is da bomb!

Martin, can you link or post a little more about the technique? Why you would need cherry red and ruin the seasoning is beyond me. I've gotten fine, fast, dark sear using my 6x9" CI skillet at high heat without screwing the skillet up. (Meat, fish, chicken). Thanks.
Click to expand...

I don't get it quite that hot. But it's pretty damn hot. I've melted silicone handle grip (they're not real silicone real silicone melts at about 2500....) But these cookware items tend to melt over 500... And so it's pretty hot. . Cast iron should start to turn red at about 900 F. I've had a couple of people tell me that's what they do but I've never actually witnessed it. Some say look for the bottom of the skillet to be kind of white.

The black is actually the milk solids blackening from the butter mostly i think.... The food isn't burnt. And a little bit of sear. The intent of Paul Prudhomme was to replicate char grilled flavor on fish...in a kitchen. Temperature is a pretty uncontrolled... Dip it in butter cover it in seasonings, start with a little butter in the skillet and put the fish in. Put a little butter on top then after a minute or 2 flip it and after another minute or such its done. All the while in a cloud of smoking butter, and even a little blazing butter.

Lower temperature is simply called frying

Charcoal grill runns the 650 to 1,000° range and pizza is even cooked in that range too.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for that tutorial. I've wanted and tried to do blackened fish and, yes, just got fried. Some seem to think the seasoning is the blackening, but I never got the results similar to the one time years back when I ordered blackened fish. Your description sounds good, you result looks good, gonna go there!
 
Brotherinlaw made the best blackened catfish I ever had, he made the rub up and my 15" lodge skillet got put on a gas burner, 10 minutes later he dropped a stick of salted butter on it, didn't know it could flame up, 10lbs of catfish cooked quickly lol
 
RichPB (richlife) said:
Thanks for that tutorial. I've wanted and tried to do blackened fish and, yes, just got fried. Some seem to think the seasoning is the blackening, but I never got the results similar to the one time years back when I ordered blackened fish. Your description sounds good, you result looks good, gonna go there!
Click to expand...
Seasoning is part of the blackening because it actually does get charred. I think a lot of the charred taste comes from charred seasonings. That layer of seasonings also protects the surface of the meat from getting burnt/dried out with the quick cook.

Like anything else there's a Continuum and I suppose there's extremes at both ends.... One too hot and one too cool.... One which is basically frying and another that is maybe overkill . There is also the people that use oil and the real way that involves butter. If it tastes good in the person making it as happy eating it that's all that really counts.

A friend texted me pictures of gumbo she made last weekend. She followed some recipe online or from a magazine. I know gumbo...... What she made was not gumbo. It was a stewed vegetable mash with a little liquid and a few pieces of chicken and andouille. It was also cooked way too long so that the chicken all fell apart in to strands. She likes it....I'm not going to hurt her feelings. But I would never call it gumbo. If anybody else makes gumbo like this please seek help. 🤭
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20230823_021708.jpg
    IMG_20230823_021708.jpg
    207.1 KB · Views: 10
Last edited:
Ok, had me some great blackened fish because of you! For any interested, the pic is here:
tvwbb.com

Superb Day!

Idalia passed us by with only some overnight rain providing a glorious upper 60s day with a light breeze, crystal blue sky, and low humidity!
tvwbb.com tvwbb.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top