For most folk, grilling is synonymous with summer. However, the winter months seem, to this cook, anyway, a great time to break out the smoker/grill. I have always been a winter griller no matter where I lived (can you say Minnesota, once upon a time…?). Now its Florida winters for me and they are just not all that severe. More brisk than frigid. A perfect time to cook up some great seafood outside of the kitchen. Some folk like tailgating in late fall/early winter. I like grilling.
My setup is pretty simple. One Weber kettle and One Pit Barrel Cooker. These two cover all my grilling needs just fine. No matter what your grilling infrastructure looks like your catch, imho, will taste better for the effort.
What Fish To Grill In The Winter
First, not every species you might like to grill is in season in the dead of winter. Know what is in season in your fisheries and be flexible with what you call “winter”.
There is also the matter of what should you cook on the grill? Actually, properly prepared, almost any seafood can be cooked up on the grill.
For cooking straight on the grates I like Wahoo, Tripletail, Swordfish, Mahi, Snook, Florida Lobster and Mackerel. These species, and many more, can handle the grilling experience.
Using an intermediary (pots and pans…) opens up the playing field considerably. I use an iron skillet and/or a pizza stone on my grills throughout the year.
Other common methods employ foil pouches, grill toppers, fish baskets and the like. Even the most tender (think Pompano, etc.) can be delivered to the table via the grill.
I cover my pizza stone with foil, set it on the grill a little ahead of time to let it come up to temperature and then place the fish (almost any fish) on the stone, throw the lid on and let it go. Do this and people will start to think you actually know how to cook fish pretty good:)
So, don’t be timid. Throw on some proper duds and get out on the porch. Spring is too far away to forgo some great grilling.
