I recently got a chance to meet up with owner Peter Jarvis, and get his advice on a great fish to put on the grill. He recommended I try Golden Tilefish, which is only in season for a few months out the year- and the reason it is a sustainable fish because it is heavily monitored by the fish and wildlife service.
Being in Florida, you’d think I’d have all kinds of great resources for fresh seafood. However, I always felt this was amiss despite my location. But the tides have turned!
I recently discovered Triar Seafood, the Seafood Purveyor to the best chefs and restaurants across the country- like Rick Bayless and the James Beard House. And how lucky am I? They are literally down the street from me in Hollywood, FL! C
hances are if you have ordered seafood at any white-tablecloth restaurant around the country, it came from Triar Seafood.
About Golden Tilefish
Golden tilefish comes from the Atlantic shores of Florida- it is a sweet, meaty white fish that is great for grilling as it holds up well on the grill and has a nice sweet flavor due to the fact that this fish eats only crustaceans.
The texture is similar to grouper- don’t worry, even if you can’t find Golden Tilefish where you live, Triar Seafood and their retail site Francesca’s Favorites will ship fresh seafood straight to your house. Their motto is “shore to door in 24” so you can get fresh-from-Florida-seafood anywhere in the US.
PS, Give Triar a call, Peter is a very charismatic individual and I guarantee you will learn something about seafood! Or maybe about his ties to the famous bar that the tv show “Cheers” was based on up in Boston…
Golden Tilefish is a beautiful fish with little specks of golden- hence the name.
I tried a new technique for grilling fish that was introduced to me by my good friend John Dawson from PatioDaddioBBQ.com, he saw this idea in a life hacks article on Buzzfeed. Most white fish is delicate and needs a barrier between the fish and the grill, in this method you use lemon slices as your barrier.
The lemon lends a nice citrus flavor to the fish and it also lets more smoke permeate the fish on the grill. Brilliant! I’ve grilled fish two times now using this method and it turned out great both times. This is a #winning technique!
Peter Jarvis, owner of Triar Seafood, tells me that one of the ways to check if a fish is fresh is if the gills are red. If the gills are not red- don’t buy!
Here’s a pic of the first time I tried this technique- layer the lemons on the grill and then grill the fish on top. You can remove the fish and lemons at the end with one big spatula and even serve with the grilled lemons.
I first tried this grilling technique while visiting my parents and my dad on his birthday. While there we took a “BBQ Belly versus Baby Belly” photo. I’m at about 6 months pregnant in this photo.
Serve with my Charleston style coleslaw– this (citrus-infused) coleslaw recipe will turn even coleslaw haters into coleslaw converts- I promise they’ll ask you for the recipe!
How do you like to grill your fish? Give this lemon slice method a try- you’ll dig it!
Golden Tilefish is perfect grilling because it is a very meaty whitefish with a nice sweet flavor.
Citrus Grilled Golden Tilefish with Coconut Lime Compound Butter
- Yield: serves 4
Ingredients
- One whole golden tilefish= 4 large filets
- 6–8 lemons- for the grill. Slice in 1/8” pieces
- the juice and zest of one lime
- 1 stick butter- let sit out for 30 minutes so it is room temperature
- 1/8 cup unsweetened coconut
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
Mix the butter, salt, the zest and juice of the lime together with an immersion blender to make the compound butter.
Next, preheat your grill to 350 degrees for medium direct heat. Once the grill is heated up, layer the lemon slices in a bed large enough for your 4 filets (this will fill most of the surface area of a kettle grill). Slather the filets generously with the compound butter and place the filets over the lemon slices on the grill. Grill with the lid closed (vents open) for 16-18 minutes or until an instant read thermometer like a thermapen reads 145 degrees.
Did you enjoy this recipe for Golden Tilefish? Check out these related posts!
The tilefish grilled like this was out of the world!
So glad you enjoyed!