Want a surefire grilled fish recipe? This smoky sea bass with a 4-ingredient sauce is it. (2024)

“Grilling fish gets a bad rap. Not because it’s not good, but because it’s perceived to be difficult,” Mike Lang writes in his new cookbook, “One-Beer Grilling” (Castle Point Books, 2021).

A 25-year career police officer who lives in Dayton, Ohio, Lang got started in food writing in the mid-2000s when he launched a blog called “Another Pint Please” to chronicle his home-brewing hobby. It expanded to include outdoor cooking and gathered readers, which led to a corporate sponsorship and now to his first cookbook.

It took him about seven months to write and photograph the cookbook with many of the recipes growing out of ones he had published on his blog. The premise behind the cookbook is that you can have your food grilled and ready to eat “before you finish your first cold one.”

Not every recipe in the cookbook is quite that fast, but many are, especially his simple recipe for a grilled fish fillet paired with a four-ingredient dill sauce. I added his grilled zucchini slices to the grill about halfway through the fish’s cooking time and dinner was on the table in about 35 minutes. (It will take you a bit longer if you have a charcoal rather than a gas grill.)

Lang gets why fish strike fear in the hearts of some grillers. “You take a burger or steak off the grill, and it is a pretty simple process,” he said. “With fish, any number of things could potentially go wrong, especially if you’re going to flip the fish.”

Among the most common issues is that the fish may stick to the grill. (Ask me about the time I ended up awkwardly slipping two spatulas under an overcooked fillet to lift it off and still lost a quarter of the fish to hot coals below.)

For those new to grilling fish fillets, Lang has recommendations for success:

Choose a thicker, meatier fish, such as a Chilean sea bass (pictured), cod or salmon. The more substantial the fish, the firmer it will be. “For grilled fish, I always gravitate toward the Chilean sea bass because it is oily and buttery,” Lang said. “A large fillet will be more forgiving. If you get a snapper that is really thin, you’ve got a much shorter window of cooking time.”

Clean your grill grate well. Stuck-on bits of food are one of the biggest reasons that fish stick, Lang said.

Preheat your grill and grate — at least 15 minutes for a gas grill and about 20 for a charcoal — before you start cooking. Lang said when he is grilling fish on a workday, he turns on the grill before he even walks into the house at the end of the day.

Brush the fish with oil on both sides. “Oil helps seasonings bind to the protein and the oil helps it sear.” Once the fish has seared it should easily release from the hot grate. “If you feel resistance, give it 30 seconds or a minute more.” Flip the fish only one time. “Every time you turn fish, you create a new possibility for difficulty, for sticking,” he said. Grill the fish longer on the first side and allow it to develop a sear and crust. And if you are grilling with the lid closed — and he recommends that you do — the second side will partially cook while the first side is on the grate, so it needs less time on the heat.

Check to see if the fish is done before moving it again. Use the edge of a knife or a fork to determine if the fish is opaque throughout and easily flakes. If you have an instant-read thermometer you can test the fish. It should have an internal temperature of 140 to 145 degrees.

Then there is Lang’s “super cheat,” which is to grill fish on top of a cedar or hickory plank. He grills one side of the plank over direct medium heat until it starts to smolder, about 1 to 2 minutes. Then, he places the fish on the burned side of the plank, skin-side down, and he might top with a little salt, pepper, lemon slices and fresh dill. Then, he moves the fish to indirect heat — that is away from the hottest coals — closes the grill and allows the fish to cook until it is flaky.

“Then, you pull the whole thing off and serve the fish from the plank,” he said.

He recommends that home cooks not bother with marinades for fish, which work to break down the structure of the fillet. Instead, he said, brush the fish with oil, lightly season it and make a quick sauce to go on the fish tableside.

And, in his cookbook, Lang pairs each dish with a beer. For this grilled fish, he suggests a lambic, a fruity beer with a bit of effervescence.