When There is No Oil…You Grill

Tweet
Pin It

When There is No Oil…You Grill

By Libbie Summers, Food Editor

My dad is a fisherman. Not an Ernest Hemingway offshore kind, but a more civilized introspective kind. A fisherman who sits lazily on the bank or in a motor-less boat casting a single line into muddy Midwestern waters. He passed this love of quiet fishing reflection down to me and onto my son Anthony (who just last week, on his birthday, chose to go fishing).

In the Midwest, a fish haul meant a fish fry- the men cleaning the fish and the women battering (cornmeal based of course) and frying them up. When I was young, I remember my dad coming home with 6-8 pound lake bass. He started cleaning them with a pocketknife he has had since he was a boy. Problem was…there was no oil in the house for frying. This was before 24/7 markets. If you didn’t have it in the house on Sunday afternoon, you weren’t going to get it. So, Dad did the next best thing…he rolled out the old kettle grill…filled it’s belly with charcoal…doused it with way too much lighter fluid…and lit it with the Winston hanging from his mouth.

My first taste of grilled fish was something I’ll never forget. From that moment it turned into my favorite way to prepare fish. That bass hot off the grill was something extraordinary to me. Not only in the moist freshness, but also in what I believed to be the respectful way of which it was cooked. A nod to the gentlemanly way it was caught.

As summer rolls in hard here in the South, we bring our attention to everything it brings. These upcoming months on PaulaDeen.com we will share recipes, techniques and amusing stories using the bounty from your summer garden and bounty from your Dad’s fishing rod.

Eat something homemade and go fishing with your dad,
Libbie

PS Image above of my young father…I’m happy to say he still is an accomplished fisherman and no longer smokes.

Read More From Blogs.

Read More From Libbie Summers.

Read More From Editor's Notebook.

Reader Comments:

Hey Libby! I loved your article and the idea for talapia! Keep it coming on the grilled fish, throw us what ever you have! Thanks!

By Patchworkpeg on June 26, 2010

Dear Libby;
Your story was wonderful, I remember my father going fishing, but not for fish, he went shrimping, with my uncle A.J. they would leave on a Friday morning to Galveston, Texas and try to catch shrimp, even though there was none to be had at least that is what the shrimper said, this went on for 2 weekends, on the morning of the third weekend, they left later than all the others, hopeing beyond hope to catch something, when they thru their next out, they were sure it was caught on some thing because bringing it back in by hand was really hard, but low and behold they brought in the biggest catch, durning the biggest drought of shrimping, there was, us kids were so proud because they got their names in the paper, spending the next few days, we kids had to clean all that shrimp, dad decided to BBQ and he decided to grill shrimp, which now is the only way I will eat it, dad is gone now has been for almost 23 years, but from that time on mom would never fry fish or shrimp in the house, dad had to grill it. Thanks for listening to a old lady’s story about her family, Love Diana (from Texas) living in New Mexico.

By Diana Graves on June 25, 2010

Hey Karon! Throw some talapia on the grill and make a fresh grilled pineapple salsa to go with it…or eat it caprese style with fresh tomatoes, basil,some diced fresh moz., drizzle of olive oil. Perfect for lunch in this hot weather!

By Libbie Summers, Paula Deen Senior Food Editor on June 21, 2010

Hi Libby,
I love reading your articles. I’ve never grilled fish but would love to learn. I look forward to your future recipes, techniques and stories. What kind of fish would you suggest I use for my first time to grill fish?

Thanks, Karon

By Karon Cunningham on June 21, 2010

Pauladeen.com

When There is No Oil…You Grill