Large organic peaches sprinkled with brown sugar, ground cloves and cinnamon. Grilled.

Photos shot by Maia on a Canon Rebel Digital XT.

I’ve never purchased a whole fish before. When I saw whole wild sockeye at $3.99/lb at the market, I decided it was time to give it a shot. I picked up a 4 pound fish (it was already gutted, but that was it!) and brought it home to prepare for a potluck BBQ at my friend Clark’s house.

Photos shot by Maia on a Canon Rebel Digital XT.
When I arrived home excited and ready to prepare the fish, I realized that I had absolutely no clue what to do. I first made an incision down the spine but then quickly realized I did not want to be cutting through bones. It became clear that I would need to slice parallel and as close to the backbone as possible. I finally got the fish cut sufficiently (it was a little butchered) and was ready to get started. I tossed in lots of coarse sea salt, added sliced lemons, chopped onion, fennel fronds, thyme sprigs and then drizzled olive oil inside. Before tying up the fish with twine, I added some spices: paprika, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne, fresh ground pepper & cumin.

One of the main challenges with grilling the whole sockeye was cooking it enough in some spots without overcooking and drying it out in other spots.The fish took about 30-40 minutes to cook. When finished, I put it on a large pan, cut off the twine, removed the backbone, and everyone served themselves. Although it was a little dry in some spots, the taste was still awesome and flavorful. The fish served 5 of us and there were no leftovers to be had! I'm pretty excited to start cooking more whole fish (maybe trout or cod next).