What’s cooking today: Braaied geelbek with dill-lemon butter

I picked up a lovely whole geelbek, not too big, at the harbour shop in Gqeberha recently, en route home from the airport. The next day, I turned the leftovers into fishcakes for breakfast, but this is what I had done with the whole fish the previous evening.

Cooking a whole fish, butterflied by the fishmonger, is one of the joys of a braaier’s life. And do ask your fishmonger to prepare it for you. It’s a matter of honour for the staff of these little fisheries. It’s a fine craft, they’re skilled, and they take pride in doing it for you, just as a good butcher likes to be asked to prepare a particular cut of meat the way it should be done.

I have a rather modest dill plant bravely fighting off the heat at the moment, so I made some dill butter (not difficult, just melted butter with dill in it) to baste the fish over the coals. And a little lemon juice.

A note on braaing fish: it needs to be cooked in a hinged grid so that you can turn it over. And there’s one mistake a braaier makes only once, and that is the first time s/he cooks a whole fish on the braai without first oiling the grid (on the insides, obviously).

Without oil, the fish sticks to the grid. You won’t make that mistake twice, I promise.

(Servings depend on the size of the fish)

Ingredients

1 whole geelbek/ Cape salmon, butterflied

⅓ cup butter

Juice and finely grated zest of half a lemon

A few sprigs of dill, finely chopped, and more for garnish

Salt and black pepper to taste

Oil for brushing the grid

Method

Geelbek straight off the coals. (Photo: Tony Jackman)