Newsletter Index > Adventure Tidings e-Newsletter, April 2010
Wilderness Cooking
Fire Roasted Arctic Grayling
One secret to delicious fresh fish cooked over the fire is to cook it on a stick. If you use a frying pan it won’t get the full flavour from the smoke ( although butter is hard to beat), and if you cook it on a grill, the skin often sticks to the metal and the skin is way too delicious and nutritious to waste. So, the technique that I have developed, and perhaps others as well, is the green alder stick and brass wire method of roasting over an open fire. This technique is excellent for small fish up to 1 kg for 2.5 pounds in size.
The Roasting Process
- Buy a fishing license ( fishing license fees help fund conservation efforts in your area).
- Follow the guidelines of your license and limit you catch, rather than catch your limit.
- Once you have caught your fish while respecting the fish population, gut the fish leaving on the head and tail.
Scale the fish if it has hard scales or if they are fine and edible such as a trout you can leave them on. - Walking a good distance away from your camp ( 100 meter plus) and harvest a green alder branch that is as thick as your pinky finger at the end, larger than your thumb at the base and at least 5 feed long. Willow will also work well. When in doubt use a slightly thicker stick because if the stick dries out while cooking it can catch fire and cause problems. Peel the bark from the end of the stick for a distance that is equal in length of the belly cavity of your fish plus two inches. The rest of the stick should remain covered in green bark as this helps keep the moisture in your stick.
- Collect some dry firewood, preferably not high resin woods such as pine, but rather hardwoods or poplars and start your camp fire. If on a river beaver wood is ideal because usually these debarked pieces will be birch or poplar. If the beaver wood has drifted on to a gravel bar it may be nicely cured as well.
- Stick your partially peeled green stick through the belly cavity of the fish and out through the mouth. Using your section of brass snare wire ( available at most Canadian Tire or sporting goods stores) wrap the fish from head to tail so that it is securely attached to the stick. Be sure to secure the wire to itself or to the stick well so that the fish will not fall in the fire.
- Slowly turn the fish over the coals until completely cooked. The skin will slowly brown from the smoke and heat and the meat can be checked to ensure that it is cooked with a camp fork. The flesh should turn white and opaque. Typically a bit of natural fish fat will start to drip towards the end of the cooking process, so watch for this as an indication that you are getting close to completion.
- Set the fish aside to cool for a moment and then unwrap carefully the brass snare wire and retain as it can be used for this purposes numerous times. You should wash the wire carefully with your dishes so that it doesn’t smell of fish.
- Enjoy the look on your friends' faces as they enjoy the tastiest fish seasoned by the heat and smoke of a wilderness fire. A touch of salt and pepper brings out the wood and fire flavour.
Please Note: Fresh fish are tasty cooked almost any way. This technique is appropriate in areas in which fire wood collection is appropriate to the environment. Please consider cooking over a stove if this is not the case in your area, or limiting this activity to special occasions
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