African Grilled Catfish – The process of smoking or drying fish eliminates moisture from the fish, adds flavor and helps in the preserving process. The dried fish turns out really tasty, it imparts a smoky flavor into anything you are cooking. So good!
How to make dried, smoked or grilled Catfish.
Smoked fish, Grilled Catfish, and Dry fish. These are the popular names that we call this fish. Almost any type of fish can be smoked especially the fatty fish because they are able to absorb more Drying your Catfish or any other fish, in general, does not only preserve the fish, it also heightens the flavor. Funny enough, many kids and a number of adults enjoy snacking on the smoked fish just as it is because it just goes so well with the mouth pallet, (my whole family and I are just as guilty 🤣) and this attitude calls for mothers to carefully keep this out of reach.
Keep in mind that this dried fish is entirely different from the slice-able smoked fish you get in groceries. This version is usually used in African cookery and it’s one of those must-use ingredients when making African indigenous soups, sauces, and stews like the native jollof rice, stewed spinach (Efo riro), okro soup and much more.
Living outside home has thought me a lot of things like replacing some indigenous herbs with the ones that are readily available here, another one is this dried fish. Dried fish can be found in almost any African market however, it may be a little hard to source and a bit expensive when living outside home. I need to drive over an hour to get my dry fish at the African store that is why I resorted to making it myself. It’s a labor love but it’s well worth it.
A little bit of History about Dried Fish
The best fish to smoke
It’s best to use fresh catfish for making dried fish. The choice of fish is quite diverse you could use mackerel, herring but in this case, I made use of catfish. Any fish will work. However, fattier fish will absorb more smoke flavor.
Ways to enjoy your Grilled Catfish
- Soups
- Stews
- Others are rice, beans
How to smoke Catfish
1. Grilling (Open grill) – This involves dry heat applied to the surface of the food by a traditional open fire. This uses firewood or charcoal as the source of heat
2. Kiln – A type of oven or furnace that produces temperatures sufficient for burning, baking, or drying. It uses either electricity, gas, wood or charcoal as the source of heat
How to clean fresh Catfish
The fish cleaning service is available at my local fish store so my fish butcher usually helps me out with cleaning my fish. However, you can see the step by step process on how to clean your catfish here.
I’ve made a new video to walk you through the step by step process on how to make Smoked Catfish, see below!
Notes:
- The whole process should start with Begin with fresh Catfish that are just out of the water. When you start with a stale fish, it will affect the final taste of your dry fish.
- Since this whole process is homemade, I like to pick out the smaller catfish because it cooks faster. The bigger ones take a longer time to cook and often time, it bursts open during the grilling process.
- The folding I was talking about, brings out the beauty of the fish and gives room for even smoking. Some also believe it makes all the water content in the fish come out during the smoking process. The goal here basically, is to dry the fish and store until when a recipe calls for it: Some even stalk more than a fish on a very long skewer. This is mostly done for commercial purposes, this also makes the flipping process easy.
- The process of making smoked fish requires very little heat about 250°F. More of the smoke is required than the fire. Therefore, it’s very important to keep the fire small, so the fish doesn’t get burnt.
Grilled Catfish
Equipment
- Grill
- Skewers
Instructions
- Get your grill started and let it stay at about 250F. A little charcoal at a time is advisable. (add more as needed)
- Meanwhile, Prepare your fresh catfish by removing the gut and cleaning it thoroughly.
- Rub a generous amount of salt inside and outside the fish.
- Fold the fish into a circle and pass a skewer through the fish to secure the shape. (optional)
- Set the fish on the grill, brush with a light coating of palm oil and leave to dry for 6 to 8 hours (checking every 2 hours) until well dried.
Video
Notes
- The whole process should start with Begin with fresh Catfish that are just out of the water. When you start with a stale fish, it will affect the final taste of your dry fish.
- Since this whole process is homemade, I like to pick out the smaller catfish because it cooks faster. The bigger ones take a longer time to cook and often time, it bursts open during the grilling process.
- The folding I was talking about, brings out the beauty of the fish and gives room for even smoking. Some also believe it makes all the water content in the fish come out during the smoking process. The goal here basically, is to dry the fish and store until when a recipe calls for it: Some even stalk more than a fish on a very long skewer. This is mostly done for commercial purposes, this also makes the flipping process easy.
- The process of making smoked fish requires very little heat about 250°F. More of the smoke is required than the fire. Therefore, it’s very important to keep the fire small, so the fish doesn’t get burnt.
Nutrition
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If you make this African Grilled Catfish, I’d love to see pictures of your creations on Instagram or Facebook. #cheflolaskitchen
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