C – Even a Grill Master like Jim makes mistakes.
Over thinking? Maybe, not thinking enough? Under heating? Or, just being too stingy with the coals? Maybe … all of the above. The basic problem was not enough heat on the grill. We had to leave the ahi on the grill a lot longer than we wanted. We couldn’t see char marks. We even covered the ahi for a few minutes. That made it even worse.
One thing I hate is having to remake things. It’s not that I don’t like to try again to make it perfect. It’s more that we have to do a walk of shame to our fish monger and get another one. I guess that’s one of the down sides of getting to know local places. They start asking questions when you buy the same thing two days in a row.
We were a bit scared the second time around. We definitely didn’t want to go back for a third time! That would have been truly embarrassing. I think we would have had to try something else, if that happened.
Luckily, we really thought this one through. We bought a thicker cut of ahi and used a different marinade. We needed to be able to tell if it was still rare on the inside. The first marinade we used was dark. We couldn’t see how the fish was cooking.
This time we used a brine similar to the Tea-Smoked Pork Tenderloin. It’s was a great brine and allowed us to get good flavor into the ahi, without making the meat too dark.
| Grilled Ahi (yellow fin) |
- 1¼ pound single piece of ahi (yellow fin), cut about 1 to 1½ inches thick
- 1 quart water
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 3 Tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ cup oolong tea
- Grapeseed oil for grilling
- Place water, brown sugar, soy sauce, salt, mustard seeds, black peppercorn, coriander seeds, bay leaves and tea into a sauce pot. Bring to a boil and let sit until cooled down. For quicker cool down, use less water to boil and add ice cubes. Then place in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Once cooled down, add ahi and place back into refrigerator for 30 minutes to marinate.
- After 30 minutes, remove from brine and pat dry with a paper towel.
- Heat grill on high heat.
- Drizzle oil over the fish, coating completely.
- Place over direct heat and cook for 1½ to 2 minutes on each side.
- Remove from grill.
- Let rest for a minute or two.
- Cut slices against the grain.
- Serve immediately.
- Enjoy!
We grilled this ahi on high heat this time. We didn’t skimp on the coals, either. I made sure to oil the fish before grilling to ensure we would achieve grill marks. It worked out perfectly. Just 1 to 2 minutes on each side and we were ready to eat. We had rare ahi in the middle and a nice sear on the outside.
I was so glad to figure out how to grill ahi perfectly. I wouldn’t have been amused if we couldn’t figure it out. I am a perfectionist. I would have done a third walk of shame, if I had to, just to get it right.