Porgy is one of my favorite fishes, and I have been known to eat it three times a week in the dog days of summer that follow the seventeen-day Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston. Porgies have very sweet, coarse-grained flesh that is best when grilled slowly.

Have your fishmonger clean the fish, then cut several deep gashes in the flesh to the bone and fill them with a mixture of fresh herbs, garlic, and olive oil before grilling them over charcoal, on a gas grill, or over grapevine cuttings. A cup of freshly picked mixed herbs from the garden, 2 garlic cloves, and ¼ cup of good olive oil ground together in the food processor should give you enough pestolike mixture to coat two ¾-pound fish. You might sprinkle each fish with fresh lemon juice or with salt and pepper as well if you wish. I usually serve the porgies with sliced vine-ripened tomatoes and sweet corn on the cob.