Skewering

Whole Fish: Place the fish on your board with the belly toward you and the head to the right, tail to the left. This is the “wrong” side, on which all cutting and skewering are done to insure a pretty presentation on the “right” side after cooking. Make a 1½–2-inch incision along the belly, starting from under and just behind the gills. Eviscerate the fish and rinse out the cavity with cold water. Pat the fish dry and place it wrong side up on a clean, dry board. Slightly above the evisceration cut and just behind the eye, insert the first skewer (1). Twist and push it into the flesh but not through to the right side. Now bring the tip of the skewer out on the wrong side about ½ inch from the original insertion (2). Bend the fish slightly and reinsert the skewer ¾ inch further along the side toward the tail. Again, twisting the skewer, push into the flesh, but not through to the other side, bringing the point of the skewer out just below the tail (3). If grilling two or more whole fish at one time, insert a balancing skewer horizontally between every two or three fish. If grilling a single large fish, thread a balancing skewer parallel to the first but a bit more shallow.