Catfish kebab - how to marinate and cook catfish on the grill

How to cook a delicious catfish shish kebab - a recipe for an amazing marinade
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Valentina Kolesnikova 03/15/2020 (Updated: 08/14/2020) 13920 22 comments

Anyone who has tried catfish kebab at least once will never forget its amazing taste! Tender, juicy, fatty meat that literally melts in your mouth! And what a aroma! You can just go crazy! And in general, fish kebab is incredibly tasty!

Catfish is a magnificent fish in every way! It has no scales or small bones, so preparing it and cutting it up for barbecue is not difficult. Catfish meat is very soft, tender, fatty, with a pleasant sweetish taste. It goes perfectly with mushroom kebabs, as well as other appetizers that I usually make.

If you are not a fish lover, then a selection of very tasty and proven beef kebabs recipes. I also advise you to look at the selection of lamb kebabs recipes. You will definitely like all of them!

Well, my family loves this amazingly delicious fish! When my husband brings back another “mustachioed handsome guy” worth 10-12 kilograms from fishing, it’s a real holiday in the family! Such a giant is enough to make fish soup and, of course, everyone’s favorite kebabs!

I remember how one day I found him cleaning a huge catfish, which he carefully placed in our bathtub. The sight of blood stains, mud, sand, dirty salt and mucus almost made me faint! Moreover, not only the snow-white bathtub, but also the tiles were “decorated” with this “goodness”. I won’t even say what happened next. After this incident, I moved my fisherman into the summer kitchen, where he still successfully cleans his catch to this day. True, he complains that he is disturbed by cats who walk around him in circles and scream like crazy, begging for a piece of fish.

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How to properly clean and cut catfish for kebabs?
How to properly marinate catfish for barbecue?
How to cook juicy and tasty catfish shish kebab on the grill?
How to cook juicy and tasty catfish kebab in the oven?

How to choose the right catfish for barbecue

If you are not surrounded by experienced fishermen, you will have to buy catfish for barbecue at the market. When choosing, pay attention to the freshness of the product. Here are the main signs of high quality:

eyes are dark, not cloudy;
pink gills;
the abdomen is white, in no way swollen;
when pressing on the carcass, the resulting hole should quickly level out.

Advice! If you decide to cook shish kebab from clarium catfish (also called marble catfish), then buy exclusively live fish. The fact is that this species is capable of existing without water for two days, therefore, if you are offered fish that have already fallen asleep, then the catch is clearly not today’s or yesterday’s.

There is no need to try to buy giant-sized fish. The most delicious catfish is the young one, not yet mature enough to spawn. The approximate weight of fish suitable for barbecue is 800-1200 grams, and the length is 40-50 cm.

Next you need to cut up the catfish:

This species has no scales, but the skin is covered with mucus, which must be removed, otherwise the dish will taste like mud;
then the fish must be gutted, being careful not to damage the gall bladder;
the walls of the abdomen from the inside should be cleaned of films;
then you need to cut off the tail, fins and head.

Next, the catfish is cut into steaks or filleted, cutting off layers of fillet from the backbone and carefully removing all bones.

If you don’t want to bother with cutting fish or you don’t sell fresh catfish, then you can simply buy frozen catfish fillets in the supermarket. Then it needs to be gradually defrosted, preferably in the refrigerator.

Catfish shish kebab is usually fried on a grill. If these are steaks, then they are simply placed on the grill. The fillet can be cut into large cubes and skewered and cooked on skewers, threading pieces of fish onto them. Such kebabs are also placed on a grill, and to prevent the ends of the sticks from charring, it is better to wrap them in foil. You can cook shish kebab on regular skewers, but you will need to carefully monitor the fish. If it is slightly overcooked, the pieces may begin to fall apart.

Cooking

Let's prepare the carcass:

Wash the fish of mucus, this is important, otherwise it will smell like mud;
Gut it. Remember about the gallbladder inside; if it is damaged, you will not be able to get rid of the bitterness;
The inside of the belly is covered with films - they need to be cleaned off;
Cut off the head, fins and tail (the bones are strong - take care of your fingers).

If the catfish is small, it needs to be cut crosswise into steaks. It is better to fillet a large fish. Use a good knife. And again, watch your fingers.

Prepare the marinade. You need to marinate the catfish kebab for 1 hour. We used a bag where we placed peppered pieces with marinade. The package must be tied.

Fish on the grill can be fried either on a grill in large pieces, or on skewers, but in small cubes. Tender fish meat usually does not survive large skewers (fall apart).

To prevent the ends of the skewers from charring, wrap them in foil.

Light the grill and fry until done, don’t forget to turn over.

Classic catfish shish kebab

Catfish shish kebab is an unusual but very tasty dish. Let's prepare it using the classic recipe.

2-2.5 kg of fish (weight of whole, uncut catfish);
2 tablespoons olive oil;
2 tablespoons lemon juice;
2 tablespoons soy sauce;
1 pinch of black pepper.

We clean the fish, gut it and fillet it, cutting through the flesh along the ridge on both sides. Then remove the remaining bones using tweezers.

Advice! The ridge, tail, fins and head remaining after cutting the fish should not be thrown away. These parts can be used to cook fish soup.

Prepare the marinade: mix olive oil, soy sauce and juice squeezed from lemon. Mix everything well. Pepper the fish fillet and pour over the prepared marinade. No spices other than black pepper are used in this recipe. Marinate the fish for about 1 hour.

Thread the fillet onto skewers and fry over the grill, turning often. Frying time is about 15 minutes. This same version of kebab can be cooked in the oven. To do this, we string the prepared fillet onto wooden skewers, which have previously been soaked in water. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 200 degrees for about 30 minutes.

How to marinate catfish for barbecue

In order to marinate catfish for barbecue, you first need to prepare a complex marinade, but don’t worry, the difficulty is in the quantity of ingredients and that’s all. The cooking process itself is very simple.

Grocery list:

Som - 1 kg, 1.5 kg is possible

For the marinade:

Soy sauce - 1.5 tbsp. l.
Sour cream - 2 tbsp. l.
French mustard - 0.5 tbsp. l.
Lemon zest - 0.5 tsp.
Garlic - 2 large cloves
Ground paprika - 1 pinch
Salt - a little

Energy value - 320.41 calories

100 g of this dish contains:

proteins - 28.97 g
fats - 14.56 g
carbohydrates - 14.99 g

Since they don’t sell fresh catfish in our region, I had to settle for frozen, unfortunately, but even from such fish the kebab turned out delicious and since it was going to the holiday table, I cut it into small pieces, defrosted of course. Well, if you are preparing for a picnic, then you can make it larger.

Set the catfish aside and prepare the marinade. Grate the lemon zest on the smallest grater. Peel and crush the garlic. Mix all ingredients. We add just a little salt, since our soy sauce is salty. You can also salt the fish a little, the main thing is that in the end the kebab is not over-salted.

This is how the sauce turned out.

Pour it over the catfish, stir so that the marinade covers each piece and leave the fish to marinate for only half an hour, maximum for an hour.

During this time, coals from the branches of fruit trees left after winter pruning were already smoking in the garden. If you buy them in a store, they will work too.

A quick recipe for a mineral water marinade with vinegar for catfish

Marinades are often prepared using mineral water; this marinade is also suitable for catfish.

2 kg catfish fillet:
12 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar;
1 tablespoon mustard;
4 cloves of garlic;
salt pepper;
0.5 liters of carbonated mineral water.

Mix vegetable oil with vinegar. It is better not to use regular vinegar. If you don’t have balsamic vinegar at home, you can use wine or apple cider vinegar instead. Add mustard and crushed garlic, season with salt and pepper.

Cut the catfish fillet into neat pieces and pour in the prepared marinade. Leave for 1-2 hours. You can fry catfish fillet shish kebab on skewers over the grill or on wooden skewers in the oven.

Catfish kebab in mayonnaise-sour cream marinade

You can use another version of the marinade for fish. We will marinate the catfish in mayonnaise and sour cream. You can fry on a grill or on skewers.

2-3 kg catfish;
4-5 onions;
5 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
1 lemon;
100 gr. mayonnaise;
100 gr. sour cream;
salt with a set of spices to taste.

Clean and gut the fish, cut into steaks about 4 cm thick. Cut the onion into quarters. Place the onion slices in a deep bowl, add vegetable oil and a little seasoning.

Catfish kebab in tomato paste, cooked on the grill

You can prepare catfish kebab by marinating it in tomato paste. We will cook it on the grill.

About 2 kg of catfish;
300 gr. tomato paste;
1 lemon;
2 onions;
1 bunch of fresh basil or 1.5 teaspoons of dried basil;
1 tablespoon of dry fish spice mixture;
salt, pepper to taste.

Clean and gut the catfish. Cut the fish into steaks about 3 cm thick. Sprinkle them with fish spices and leave for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, grate or chop the onion in a blender and mix with tomato paste. Add about a tablespoon of lemon juice and begin gradually adding warm water until you get a mass that resembles the consistency of tomato juice. Add salt to the liquid, pepper well, mix with finely chopped or dry basil.

Pour the prepared marinade over the fish and leave for 1 hour. Then place on barbecue grates and fry over hot coals until cooked, turning the grate periodically.

How to cook catfish steak

Properly cooked catfish steaks are tender, juicy and delicious. Those who do not particularly like fish can drown out the fishy taste with various sauces.

To prepare a steak, the bones are often removed immediately when cutting. Catfish have few of them, this is not difficult to do. Take out the backbone and cut the fillet into pieces of suitable size. Or they cut pieces together with the spine.

The larger the catfish, the fattier its meat. Therefore, catfish steaks on the grill turn out to be quite juicy, not overdried and unusually pleasant to the taste. When purchasing ready-made steaks, choose medium-sized steaks.

The skin is not removed from the fish so that, once softened, the meat does not fall into small pieces and fall into the coals.

Grilled catfish steaks are more tender than those fried in a frying pan and contain fewer calories. The natural fishy taste is preserved, complemented by the aroma of spices and a light smoky aroma emanating from the coals from the fruit trees. When cooking fish on the grill, you can wrap the pieces in several layers of foil and place them directly into the coals.

How to cook catfish steak more interesting?

You can make a cut in the fish pieces and stuff the middle. If whole fish is cut into pieces, the bellies are stuffed. Onion rings, lemon slices, chopped herbs or roots are suitable as regular minced meat. The mince can be more refined, for example: green grapes, chopped leeks and basil.

The readiness of the steaks is determined by pressing. The fish will spring slightly, and whitish juice will appear at the point of pressure. When the pieces are pierced, dense white flesh is visible.

There is an unspoken formula: every centimeter (the thickness of the piece) must be fried for at least three minutes. Visually determine the thickness and calculate the time. To maintain the optimal roasting temperature, you need to stir the coals of the grill.

Catfish steak on the grill

For 1 kg of fish:

lemon juice - 2 tbsp. l.
pepper - 1 tsp.
salt - 2 tsp.
nutmeg - 1 pinch
bay leaf - 2 pcs.

The steaks are marinated by mixing all the listed ingredients. If you have time, leave the fish overnight, or keep it for a couple of hours, stirring occasionally. If desired, other spices, fresh herbs or dry herbs, horseradish, mustard, adjika, mayonnaise, and sour cream are added to the marinade.

Place the steaks on the grill at a distance of 1-2 cm from each other so that they are cooked on all sides. Place on hot coals and fry each side for 6-9 minutes.

Serve immediately, hot, garnished with lemon slices. Steaks are served with mustard, various sauces and a lot of herbs: dill, cilantro, parsley, marjoram, celery.

Catfish steaks on the grill

For 1.5–2 kg of fish:

lemon - 1 pc.
ground pepper (black and white) - to taste
mayonnaise - 200 g
salt - to taste
onion - 1 pc.

The marinade is made by mixing mayonnaise and lemon juice with finely chopped onion, pepper and salt. The fish pieces are marinated for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. Fry over coals until cooked, placing pieces of fish on the grill mixed with potatoes, cut into halves, dipped in oil. Served with herbs and lemon.

Catfish kebab in pomegranate juice

Catfish kebab marinated with pomegranate juice turns out delicious. It is best to use freshly squeezed juice rather than store-bought juice.

3 kg catfish;
700 ml pomegranate juice;
2 tablespoons vegetable oil;
spices (khmeli-suneli, ground coriander, black and white pepper) and salt to taste.

Clean and gut the catfish, cut the fish into steaks 3 cm wide. Place the steaks in a bowl for marinating. Salt, sprinkle with spices and pour pomegranate juice. Gently mix with your hands and pour in vegetable oil. Mix well again.

Cover the fish with a flat plate and place a weight on top. Leave in the cold for 3 hours. We string the steaks onto skewers; for one steak we take 2 skewers, otherwise the fish will turn over when frying. Cook on coals until done for about 15 minutes.

Gourmet shish kebab in wine marinade

You can also marinate catfish in wine before preparing shish kebab; the taste of the dish will be exquisite.

500 gr. catfish fillet;
100 ml dry red wine;
50 ml soy sauce;
50 gr. fresh ginger;
1 lemon;
1 clove of garlic;
salt, mixed pepper seasoning, aromatic herbs - to taste.

Cut the fillet into large pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and leave to sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Next, grate the ginger on the finest grater and mix it with grated garlic. Lubricate the catfish fillet with the mixture and leave for another half hour.

Then pour soy sauce and wine over the fish and stir. An hour after filling, you can start cooking. Thread the fish fillets onto skewers. Since we cut it into large pieces, it is better to use 2 skewers per kebab at once so that the pieces do not turn on the skewers. Fry the kebab over hot coals for 12-15 minutes.

How to salt catfish

It is advisable to use coarse salt; sea salt would be ideal. We generously rub each piece with it, place it tightly in a container, sprinkle the layers of fish with additional salt and cover, pressing down with pressure. We put everything in the refrigerator.

The salting process lasts about three days (depending on the size of the pieces, temperature and other factors). We rinse the fillet pieces from salt and leave them to soak in water for one to two hours. This will remove excess salt.

But you can also not keep the catfish in brine for several days until the required condition, but use the salting for further smoking.

We tell you how to smoke catfish in the articles:

“Smoking catfish - basic tips” and

“How to smoke catfish correctly”

Catfish kebab in soy sauce, baked in the oven

Let's prepare shish kebab from catfish marinated in soy sauce. We will bake the prepared fish in the oven.

1 kg catfish fillet;
2 tablespoons soy sauce;
2 tablespoons mustard beans;
1.5 teaspoons fish seasoning;
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Cut the catfish fillet into neat rectangular pieces. Sprinkle the fillets with dry fish seasoning and stir. Leave for 10-12 minutes so that the fish absorbs the aroma of the spices.

Prepare the marinade: mix soy sauce, mustard seeds and vegetable oil. Pour the prepared marinade over the fillets and stir. Cover the bowl with the fish and put it in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Soak wooden skewers in cold water. After 20 minutes, remove, dry and grease with oil. Thread the marinated fillet onto skewers. Place on a heat-resistant form so that the ends of the skewers rest on the sides of the form, and the strung fish is suspended above the form. Bake at 200 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Catfish kebab: how to marinate and cook on the grill according to the recipe

Solid fishing over several days will not do without results, and even more so without barbecue.
But when you are in the wilderness from civilization, we take what we have already caught, for example, catfish. Catfish is one of the most suitable fish for this dish. The fisherman will find a fire and coals for this everywhere. The variety of ingredients used to prepare catfish kebab is very wide. The most common marinades:

with mayonnaise;
lemon;
dry white wine;
tomato juice;
a weak solution of wine vinegar;
onion gruel.

With the spices used, a similar story is very widespread. It all depends on your preferences, some prefer spicy, others very spicy, and some just salt and bay leaf. In general, it’s hard to spoil catfish kebab; it also forgives bold experiments.

Natural taste

I am more inclined to think that for catfish kebab it is better not to get too carried away with spices and marinade.

It is better to leave the fish with its natural taste, and add other pickled ingredients to it, for example, vegetables

Law-abiding does not allow me to cook it “in nature” (culinary inspiration came when it was not possible to go out into the countryside, and it was forbidden to light fires nearby). I'll try to make catfish shish kebab, but I'll really miss the smoke!

Cut the pre-cleaned fish. Take skinless catfish fillet and cut into small even cubes.

tomatoes;
Bell pepper;
onion.

Other components:

salt;
lemon;
vegetable oil;
table vinegar;
rosemary;
ground black pepper;
caraway.

Some components. For marinating, I consciously selected vegetables - onions and tomatoes, proportionate to the pieces of the upcoming barbecue, and we use multi-colored sweet peppers for beauty.

First you need to marinate the vegetables. Cut the onion into circles, and try not to let them fall into rings. We also cut the tomatoes into slices. First, cut the sweet pepper lengthwise, remove the partitions and seeds, and then cut them into squares, approximately the same size as pieces of fish, tomatoes and onions.

Next, we take suitable dishes and put everything there in layers, adding salt and pepper to each layer. Fill everything with a weakly acidic vinegar solution and leave it in the cold, but cover it tightly first. It marinates for about 2 hours. However, it is not necessary to carefully monitor the clock (nothing terrible will happen).

Do something else.

We take pieces of fish and do the same as with vegetables - salt, pepper and sprinkle with lemon juice. And I also use spices for fish, but this is optional. And today I added a little dried rosemary. Although this is not a traditional fishy scent, I really like it. Then I added a little more vegetable oil. Then follow the simple “kebab” pattern - stir everything in a bowl and put it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

Now let’s prepare the grate on which the kebab will be fried, as well as the baking sheet located under it. Cover the baking sheet with food foil.

This operation will help during the frying process, when the oven is only with an upper grill, then the foil will repel a little heat, and the part of the side of the kebab located below will also cook.

When the oven is fully equipped and has two grills and convection, then the roasting pan will protect the oven itself from solution and soot dripping from the kebab; all that remains is to simply remove and throw away the foil. In order to prevent the kebab from sticking to the bars of the grill, you need to coat them with vegetable oil.

Tip: for barbecue it is better to use metal skewers, as they fry the meat from the inside when heated in the oven or fire. When there are no iron ones, wooden ones are also suitable, but only for the oven; they burn out over a fire.

Looking through the packages of spices, I saw a package of cumin grains. I remembered the taste of roasted cumin seeds, and I decided to experiment and add a few grains (even though I had never done this before). Agree that cooking without experiments is just boring, right?

Place the cooked kebab in a preheated oven, set the temperature to 225°C, and turn on convection. Next, we monitor the process, periodically checking and turning if necessary so that the dish is baked evenly. All sides were baked without turning over.

Some nuances

Although I didn’t use ideal barbecue conditions, but rather an oven, it worked out great! There are, of course, nuances - the meat is still baked rather than fried. It is juicy and gives off a lot of moisture, and at home you won’t get a real golden crust, despite the hood. Home is home, the smell of smoke is missing here.

There is no need to worry about the side dish, since there are a lot of vegetables and they turned out to be spicy, piquant, and contrasting with the fish. You didn't even need to add lemon juice. Although boiled potatoes and canned green peas wouldn't hurt. And it’s better to eat fish, be it shish kebab, with cold, good dry white wine.

Conclusion

And in conclusion. The recipe given above is very good and simple. After all, you can use it both at home and outdoors. And this is all thanks to the properties of such a magnificent fish as catfish.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with: SIEVE FOR BAIT - Feeder.by

In terms of basic cooking methods in general, catfish is very close to sturgeon and is slightly inferior to them in taste. This fish, as already reported above, is difficult to spoil; it can be combined with many things and turns out tasty using different cooking methods.

The main thing you need to know about catfish is that it has no scales. In this regard, it is cleaned and gutted very quickly and without much effort. But it is still necessary to scrape it with a knife and it is best to do this under water. This action will rid the carcass of mucus and dirt that are present on the surface of the fish.

We also rinse the catfish well and dry it a little with paper towels. Then use a sharp knife to separate the head of the fish. This must be done in the place of the pectoral fins. Then we rip open the belly and carefully remove all the internal organs from it.

Why is caution so important? The thing is that if the gallbladder, which is located at the base of the liver, is damaged, the liquid will pour out of it, after which the fish fillet will taste bitter. In this regard, we remember that this must be done with all care and accuracy. Remove the films from the inner walls of the sirloin.

At the end, remove the fins and tail and thoroughly wash the catfish again. Next, cut the carcass into longitudinal pieces of about 5 centimeters each.

Place the catfish fillet pieces in a pot or bowl. Add finely chopped herbs, salt and pepper to taste. Next, add the washed bay leaf and sprinkle everything with dried oregano. Peel the onions, wash them and cut them into rings. We also add them to fish.

Squeeze the juice out of half a lemon and pour it over the catfish fillet, then pour the contents of the bowl with a glass of dry white wine. In the absence of this, you can use simple purified water. Mix the fish thoroughly with the marinade and leave the catfish fillet in this form for 1.

5-2 hours.

Remove the fish pieces from the marinade and coat them well with mayonnaise. Next, wrap them together with the onion rings in several layers of foil very tightly. Make sure there are no holes in the foil.

Light a fire in advance in the grill or in a hole in the ground (if you are having a picnic outdoors). Fill the grill with firewood and let it burn until it turns into coals, or you can use ready-made charcoal, which will greatly speed up this process. Next, bury the catfish in foil in the smoldering coals.

And after 20 - 30 minutes you can get a fragrant and incredibly tasty fish dish.

Fish baked in coals can be served with fresh vegetables and any sauce to your taste. It turns out that the catfish in the coals is very tender and aromatic. In short, this is the perfect dish for any picnic! Bon appetit and relaxation!

The thinner the foil you use, the more layers you need to use. It is best to wrap the catfish pieces in at least 3 layers of thin foil.

To prepare the dish, you can also use frozen catfish fillets, but in this case it must first be thawed in salted cold water.

It is very important to ensure that the coals smolder and do not burn. In the second case, they need to be sprinkled with water. After all, catfish should be baked in the heat, and not fried over an open fire.

Buy at good discounts for personal use and as a gift to friends and acquaintances.

28.01.2019

06 February 2021 12152

River catfish is a tasty and healthy product that almost all gourmets love, because it not only has a lot of meat, but is also rich in amino acids and other useful substances.

It can be prepared in different ways, however, catfish kebab turns out incredibly tasty.

Buying this fish on the market is not at all difficult, but you still need to have some knowledge about exactly how to choose catfish and how to cut it in the future.

So, the first thing you need to understand is what exactly a catfish looks like. Not everyone knows, but this species is completely devoid of scales, and this is what you should pay attention to first of all. The following signs must also be present:

The head of the fish is wide and large in size;
The eyes are very small;
The fish's mouth is flat;
The catfish has several antennae of medium length;
The catfish has an unusual tail shape, flattened on the sides.

The signs listed above will always indicate that it is catfish that is lying on the counter, and not some other fish. But it is also important to choose a high-quality and fresh product, and here you need to pay attention to the following:

the eyes of the fish should be dark, there should be no turbidity;
catfish gills should only be pink;
The belly is only white, it should not be swollen.

We suggest you familiarize yourself with: Winter Shoes for Fishing

When choosing the best fish, you need to lightly press it with your finger and watch how quickly the pressure mark smoothes out. If this happens instantly, then you can safely buy the fish.

Catfish barbecue sauces

Additionally, it is worth preparing sauce for catfish barbecue. We offer several cooking options.

Here's how to prepare tomato sauce::

I wash about 800 gr. fresh tomatoes, blanch them in boiling water and remove the skin;
grind the tomatoes in a blender and rub it through a colander;
cook the juice over low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally;
then add finely chopped parsley, cilantro and basil, add 1 teaspoon of spicy adjika;
Season to taste with salt and pepper.

White sauce based on yogurt is very good for fish; this is a very simple and quick recipe:

200 gr. thick natural yogurt and crushed garlic (3 cloves);
add salt and pepper;
season with finely chopped herbs and add pickled cucumber, chopped into very small cubes or grated.