It's grilling season! Just so happens my buddy was on his way home from a fishing trip and called me up to let me know he had some fish collars for me. Not going to lie, I was pretty excited! You may be wondering what a fish collar is, why I was excited, and what it even looks like. Behold the redfish collar in all its glory...
Okay, so maybe it’s not exactly the prettiest thing on the planet, but don’t let that deter you. This culinary gem is one of the most prized parts of a fish, especially in Asia where collars are a BIG deal and are often reserved only for close friends and family. They have not caught on quite yet in America, which means you can consider yourself lucky! Because most people don't know about them, they can be obtained for a fraction of the price of a fillet from the same variety of fish (try about $3/lb vs $10-15/lb for most fish). That is, unless you have a fisherman friend like I do, in which case you’ll be indulging in all that omega-3 goodness for free! Sign me up! So how do you turn this slightly primitive-looking part of the fish into a gourmet meal? Easy...
The collar of a fish is located right behind the head/gills and usually needs to be taken from a 5+ pound fish before it is large enough to be considered a meal. Salmon, halibut, lingcod, and amberjack are all good candidates for extracting the collar, and if you’ve ever heard of “Hamachi Kama,” which is outstanding and often served grilled in nice Japanese restaurants with only salt and lemon, that is referring to a yellowtail collar. My fishing buddy graciously provided me with a couple large redfish collars, which are a more than adequate replacement for any of those.
If you don’t have the hook up, where do you find them? Asian markets and other places that process large numbers of fish daily will likely have them in abundance, and if you ask your local grocery store fishmonger to set some aside, that may work also (assuming he doesn’t save them for himself!). Fresh is best for the purpose of grilling. If you find frozen collars, I’d recommend those more for a stew/braise preparation.
All right, so back to my story: I’ve got these collars in my front seat (in a ziplock bag) that my friend gave me in a Lowe’s parking lot upon his return from a day-long fishing trip...and I’m extremely excited about it. The decision that must now be made is whether I want to rinse them and toss them on the grill immediately, fins and all, or if I want to make them look a little nicer for you guys. Despite the urge to prepare these caveman style (which you may very well opt to do for your own purposes), I thought of you all and cleaned them up.
You can leave the fins if they’re too difficult for you to remove with kitchen shears and/or a fillet knife. As you can see, I went ahead and clipped them off for aesthetic purposes. Regardless of whether or not you elect to remove the fins, rinse the collars off in the sink and soak them for 10-12 minutes in cold water. After removal from the water, what I do to ensure they’re thoroughly dried is put them on a double-layer of paper towels on top of a plate, pat them dry with another paper towel, and place the collars, uncovered, into the refrigerator for another 10-12 minutes. You can just pat them dry and skip the fridge step if you so choose, although you may have a little more moisture on the surface of the collars. That’s only a problem in that oil doesn’t like water and less moisture on the surface aids in developing a nice, appealing brown color on your collars when you're grilling them. "You eat first with your eyes," right?
Is it just me, or do they slightly resemble chicken thighs? One thing's for sure, they are both excellent grilled!
Giving these collars some Asian flair seemed like it would be the optimal preparation method, and with such high quality and fresh fish, it was all about enhancing the natural flavors with straightforward seasoning. That being said, I went with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a simple blend of freshly ground white and black pepper, and a small touch of salt for the initial seasoning on the fish. I then determined that grilled green onions would bring a little more flavor to the party and complement them nicely (spoiler: I was correct). Each scallion was split lengthwise with a knife, the root was removed, and they just had a small amount of extra virgin olive oil and salt/black pepper on them. Time to grill!
Go with high heat for these. My grill gets up around 600 degrees Fahrenheit, so if yours doesn’t you may want to add a little more time to my recipe. Also note that the collars I was using weighed in at approximately a third to a half pound each and were about an inch thick. You’re on the homestretch, so don’t stress out here! Collars are extremely forgiving and much easier to handle than fish fillets. They don’t fall apart as easily on the grill and are more difficult to dry out. See, piece of cake.
Cook with the flesh side down for about 5 minutes, then flip over for another 3-6 minutes (approximately) to finish them off. I went for five minutes on the first side and three minutes exactly on the skin side and it was just about perfect. Set those aside. Toss the green onions (scallions) on the grill for a couple minutes, flipping once halfway through that time, and serve everything up with some sautéed spinach or a great seasonal combination of diced zucchini, yellow squash, onions, and garlic. Mix together some DARK soy (yes, this is different and much thicker than the regular soy you are used to seeing) and some yuzu juice and either pour it over the whole thing or just put it on the side for dipping.
NOTE: I will receive a small percentage for purchases made through the following Amazon link, but did purchase this product myself and use it in this recipe. You can find the 100% Yuzu Juice at this link (a little goes a long way): http://amzn.to/1THsIim. Although it’s highly recommended to go with the aforementioned combination for your sauce, if you don’t have yuzu or dark soy you can substitute ponzu sauce or a combination of soy sauce and lemon/orange juices. And now for the payoff:
Is that really the same thing we started with? Yes, yes it is. What you end up with is a truly gourmet meal that is not only high in protein and full of healthy fats, but it's also one of the most luxurious and delectable dishes (at a non-luxurious price) that you’ll ever eat. This is the fish equivalent of BBQ ribs (in that they fall off the bone and cause you to want to lick your fingers), and naturally that means you can eat these with your hands without the slightest bit of guilt - Enjoy!
CLICK HERE for the recipe page and CLICK HERE if you would just like to save a PDF file or print the recipe! Click any of the above pictures for a PDF file or to print the recipe for Asian Style Fish Collars.
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