Fried fish is everyday Vincentian fare — jackfish and other reef fish cleaned, rubbed with the island's herby 'green seasoning' and fried whole. Crisp-skinned and fragrant, it is the catch of the day at its simplest.
Bite fried jackfish and the skin shatters, crisp and golden, giving way to sweet, moist white flesh seasoned through with lime, garlic, and thyme. Bite: shatteringly crisp skin, tender flaking fish, the green seasoning herbal and a little spicy, the lime cutting the oil. Eaten with the fingers, with a fried bake — the everyday Vincentian fish fry.
Scoring the fish helps the marinade penetrate and the heat cook it evenly; a flour dredge crisps the skin in hot oil. 'Green seasoning' (the Caribbean herb-garlic-pepper marinade) flavors the fish to the bone, and lime cuts the fried richness.
Variations
With a cornmeal dredge. Stewed instead of fried. With escovitch pickle on top. Spicier. With snapper or other reef fish. With a creole sauce.
On the Palate
Where Fried Jackfish sits in the Vincentian flavor cloud
Get the skin crisp — score the whole fish, dredge in seasoned flour and fry in properly hot oil so the skin blisters golden while the flesh stays just cooked and moist.
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
8 steps · 30 min active + 15 min waiting
- 110 min
Clean and scale 4 whole jackfish; score the sides with a knife.
- 24 min
Rub with lime juice, then with green seasoning (garlic, thyme, chive, scotch bonnet).
- 315 min
Marinate 15 min.
- 43 min
Dredge the fish in seasoned flour.
- 54 min
Heat oil in a pan to 180°C.
Watch outTest the oil at 180°C — a pinch of flour should bubble briskly on contact; too cool and the fish soaks up grease.
- 69 min
Fry the fish 4-5 min per side until the skin is golden and crisp and the flesh is cooked.
Watch outThe skin should be deep golden and crisp and the fish let go of the pan on its own before you flip.
- 72 min
Drain on paper.
- 81 min
Serve with lime, fried bakes, or breadfruit.
