Michigan Cottage Cook: EASY GRILLED FISH

Amber, The Fish Monger's Wife, hard at work in the pouring rain.

Hanging around a vendor’s stall at the Farmer’s Market can results in numerous hints or recipes. I was talking with Amber, our favorite fish vendor, when a tourist told her how he grills fish so that it doesn’t stick to the grill and make a mess. First he told us that he likes to marinate salmon in a mixture of one-third olive oil, one-third soy sauce and one-third bourbon. We haven’t tried his marinade as we don’t like bourbon but we like his way of grilling fish. To grill his fish, the tourist sliced onions and brushed both sides with olive oil and put them on the grill. Then he grilled the fish on top of the onions so that the fish did not stick and the flavor of the onions permeated the fish.

Onions and fish reminded me of the Domers that fisherman use to make on their boats. Amber informed me that her husband still makes Domers when he is out on the Lake fishing. Here is the recipe for a Domer that I collected when I lived in Michigan’s Upper Peninsular in the 1960’s.

LAKE SUPERIOR FISHERMEN'S DOMER
In the Upper Peninsular of Michigan, my friend, Thornton Routier's father was a fisherman out of Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior during the Great Depression of the 1930's. Even though that area of the country was one of the poorest in the nation, the people of the UP ate well because of the abundance of wild game, fish and berries. In the morning, when the fishermen would pull the first net of the day into the boat, they would select a good lake trout or whitefish and gut it, stuff it and wrap it in a thick layer of newspaper. It would then be placed on the engine block to cook until their noon dinnertime. It, for some reason, was called a domer. The good taste can be duplicated in a slow oven.

1 Whitefish or lake trout, gutted and cleaned
Salt and pepper
Chopped onions
Butter
Season inside of fish with salt and pepper. Stuff full with onions and butter. Wrap
thickly in aluminum foil. Bake in a slow oven, around 250°, until fish flakes easily.

So good, so good for you! Enjoy!!

EASY GRILLED FISH ON ONIONS

Fish fillets
1 or 2 large sweet white onion, depends on how much fish you are cooking
Olive oil
Seasoning of your choice, we used Penzey's Fox Point

Season fillets. Cut onion into even slices and brush each side with olive oil. Place onion slices on a medium-hot grill. Cover the grill and grill one side for about 15 minutes. Turn onions over and place fish fillets on the onion slices. Cover the grill and grill about 15 minutes or until the fish flakes easily. Serve with WANDA'S LAKE SUPERIOR TARTAR SAUCE--Michigan Cottage Cook Post 7/30/10