That handy grill works well for freshly caught fish, too

LITTLE ROCK - Your gas or charcoal grill on the patio, backyard or at a campsite works well for burgers, steaks and other entrees. It can function equally well with fish fillets.

Doctors and nutritionists tell us that eating fish is healthy. Get away from the deep frying or pan frying that are traditional with Arkansans, and the health benefits are much higher.

Grilling, broiling, baking are all workable alternatives to frying. With the arrival of warm weather and outside activities, those grills come into prominence. For grilling fish, only a few differences need to be kept in mind from the familiar grilling of burgers.

Cooked fish on a grill has an undesirable habit of falling through the grates. Cook fish breaks apart easily compared to burgers or steaks, so buying a wire fish basket for grill use is suggested by experienced fish grillers with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

One AGFC griller said, “Don’t use my name because folks will think I’m cheap. But my grill fish basket is my campfire popcorn popper. Works well, just as good as a fish basket. Just remember to spray it inside with PAM or some other cooking spray.”

With a wire basket - or the popcorn popper - the cook grills one side then turns the basket over for grilling the other side. The basket should be sprayed or wiped with cooking oil before starting the grilling.

Most any fish fillets handle well with the grilling method except very small ones like bream. Catfish, black bass, striped bass, walleye and even good-sized crappie fillets make tasty features for the grill along with salmon fillets you may find on sale at a supermarket.

Grilled fish fillets need little enhancement. Salt, pepper and lemon (or lime) juice can suffice. Mix them with melted butter or margarine and pour or brush on the fillets. Use a fairly hot temperature to quickly cook the fish. Long, slow cooking has a tendency to dry out fish.

For a different taste and one you may find preferable, use olive oil instead of butter or margarine. But go light with the oil; too heavy a dose of olive oil may overwhelm the delicate fish taste.

From this basic formula, all sorts of additions can be made, and marinating the fish fillets before grilling opens up still other culinary avenues.

Onion salt, minced onion or garlic salt puts some zip to the fish. A modest amount of dry mustard mixed with the salt, pepper, lemon juice and oil is another direction. Herbs of all kinds - thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano, mint - will impart different and favorable flavors. Orange juice instead of lemon juice is one more option.

For best results, avoid using very large fish fillets. The size that works the best is about that of your hand - four or five inches long, three or four inches wide and a half inch to three-quarters of an inch thick. If you have a large fillet or two, cut them in half.

Serve these grilled fish fillets with your choice of sides and salads. Chances are, no one will think about reaching for ketchup or tartar sauce