Father's Day Seafood Grill Up

I love grilling seafood! It breaks up the monotony of Beef / Pork / Poultry, feels high-end, and often doesn't cost an arm and a leg. These days you can get Salmon for cheaper than most steaks and an entire bag of shellfish for less than a $15.

They also grill up easily so long as you know what you're doing.

I like to use general purpose seafood seasoning, like Old Bay, Lemon Pepper, or something generic and labeled "Seafood Seasoning." It's hard to go wrong and a little bit is all you need to add some flair. 

Clams and other live shellfish are the most work, just because you have to clean them. You make a salt water brine (30g or 1oz for every liter of water), scrub the clams, drop them in, and they'll spit out all of their gunk and sand. We typically put them in a pot with white wine, garlic, and butter, then just cook them indirect until all of the clams open. If some of them are stubborn and won't open, pull them out with tongs and put them on direct heat right above the fire and they will pop open. You'll get some great smokey flavor this way also!

Sausages I like to cook over direct heat, but far. That's why I like the second level grate. It crisps up the skin and gets good color and brings them up to 180F+ without burning the outsides/undercooking the inside. That coiled polish rope sausage can be cooked the same way.

 

Scallops can be cooked over hot-hot direct heat. Baste each side with butter and pull off at 135F or so. They'll reach that temp quick and won't burn. I cooked them from frozen and these were still probably the best scallops I've done!

Lobster should not be cooked from frozen and I found that out the hard way. It should be thawed and the shells butterflied and popped open before starting the grill! I thought these could thaw indirect on the grill but it was taking too long. So I moved them to direct heat. This cooked the insides unevenly, burning the area closest to the shell and undercooking the center. Eventually I had to discard the shells entirely and cook them shell-less to get everything even. Basted in butter they were still delicious, although a little unsightly!

Dessert was a delicious, decadent, rich S'Mores Pie that I had requested from America's Test Kitchen. Thank you to my wife and my wonderful family for a great Father's Day!