Our Midwestern friends are always proclaiming the deliciousness of whitefish – particularly the smoked variety that is to be found all around the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the lakeside of many of the Great Lakes.  When I saw whitefish at Citarella, a New York City fish monger, I thought I’d give it a try.  To tell the truth, what I really wanted to do was to try out the apparently unused fish griller apparatus that we had purchased at a yard sale for $1.

Since I had been told that the meat of whitefish is mellow and delicate in flavor, I choose not to do a thing to it except clean it, season with salt and pepper, and place a few lemon slices in the cavity.  I squeezed it into the griller with a little pinch to the tail and threw it on the hot grill.  In just about 12 minutes we had a perfectly grilled whole fish that Doug expertly deboned – it didn’t need a thing – the flavor was so delicate that even a spritz of lemon would overpower.  The only mistake, I didn’t oil the interior of the griller which would have kept the skin from sticking when we opened the cage.