Kiawe splits for live fire

The Founder's Zarandeado

45 min · Intermediate · Feeds a crowd

This recipe brings together the founder's two loves: Baja and Hawaii. The Baja half comes from years of chasing zarandeado up and down the coast between spearfishing dives — charcoal grills in Rosarito, Playa de Tijuana, Ensenada, Popotla, and liveaboard boats anchored off the islands of the Sea of Cortez. The best night of it: a 40-pound white seabass, filleted on deck, one whole half laid over the fire — it took a few sets of helping hands to flip and baste it — and everyone standing around the grill with tongs, filling fresh tortillas straight off the grate.

The Hawaii half is in the baste: shoyu, ginger, chili pepper water, and a guava lacquer to finish. And the wood is where the two loves turn out to be one — zarandeado is mesquite-coast cooking, and kiawe IS a mesquite. Same tree family, different shore. One fish, both coasts, one fire.

The Numbers

  • Pit: Moderate kiawe coal bed
  • Pull At: 130-135F at the thickest point
  • Time: 25-35 min, flip every 2-3
  • Burn: Kiawe lump + chunks, burned down to coals

Ingredients

  • 1 whole snapper, opakapaka, or white seabass (3-5 lbs), butterflied through the back — or one big slab of fillet
  • Coarse sea salt — salt the fish an hour ahead
  • A hinged fish basket (the zaranda) — non-negotiable for all the flipping
  • Working baste (no sugar — it cannot burn): 1/2 cup mayonnaise + 2 Tbsp melted butter + 2 Tbsp shoyu + juice of 2 limes + 1 tsp grated ginger + 2 crushed garlic cloves + a good splash of chili pepper water
  • Finishing lacquer: 1/2 cup guava jam + 2 Tbsp shoyu + juice of 1 lime, warmed until it pours thin
  • Chili pepper water (make 2-3 days ahead): 10-15 Hawaiian chilies, halved + 1 1/2 cups boiling water + 1 Tbsp vinegar + 1 tsp coarse salt
  • The spread: warm tortillas, pico de gallo, cucumber and red onion quick-pickled in lime, avocado, cilantro, lime wedges

Method

  1. Salt the fish an hour ahead. Whisk the working baste, warm the lacquer, and clamp the fish in the basket.
  2. Burn kiawe down to a moderate glowing bed — this is a patient cook, not a sear.
  3. Start flesh-side down 3-4 minutes to set a crust, then flip. From here: baste, flip every 2-3 minutes, baste again. Every flip, every time — that is the dish.
  4. The mayo baste browns deeper and deeper bronze and never burns. 25-35 minutes total, to 130-135F at the thickest point.
  5. The lacquer comes LAST: brush it on as the basket comes off the fire, then one 20-30 second kiss back over the coals to set it — watched the whole time. Sugar goes from lacquer to carbon in the time it takes to grab a beer.
  6. Serve it Baja-style: the basket opened right at the fire, everyone with tongs and a stack of warm tortillas.

On the Side

Back to blog