Spicy Cod With Sake and Grilled Lime

Name: Spicy Cod With Sake and Grilled Lime
Yield: 10
Cuisine: American

RECIPE: Recipe reprinted with permission from Symon’s Dinners Cooking Out. Copyright © 2025 by Michael Symon. Photographs copyright ©2025 by Ed Anderson.
Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

Photo: Ed Anderson

March 03, 2025

Mild-mannered black cod spices up the barbecue in this recipe from Michael Symon’s latest book, Cooking Out. Because the fish is so neutral, “it plays well with marinades and sauces,” writes Symon, who applies a kicky glaze of sriracha, miso, sake, and mirin. When cooking with sake, a good rule of thumb is to use a bottle you like the taste of, but not one that’s so precious you’ll monitor every drop you pour. Symon suggests simmering the marinade ingredients in a saucepan on the grill, but you can also prepare it on the stovetop. Either way, for best results, start marinating the fish several days before you grill it. “An overnight marinade is good, but when you go for two—or even three—days the fish is off the charts,” Symon writes.

Ingredients

Yield:4

1/4 cup sake
1/4 cup mirin
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. sriracha
1/4 cup white miso
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
4 8-oz. black cod filets, skin on
2 limes, halved

Preparation

In a sauce pot, combine sake, mirin, sugar, and sriracha, and bring to a simmer. Whisk until the solids dissolve, then remove from the heat and whisk in the miso and rice vinegar. Set aside. When cool, pour over the cod and marinate [refrigerated] for 1-3 days.

Set up your grill for indirect heat by building the coals on one side only. Allow the temperature to reach 400-450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove the fish from the marinade and allow the excess to drain off. Place the fish, skin side down, on the indirect-heat side of the grill. Cover with a lid and cook the cod for 5-10 minutes or until the fish is flakey and cooked through. Remove from the grill. Meanwhile, sprinkle the limes with salt, place cut-side down on the hot grill, and cook for 5 minutes. Transfer the fish to a platter, squeeze the limes over, and serve.