Whole Grilled Nannygai — Victor Liong x Big Green Egg

Victor Liong × Big Green Egg
Victor Liong's Whole Grilled Nannygai on the Big Green Egg

Whole Grilled Nannygai

Serves 2–4
Dry Age 1–5 days
Cook 20 min
BGE Temp 250°C
Setup Direct
Target 48°C core

Dry-aging fish is a restaurant technique that almost nobody does at home — and the Big Green Egg is the reason it's worth doing. The uncovered fridge rest removes surface moisture so the skin crisps instantly on contact with the grill. Then the chilli bean sauce and BBQ spice go on at the end, caramelising into the skin over live coals. It's a dish that only works this way.

Nannygai is the ideal fish here — firm flesh, beautiful skin, excellent flavour when the moisture is concentrated by dry-aging. Ask your fishmonger to butterfly it for you, or work as fillets if the fish are large.

"The dry-aging step is the whole trick. One day minimum, five days if you want something truly special."

— Victor Liong

The Recipes

1. Dry-Aged Nannygai

600–800g Nannygai or snapper, whole (or fillets if large)
As needed Vegetable oil, for grilling
  1. 1If cooking whole, butterfly the fish by cutting through the back. Remove the spine and rib bones, keeping the fish in one piece. Remove the head.
  2. 2If the fish are large, process as fillets instead — skin on.
  3. 3Place the butterflied fish or fillets on a wire cooling rack set over a tray. Do not cover. Refrigerate for at least 1 day, and up to 5 days.
Victor's tip

The longer the dry-age, the more concentrated the flavour and the more dramatically the skin will crisp. Even one day makes a significant difference. Three to five days is restaurant-level.

2. Chilli Bean Sauce

180g Vegetable oil
200g Chilli bean paste (doubanjiang)
165g Long red chilli, blended
110g Garlic, blended
55g Ginger, peeled and blended
200g Shaoxing rice wine
800g Kimlan soy paste
300g Sugar
40g Knorr chicken powder
80g Sesame oil
  1. 1Heat vegetable oil in a wide pan or wok over medium heat.
  2. 2Add chilli bean paste and cook, stirring constantly, until it darkens and becomes sticky — about 5 minutes.
  3. 3Add the blended chilli, garlic and ginger. Cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
  4. 4Add Shaoxing wine, soy paste, sugar and chicken powder. Bring to a boil.
  5. 5Reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for 15–20 minutes until all raw flavours have rounded out. Stir through sesame oil off the heat.
Victor's tip

This is the same sauce used across all three recipes in this series. Make a full batch — it keeps refrigerated for two weeks and is outstanding with chicken and lamb too.

3. BBQ Spice Blend

50g Murray River pink salt flakes
100g Cumin seeds
30g Sichuan peppercorns
50g Fennel seeds
20g Knorr chicken powder
10g Sugar
50g Toasted sesame seeds
30g Gochugaru (fine Korean chilli flakes)
  1. 1Toast all whole spices — cumin, Sichuan peppercorns, fennel — on a tray at 150°C for 8–10 minutes. Do not brown.
  2. 2Cool completely. Blend cumin to a powder. Blend Sichuan peppercorns to a fine powder. Blend fennel to a fine powder.
  3. 3Blend toasted sesame seeds briefly — just until the seeds are cracked, not a paste.
  4. 4Combine everything — blended spices, salt, sugar, chicken powder and gochugaru — and mix well. Store in an airtight jar.
Victor's tip

This blend also appears in the Lamb Belly Skewer recipe. The gochugaru gives it a slow, building heat that suits fish beautifully — don't substitute with regular chilli flakes.

Grilling the Fish & Serving

  1. Light the BGE and heat to 250°C with the grill grate in place for direct cooking.
  2. Brush the skin side of the fish generously with vegetable oil. Place skin side down on a cake rack (not directly on the grill grate — the rack lets you manoeuvre the fish to even out colouring).
  3. Grill skin side down until the skin is deep golden and crispy. Use the cake rack handles to move it around as needed.
  4. Close the lid and cook a further 2–5 minutes depending on fillet thickness. The thickest part should read 48°C on a probe thermometer.
  5. If the skin needs more colour after the lid cook: remove the grill grate and place the cake rack directly over the coals. Watch closely — this will blister the skin very quickly.
  6. Brush the flesh (underside) of the fish with chilli bean sauce. Flip carefully. Brush the skin side generously with chilli bean sauce.
  7. Sprinkle the skin generously with BBQ spice blend. Return to the grill for 1 minute to dry out and caramelise the surface.
  8. Serve immediately on a platter with a fresh herb salad and lemon halves.
Nannygai grilling skin side down on the Big Green Egg Crispy dry-aged nannygai skin detail after grilling
Victor Liong's grilled nannygai with chilli bean sauce Grilled nannygai finished with BBQ spice on the Big Green Egg
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