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1/3 cup Lime-Cilantro Butter (page 393), warmed

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the grill as directed.

2. Scrape the dull side of a knife against the skin of the fish, running from tail to head, to remove excess moisture and fine scales. Cut 3 or 4 diagonal slices through the flesh of the fish on each side down to the bone. Season the fish inside and out with the cumin rub, and rub the olive oil over the outside.

3. Brush the grill grate and coat it with oil. Oil the grill screen or fish basket liberally and put the fish on the screen or in the basket; put it on the grill. Cover and cook until browned on both sides and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of one of the fish registers 130°F, about 15 minutes. If your grill has a temperature gauge, it should stay at around 375°F.

4. Serve the fish with the warm butter sauce.

Thai Basil Roasted Tuna Loin

If you are a fan of rare tuna, this recipe is for you. Most tuna steaks aren’t thick enough to get much of a crust before the fish cooks through. By starting with a section of tuna loin (the muscle that tuna steaks are cut from), you have what looks like a small roast. Cook it directly over as hot a fire as you can get, crusting it on all 3 sides (because tuna loin is roughly cylindrical, turning it twice will brown it all around and give it a dynamic triangular profile), about 4 minutes per side. The center will stay raw, which means that you will have to test for doneness by taking its temperature both in the center and nearer to the edge. It should be well-done (140°F) at its edge, but not much warmer than refrigerator temperature in the center.

TIMING

Prep: 10 minutes (plus 10 minutes for rub and mop sauce)

Grill: About 12 minutes

GRILL TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT

•Long-handled tongs

GETTING CREATIVE

• Feel free to vary this recipe with other rubs and dipping sauces. Try Sesame Szechwan Salt (page 380), Ten-Pepper Rub (page 378), or Bedouin Dry Marinade (page 383), with Preserved Lemon Relish (page 394), Harissa Dip (page 396), or Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (page 398).

* * *

THE GRILL

Gas:

Direct heat, high (500°F)

Clean, oiled grate

Charcoal:

Direct heat, red-hot

12-by-12-inch charcoal bed (about 3 dozen coals)

Clean, oiled grate on lowest setting

Wood:

Direct heat, red-hot

12-by-12-inch bed, 3 to 4 inches deep

Clean, oiled grate set 2 inches above the fire

INGREDIENTS (MAKES 6 SERVINGS)

2 pounds tuna loin, 4½ inches long and 3 inches in diameter

1 ounce Thai basil or sweet basil leaves (about 1 cup)

1 tablespoon Moroccan Rub (page 382)

2 teaspoons olive oil

Oil for coating grill grate

1 cup Grapefruit Ponzu Marinade or Mop (page 359)

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the grill as directed.

2. Stab the tuna with a knife about 2 dozen times, and stuff each slit with a leaf of basil. It’s easiest to use the wide end of a chopstick to push the basil into the hole. Rub the outside with the Moroccan rub and coat with the olive oil.

3. Brush the grill grate and coat it with oil. Put the tuna on its long side on the grill, cover, and cook until browned on all 3 sides, about 12 minutes total. If your grill has a temperature gauge, it should stay between 425° and 450°F. It is important that the center of the tuna remain raw; therefore, to judge doneness, imagine a target on one end of the tuna, with a bull’s-eye in the center. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the bull’s-eye should register 50°F, one ring out it should register around 70°F, farther toward the edge it should register about 100°F, and it should read 140°F at the surface.

4. Let the tuna rest for 5 minutes to set up. Slice into 6 steaks, and serve topped with the ponzu sauce.

Lobster Grilled with Seafood Butter

It isn’t easy to kill. Yet most of us do it one way or the other every time we cook. Few of us have pangs about taking a life when opening a can of tuna, but when it comes to grilling lobster it’s a little harder to feign innocence. Lobsters must be cooked within minutes of dying (shellfish decompose quickly after death), so you have to either buy