How to cook fish on a barbecue and why it's one of the safest foods to cook on coals

Chef Aishling Moore of Goldie in Cork talks about cooking her sustainable gill-to-tail fish dishes over a hot coal barbeque

Chef Aishling Moore

Turning charred sausages and overcooked steaks over a flame with one hand while holding an umbrella with the other: that used to be the classic Irish barbecue. Things have changed, though, and now it’s all about Big Green Eggs outside the kitchen door, custom-built setups in the back garden, charcoal rules the day and barbecues are not just focused on feeding carnivores.

For Aishling Moore, head chef and co-owner of Cork’s fish-focused Goldie, her barbecue style is all about locally sourced, seasonal fish. “People don’t think about cooking fish on a barbecue as much as they should,” she says. “A lot of people precook meat in the oven, then on the barbecue — that’s not really barbecuing — but people are scared of food poisoning, and food safety is so important.