Vanilla-Lime Grilled Mahi

Tahitian vanilla is a different species from the Madagascar bean most people know — Vanilla × tahitensis, grown mostly on Taha'a and Raiatea, higher in moisture and far more floral, with anise and cherry sitting where the caramel usually is. That's exactly why it works on fish: it reads as perfume, not dessert. Cook it and you lose the top of it, so the seeds go into cold butter and the butter meets the fish after it comes off the fire.

Mahi is lean, firm, and unforgiving — a 6 to 8 minute fish, not a 20 minute one. Buy thick center-cut loin, a full inch minimum, so the outside can take char and kiawe before the middle runs past 130F. Thin tail pieces will be dry before they're marked.

Ingredients

• 4 mahi mahi loin portions, 6-8 oz each, at least 1 inch thick, patted very dry
• 1 Tahitian vanilla bean, split and scraped (1 tsp real vanilla bean paste if not)
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• Zest of 2 limes plus 2 Tbsp juice
• 1 small shallot, minced fine
• 1 tsp coarse salt, pinch of white pepper
• Neutral oil for the fish and the grate
• 2 limes, halved, for the grill

Cook Sequence

1. Mash the vanilla seeds, lime zest, shallot, and salt into the soft butter, then work the juice in a little at a time so the butter doesn't break. Roll it in parchment and chill it hard.
2. Fire hot and direct, 450-500F. Throw the kiawe chips on right as the fish goes down — a 25-minute cook doesn't need long exposure, just the finishing note.
3. Scrape the grate clean and oil it, then oil the fish. Two oiled surfaces is the difference between a flip and a tear.
4. Fish down at a 45-degree angle and leave it alone 3-4 minutes. It releases itself when the crust forms; forcing it early rips the loin apart.
5. One flip, 2-3 minutes more, then pull at 130F at the thickest point. Past 140 mahi goes cottony and there's no coming back.
6. Lime halves cut-side down on the grate while the fish cooks — 2 minutes until the edges char and the juice loosens.
7. Coin of cold vanilla-lime butter on each portion off the heat. Rest 3 minutes while it melts down into the crust, then squeeze the charred lime over at the table.

Round Out the Plate

• Fluffy Coconut Rice — soaks up the vanilla butter that runs off
• Cucumber Tomato Salad — cold and sharp against a rich butter