For the marinade:
1/2 cup soy sauce or tamari (a high-quality soy sauce brewed exclusively from soy beans)
1/2 cup sweet rice wine (mirin), sake or white wine
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup Asian (dark) sesame oil
1 scallion, trimmed, white part smashed (reserve the green part, thinly sliced on the diagonal, for serving)
For the fish:
1 1/2 to 2 pounds fresh halibut, cut into 4 even pieces
Cooking oil spray for the grill basket
Vegetable oil for oiling the grill grate
To make the marinade, combine the soy sauce, mirin, maple syrup, sesame oil, and scallion white in a saucepan and whisk to mix.
Arrange the halibut in a baking dish, just large enough to hold it. Pour the marinade over the halibut, turning it a few times to coat well. Marinate the fish, covered, in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours, turning two or three times.
Drain the halibut well, pouring the marinade back into the saucepan. Place the fish pieces in a grill basket that is oiled well with oil spray.
Boil the marinade over high heat until syrupy and reduced by about one third, whisking often. You should have about 1 1/4 cups. Set this glaze aside for serving.
Set up your grill for direct grilling and heat to high. Brush or scrape the grill grate clean and oil it well. Lay the grill basket with the fish in it on the grate and grill the halibut until sizzling and browned on the outside and cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes per side. After 3 minutes, start basting the fish with some of the teriyaki glaze. Baste several times.
Carefully open the grill basket and transfer the fish to a platter or plates. Reboil the remaining glaze, whisk well, and then strain it over the fish. Sprinkle with the scallion greens and serve.
Excerpted from Project Fire: Cutting-Edge Techniques and Sizzling Recipes from the Caveman Porterhouse to Salt Slab Brownie S’Mores by Steven Raichlen (Workman Publishing). Copyright © 2018. Photograph by Matthew Benson.