Most of these columns are drawn from hunting trips, where game becomes food for my family or for special dinners. This column is different. Every year in July, Carmen and I spend a week at our cabin on the Iliamna River. Mid July is a special time to be there. A million or more Red (Sockeye) Salmon will school where the river flows into Alaska’s largest lake. The fish will be bright chrome, only a couple of days from their ocean journey. There is no better seafood than fresh Red Salmon.
We will catch a fish every other day to eat, cooking fillets so fresh that they curl on the grill. Then a day or two before leaving, we will harvest about twenty fish to freeze for the winter. If fresh from the water salmon is an A, frozen Sockeye Salmon is an A- while most frozen fish struggle to be a B. (Okay we are spoiled having Halibut, Ling Cod and King Salmon in the freezer.)
Whether fresh or frozen, my favorite preparation for salmon is on the grill. Here is my favorite recipe.
First, make a simple bar-b-que sauce. (This is for four pieces, adjust for more or less)
Mix
½ C. of Famous Dave’s traditional store-bought sauce
¼ C. of your favorite salsa
2 T. of Worcestershire sauce
2 T. of hot sauce, (we like Cholula sauce)
1/3 C. dried shredded onion
¼ C. vegetable oil
Add a bit of salt and pepper as desired, and if you have it some smoked paprika
Let the mix sit until the onion is soft and then mix thoroughly. (I make a fermented jalapeno sauce, but that recipe is a family secret.)
On a charcoal, pellet or gas grill, spray the grates with oil and heat to medium.
Your salmon fillet should have skin on one side. On the flesh side, apply a thin coat of oil and lay on the grill, flesh side down. Watch for the first signs of tiny white drops of fish oil cooking from the filet and then flip the fish, depending on grill heat, after three minutes.
Next, spoon the sauce generously over the flesh side of the filet. Continue cooking until the sides are well covered in white bubbles and the edges of the fillet begin to crisp slightly, generally about three minutes.
The fish should be flaky and just cooked. If you overcook salmon, it is still good, but the texture becomes dry, and you lose some of the flavor which comes from the oil of the fish combining with the sauce.
This goes with almost any side, from simple white rice to corn on the cob for picnic settings. A nice green salad always compliments this meal.