I stop into my local supermarket this morning to pick up some salmon for dinner and left with steelhead instead.  I guess, based on the paragraph above I did actually get salmon but since I’ve never grilled steelhead I figured I’d try something a little different. It really wasn’t all that different, the taste was slightly different but most people at the table didn’t really know the different.

Mrs. Grail was cleaning out a cupboard the other day and came across a bottle of Salmonberry Syrup we picked up on a cruise to Alaska several years ago.  I thought it would be nice to come up with a glaze using the syrup for the steelhead.  I served the steelhead on a bed of Israeli Couscous mixed with grilled summer squash. (The recipe for the Grilled Squash Couscous will post tomorrow)

One of the reasons I like to grill this type of fish is because it’s just so easy to do.  Brush the fish with a little olive oil, season and toss it on the grill.  This time around I seasoned the steelhead with Todd’s Crabby Dirt.  Dirt adds a nice flavorful kick to the fish that lets you know it’s there without a huge kick.

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I’m not really sure what the most popular fish for grilling is, but if salmon isn’t at the top of the list it must be near the top.  I came across an interesting article in a recent issue of “Summer Entertaining” from Cook’s Illustrated for an interesting take on Salmon and Tuna Burgers.  Just like all the recipes/articles in a Cook’s Illustrated magazine this take on a great summer classic is full of wonderful technical information and most importantly the reasons behind the techniques.

Here’s my take on the this recipe without all the extra’s.  If you’re looking for increasing your technical expertise, get the magazine.  You’ll be glad you did!

Salmon Burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 pounds salmon filets
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoon finely grated onion
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tablespoon table salt
• 1/3 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

Okay, here’s where we shorten up the instructions and details…

Get yourself a nice firm salmon filet and remove the skin.  If you don’t know how to remove the skin get your fish monger or meat cutter to do it.  You don’t want to hack the salmon up.

Run your finger up and down the salmon filet searching for all the pin bones.  Remove them with a pair of needle nose pliers.  Make sure you get ALL of the bones.  There’s nothing worse than a guest choking on a bone you should have removed.

Once the skin and pin bones have been removed dice the salmon filet into 1/4 inch pieces.  Try to get the dice pieces as uniform as possible.  Once you have the filet diced place a handful of diced salmon on the cutting board and using your knife with a rocking motion with your knife cut the salmon pieces into 1/8 inch pieces.  Again, try to keep the pieces as uniform as possible.   Keep cutting handfuls until all your salmon is  diced the second time

I put the diced salmon in a bowl and put it in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes while I prepared all the other ingredients.  Mix all the ingredients together and return the mixture to the refrigerator for a couple of minutes.  When ready form the salmon into patties of about 1/3 of a pound each.  Pack them together as tight as possible and place the finished patties on a cookie sheet covered with parchment or wax paper.  Cover and chill in the refrigerator for two hours.  It’s really important the patties get as cold as possible.

Here’s where things got a little different from the Cook’s Illustrated recipe.

The original recipe says to use a well oiled grill grate to grill your salmon burgers on.  I have a well seasoned cast iron grill grate on my Weber kettle and even oiling them again didn’t keep the salmon patties from sticking and basically fall apart.

Fortunately I only did two of the four patties.  With the second set of patties I used a well oiled fish basket.  Using this tool worked great.  I was able to cook the patties (four minutes on each side, using a medium hot grill) with having them disintegrate.

Plate the burger on a bun and top with Old Bay Aioli.  Unlike hamburgers the salmon burger is only service with a little lettuce and the aioli.  I didn’t want all the normal burger condiments and toppings to overpower the salmon flavor.

The preparation of the salmon burger is labor intensive and time consuming but well worth the effort.  Give it a try!

Old Bay Aioli

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise

Directions:

In a small mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and chill until ready to serve.

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Today’s entry in my Plank Grilling series is a nice little salmon dish with a refreshing and flavorful cucumber salsa.  It’s one of the easier dishes to prepare and can be done by almost anyone.  Prepare the salsa a few hours before you start cooking salmon so it has a chance to fuse all the flavors together.

For the salmon I used some nice “serving size” wood planks from Maine Grilling Woods.  I love the variety of different flavors I can get and they look good to when you plate them.

I soaked the wood planks for a couple of hours and then put them on the grill until they started to smolder.

Add the salmon and close the lid.  Give it about 20 minutes and check it out.  I love salmon and this is my favorite way to fix it.

Once the salmon is done, put it on a plate with a little of the cucumber salsa.  Serve immediately!

Cucumber Salsa

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, halved lengthwise again and thinly sliced crosswise
• 1/2 cup yellow cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1/2 cup red cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into large dice
• 2 tablespoons chopped shallot or red onion
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro, plus sprigs for garnish
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoons canola oil
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a bowl, combine the cucumber, tomatoes, bell pepper, shallot and chopped cilantro. Toss gently to mix. In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, canola oil, the honey, red pepper flakes and salt. Pour the lime juice mixture over the cucumber mixture and toss gently to mix and coat evenly. Set aside.

(Adapted from the Mayo Clinic recipe)

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Grail Note: Just a reminder to all my readers.  Many times the sauces and/or products used here at BBQ Grail HQ are provided by the manufacturer.  That is the case with the sauces from Scotty B.  It may also appear that I like everything you sent to me.  I don’t, I promise.  It just seems like it sometimes because I rarely write negative reviews, it’s a karma thing.  If someone sends me something I don’t like I normally just let them know why and we move on to something else.  In rare cases something is so bad I do let you know.  But because taste is so subjective I just feel it’s best to just not publish negative reviews.

I’ve decided the next step for The BBQ Grail is hot sauces.  Certainly hot and spicy foods go right along with BBQ and Grilling.  I’m not interested in just being able to sprinkle (or douse) my foods in some fiery, burn both ends, hot sauce.  I want to be able to cook with the sauces.  And that’s why the gourmet hot sauces from Scotty B interested me. They look like sauces that were created with cooking in mind, not just heating up already cooked food.

I had some salmon in the refrigerator and thought I’d give the Berries in Heat sauce a try.  Not knowing exactly how hot the sauce was or what the flavor profile would be like after I cooked with it I was a little hesitant to try it on the salmon.  I mean, salmon is the greatest grilled fish on Earth and wiping it’s flavor away with some super hot sauce wasn’t really what I had in mind.  (Click the picture for more details)

I decided to cook some carrots and see if I could glaze them with the sauce.  This would be a really good test for the Berries in Heat.  You see, I don’t like cooked carrots.  Raw carrots and carrot cake are pretty much the only way I like to eat carrots.  If Scotty B’s hot sauce could make carrots taste good Then we’d probably have a winner here.

The carrots were peeled and quartered.  I then par-boiled the carrots in heavily salted water until they just started to get soft.  One of my complaints about most cooked carrots is they are normally cooked to the mush stage.  So cook the carrots to the point where you get an initial soft bite but there is still a crunch in the middle.  When you reach that point submerge in ice water to stop the cooking process.  Drain and return to the pan.

Depending upon how many carrots you have in the pot add enough butter and Scotty B’s Berries in Heat in a 50/50 mixture until the carrots are completely coated.  Now slowly heat the carrots until the sugar in the hot sauce starts to caramelize.  Don’t burn the sauce or the butter.  You want to make sure the coating stays on the carrots.  When the carrots are warmed through you are ready to serve.

Were they good?  Yes, they were.  I could have pumped up the hot sauce a little more for my taste, but it had a nice sweet heat.  This sauce would work on a variety of different foods.  And I probably could have put it on the salmon without any problem.

The salmon was seasoned with Todd’s Crabby Dirt.  (Yes, I use a lot of Dirt when I cook).  And grilled on a plank from a wild apple tree.

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It seemed like a pretty good way to use up some of the Candied Salmon I had in the refrigerator.  Other than the rice and salmon my take on this has no real connection to the recipe in the book.

This recipe seems to be a great way to continue my quest of fusing Asian flavors into American style BBQ techniques.  I’ll be trying the recipe in the book soon, so I guess I’ll consider this a practice session. The more and more I look into Asian cooking techniques the more I see connections between BBQ techniques used all over the United States.  This is an exciting project and this post is just one of a continuing effort.

Compressed sushi is a fairly simple process.  Once you’ve cooked up your rice up a thin layer in your container.  A layer of plastic wrap will help you remove the sushi when it’s done.  A layer of smoked salmon goes on top of the first layer of rice.  And then a thick layer of rice on top of the smoked salmon.  Cover the whole think with plastic wrap and some type of cover.  Place a heavy weight on top of the whole thing so it compresses.  Let it sit for at least three hours.  If you use the refrigerator find the coldest part.  I let mine compress overnight.

When you’ve waited long enough, unwrap and remove you sushi.  Slice and serve with your preferred dipping sauce.

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Getting ready for the brine

A few years ago Celeste and I visited the wonderful city of Vancouver, Canada.  During out stay we stopped by Granville Island and came across a smokehouse selling Salmon Candy, I’m don’t remember what they called it, but it reminded me a Pig Candy, so I called it Salmon Candy.  A few days ago I was in the store and for some reason when I saw the salmon I thought of that trip and decided it was time to recreate that wonderful taste.

I checked out the internet for recipes and there appears to be just one recipe for for Salmon Candy.  And if there’s only one recipe out there on the world wide web then it must be what I’m looking for.  Well, it wasn’t as good as the Granville Island Salmon Candy so I’ll have to keep trying.

The final product was a little too salty and didn’t have the sweetness that I was hoping for.  The saltiness I think I can get rid of by rinsing and soaking a little longer after the brine.  Or maybe a shorter brine.  Instead of 24 hours maybe cut it down to 12 hours.  As for the sweetness.  It just didn’t come out.  I even put a layer of brown sugar on at the end just to try and get some more sweetness.  Just didn’t work.

Any suggestions?

Salmon Candy

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gallon water
• 1 cup pickling salt
• 2 cups dark dark brown sugar
• 1 cup real maple syrup
• salmon, cleaned
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup water

Directions:

Put half the water in in a bowl in the freezer.  Add remaining water to a pan on the stove and heat slightly.  You want the water warm, not hot.  When the water is warm add the salt, sugar and syrup and stir to dissolve.  Let it sit for a couple minutes to make sure all the solids are dissolved.  Then add the water from the freezer.  This should get your water back to almost room temperature.  If the water is still warm to the touch at all let it cool.

Put your salmon in a large bowl or dish and cover with your brine liquid.  Let the salmon brine for 24 hours.  Remove from brine and rinse completely.  You want to get as much salt off the fish as possible.

Cold smoke until done.  Not like jerky, but firm and flaky.  I used apple wood.  The last half the smoke baste with the honey mixed with water.  This will give you the candy texture.

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Because the salmon grills fast you want to have the Tasso Cream Sauce almost done before the salmon hits the grill.  The first thing I did was finely dice all the aromatics and the tasso and get them going on the stove.  Cook them until the bell peppers are done and tasso has started to brown on the edges.

Once you add the cream and start to reduce the mixture (see full recipe below for complete directions) season the salmon and get it on the grill.  I seasoned our salmon with just a little Johnny’s Salmon Seasoning
.

When picking out salmon it’s important to get fillets that are uniform in size and thickness.  This will help you make sure all portions are done at the same time.

Also when grilling salmon or any other fish a good trick to help keep it from sticking to the grates is to spray non-stick cooking spray directly on the fish and not on the grill grates.  I like to season the salmon and then spray the fish with the cooking spray.  This seems to keep the seasoning on the fish better and I have far less sticking this way.

I also grilled up some zucchini.  Very simply done with just a little kosher salt.  After the zucchini was done and just before serving I tossed it with about 2 tablespoons of Italian salad dressing.  This gave it a nice little bit, but wasn’t overpowering.

Once the salmon is grilled to your liking, take it off and plate it.  Let it rest a minute or two.  Top with as much of the tasso cream sauce as you like.  Keep in mind the tasso is strong and drenching the salmon in the cream sauce will cover up the salmon taste.  So, just a little.

The tasso cream sauce worked quite nicely with the Johnny’s and complemented the salmon.  There would be no problem with using the tasso cream sauce on chicken, pork or any other fish that has a stronger flavor.  The cream sauce will overpower most “white” fishes so try and stay away from them.

Tasso Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons Green Bell Pepper, small dice
• 3 tablespoons Red Bell Pepper, small dice
• 3 tablespoons Shallots, small dice
• 1/4 cup Tasso Ham, small dice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• Green Onions tops, sliced (For garnish)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

In a large saute pan heat olive oil and saute bell peppers, shallots, garlic and Tasso Ham until the aromatics are tender and the ham has started to brown around the edges.  Add cream and reduce heat.  Reduce mixture by 1/2 stirring frequently so the cream doesn’t burn.  Spoon cream sauce over salmon and serve immediately.

As I wondered through the Fancy Food Store I was immediately stopped in my tracks at the Ginger People booth.  They had a fountain of sweet chili sauce flowing.  They had taken one of those ever popular wedding reception appliances and filled it full of sweet chili sauce instead of chocolate.  Anyone with that much love of their product deserved my attention.

A cube of chicken on a toothpick dipped into the fountain immediately told my tongue that this was not just any normal sweet chili sauce.  The Ginger People are serious  about their ginger and it shows in the Sweet Ginger Chili Sauce.  It’s loaded with ginger.  You can see the  floating in this stuff.  And you know what it tastes fantastic.  I’ve never been a huge fan of ginger.  Not because I don’t like ginger, but because other than putting ground ginger in teriyaki sauce or eating a few thin slices  when I eat sushi I had not used it all that much.

(See the end of this post for some details on the history of ginger.)

Tonight I decided to give my sample of Ginger Sweet Chili Sauce a try on some grilled fresh salmon.  Because I wanted to be able to taste how the ginger and chili worked with the salmon I only used sea salt and fresh ground pepper on it.

I used my Weber 26 inch kettle to grill the salmon and some asparagus.

After 7 minutes on each side I glazed the salmon with a healthy dose of the Sweet Ginger Chili Sauce and let it set for a few minutes.  Toss in a small baked potato and you’ve got yourself a great meal.

The glaze was great with the salmon.  The balance between sweet and hot was even handed and neither overpowered the mildness of the fish.  Best of all the sweetness hit the front of the tongue immediately with a little bit of hit on the back of the throat on the way down.

Next up for the Sweet Ginger Chili Sauce will be a spatchcocked chicken.  It’s going to be great, I already know that.

Ginger is native to India and China. It takes its name from the Sanskrit word stringa-vera, which means “with a body like a horn”, as in antlers. Ginger has been important in Chinese medicine for many centuries, and is mentioned in the writings of Confucius. It is also named in the Koran, the sacred book of the Moslems, indicating it was known in Arab countries as far back as 650 A.D. It was one of the earliest spice known in Western Europe, used since the ninth century. It became so popular in Europe that it was included in every table setting, like salt and pepper. A common article of medieval and Renaissance trade, it was one of the spices used against the plague. In English pubs and taverns in the nineteenth century, barkeepers put out small containers of ground ginger, for people to sprinkle into their beer — the origin of ginger ale. In order to ’gee up’ a lazy horse, it is the time honoured practice of Sussex farmers to apply a pinch of ginger to the animal’s backside. (Courtesy of The Encyclopedia of Spices)

Ginger is a tuber and a member of the Zingiberaceae family.  Other members of the this plant family are turmeric and cardamon.

The planks from Maine Grilling Woods are different from others I’ve seen.  According to the their website “competitors’ grilling planks are just like boards from a lumber yard cut to fit the grill. The grill surface is the long grain of the wood. Our Organic Natural Ovals are much different. The trunk of a tree is made up of long tubular cells that go from the roots to the branches carrying water and nutrients to all parts of the tree. The distinctive flavors of each wood species are contained in these cells. Our oval planks slice across these cells and the result is a slow releasing of the wood flavors into your steak, etc. as it cooks on the grill or broils in the oven. It is incredible…You will love our planks and our prices, too!.”

I was excited to try these out for a family dinner on the shore of Lake Goodwin.  The planks come in a variety of usual and unusal types of woods.  I selected Black Cherry and Sugar Maple for the salmon.

You can see just how different these planks are from the normal “cedar” type planks you’re used to.  The first step is the soak the planks in water for about an hour.  This is a critical step and don’t short cut it.  After the soaking and rub down with olive oil the planks are ready for the salmon.

I seasoned the salmon with some of the best salmon seasoning on earth, “Todd’s Dirt.” 

The salmon came out fantastic.  You could taste the added flavor from the wood planks.  The only option available for cooking was an older gas grill with very little control over the flame.  I’m looking forward to giving the planks another try using an indirect cooking method over coals. 

All and all Maine Grilling Woods are a great product.  They provide you with a unique way to add additional flavor to your grilling and being able to service the grilled meats and fish directly on the grilling planks provides an interesting presentation opportunity. 

Maine Grilling woods are available online at www.rockytrail.com.