Tonight’s Lenten Repast


 
Timothy F. Lewis

Timothy F. Lewis

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
I had not done anything with a piece of salmon in quite a while. So8551D04E-BD4A-4C21-AF57-3E3AB7C40027.jpeg
Just a touch over two pounds,
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Lightly dusted with a touch of “Bayou Blast” and brown sugar.
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Sauce for the last few minutes, butter, scallion, garlic, lemon zest and juice of half a lemon.
Now it’s time to light the grill!
Finished pictures to follow...
 
BFletcher said:
Wow! What will be the name of your televised chef show?
Click to expand...
Same as my cook book...
“What to do with a fridge full of nothing!”
Thanks guys!
Today will be the Raichlen “Peruvian Chicken” with some extra breasts and thighs, maybe some of “Youz Guys” Michigan Brats just for fun. The weather is supposed to be grand, it’s bright and clear right now so, I will be installing John Wayne on the windscreen and possibly starting the garage unloading...what am I saying!? Not doing that today!
 
Looks like a winner! Salmon is nice to work with. Especially the high quality farm raised Atlantic variety. Which is an offshoot of the King salmon. I like the higher fat content makes them easier to handle vs their Sockeye cousins. While the Sockeye is wonderful flavor and much firmer texture it will go from perfect cook to garbage can in 30 seconds
 
This is the Scottish stuff, I’m not fond of the Faroe island stuff, texture is less than optimum for my taste.
When I can get it I prefer Pacific wild salmon (especially the Copper river run stuff) better all around. Yes, it is more demanding of attention but, well worth it.
My family got together for my folks 50th anniversary (almost 25 years ago now, geeze!) somehow I was elected chief cook and thank GOD there was a 22”kettle out there. My brothers went town to the dock and brought back a massive salmon for me to fillet and grill. Brother in law went to the other side of the dock and snagged a bag of oysters. That’s when I realized I need to visit my sister in Oregon more often! Sadly, I have not been back since.
 
Looks great. I do have some questions as I have problems with Salmon. Was it moist, tender, flakey? Was it wild caught or farm raised? I used to grill the best Salmon steaks, they just melted in your mouth. Then we went to getting only Wild caught USA salmon after reading and watching videos on salmon farms. It is almost impossible to find wild caught salmon steaks as the fish monger says the wild caught ones are too small to make nice steaks out of (no idea if this is correct). Since buying wild caught filets I have tried oven, grill, stove top, Sous vide, with all temps and butters, oils, etc. but it just does not get that melt in your mouth texture / flavor that I used to get from the salmon steaks. Maybe it is just the fat content of the farm raised salmon. Anyone else have ideas or comments?
 
Joe, the stuff he cooked was the farmed from Scotland King Salmon variety (some call it "Atlantic" salmon). BTW the name has nothing to do with where it comes from.
Re the wild vs farmed. IMO a quality farmed salmon is much easier to cook, and much more consistent. Wild is obviously terrific BUT it is so demanding. Like I mentioned earlier. It can go from outstanding to trash in literally 30 seconds. No I am not exaggerating there. I will only buy it when I absolutely KNOW I can devote 110% of my attention to it (and even then it's not always enough). The wild stuff mostly available today as well typically does not take well to grilling either. I typically do a pan preparation. Also you will find that about 90% of the wild stuff is "previously frozen". Avoid it like the plague. I don't care how well it has been handled freezing it turns it to mush. Now add in the typical over cooking people do and it becomes over cooked mush with a hard mealy texture.
I have found the best ones come from Claire Island, or there is a high quality one sold at Sam's from Norway. I have also found a wonderful organic farmed King from New Zealand. These products never disappoint me
 
I agree, the fresh wild is head and shoulders above “refreshed” (read frozen and thawed) it does require careful cooking though. I am not a big skin eater so if I do a big piece, I put it skin side down, and let it stick to the grate, the flesh will lift off beautifully. A larger (thicker) piece will be a little more forgiving but, still needs monitoring.
This piece was straight indirect, no flipping, ten minutes, sauced and another ten. Used my new “Oklahoma Joe” giant spatula ($19.95 Meijer’s all stainless) to lift it off discarded the skin and placed on the big platter.
I can’t speak to the New Zealand product but, there had been some serious issues with the Faroe island fish. That’s been several years ago now but, a friend who cut fish in NYC opened a fish shop here, and he taught me a lot about fish. And was not fond of the Faroe stuff 20 years ago.
His most sage advice was “ If you walk into a fish monger and it smells of Pine-Sol, walk out! Fresh fish does not smell!” When an “Earth Fare” opened here, I walked in and it smelled of old shrimp, I cannot walk in there at all since, that place had only been open three days! Sad really some of the stuff was not bad but, I can’t get past the fish smell.
 
I have never seen faroe product sold here. There are some ones from Chile but I dislike it A LOT. It's mealy and has weird texture, no taste either. Not a good product.
BTW I do the same trick with the skin. I cook it skin side down, let the skin stick to the grates and lift the fish away with a long spatula. Ones the grates cool the skin releases and easy to discard.
If I use the skinless organic from Sam's I fold a piece of foil than on top of that a piece of parchment and go about cooking as though it has skin
 
Timothy;
That is a great looking meal, for sure!

I have come to prefer Salmon done on a Cedar Plank. Here is an older post with pictures:

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Steelhead on the grill

We found some really nice steelhead at Costco (our "local" Costco seems to have the finest seafood I have seen, anywhere). I decided to use a Cedar Plank. I used a rub that was sent to me by my son-in-law from Salt Lake City, UT. It is "Fish & Seafood Seasoning" from Spade "L" Ranch of Selma...
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The technique is the same (except for cooking time) for steelhead as salmon. Good Steelhead is now our favorite, but it is only SLIGHTLY better than Salmon. We have come to rely on Costco's Sockeye Salmon. King Salmon is also excellent! The cooking time varies from 7.5 minutes to 20 minutes depending entirely on thickness of the filets. From that older post I have changed a couple of my preferences - I now use GFS Trade East Salmon Rub, and I have learned to use REAL mayonnaise applied before the rub instead of Olive Oil. It makes a REAL difference in moisture retained in the salmon. We always do about twice as much salmon as we need for the meal, then we flake it off cold on a Bagel with a "schmear" of sour cream, cream cheese or mascarpone for a meal another day. Just apply the cheese to the bagel, then put flakes of cold salmon on top.

I flat out LOVE plank smoked salmon right off the grill and that same salmon cold on a Bagel a totally different experience, but just as good (should I say EXCELLENT).

FWIW
Dale53
 
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