Salmon is sexy!
I grilled these beautiful salmon steaks the other day, and they came out marvelous!
First I brought the salmon to room temperature (on a plate covered with plastic) and then I patted them dry. Next I seasoned them generously with kosher salt, black pepper, some Greek seasoning (Konriko brand), and a few pinches of herbs de Provence, that classic French dried herb mixture of thyme, rosemary, savory, fennel, lavender, and basil. I then oiled the salmon very well with some good extra virgin olive oil.
I heated my grill on high for twenty minutes until it was so frickin’ hot it could almost burst into flames spontaneously. I oiled the grill grates with an old kitchen rag with a little vegetable oil poured on it (use some tongs for this in case of oil flare-ups).
I grilled the salmon on one side for about 6 minutes until it was nicely charred. I carefully flipped it and grilled the other side for about the same amount of time. Then I killed the heat and covered the grill. The salmon finished cooking for another five minutes in the closed grill and then I removed it. I let it rest another five or ten minutes before we ate it.
It was fantastic — it had a wonderful charred crust in some spots, the inside was custardy and cooked about medium, and the skin was fatty and crisp. No garnish was necessary except for a few wedges of fresh lemon. The fish was absolutely delish!
Gotta get good grill marks!
Some tips for stick-free fish grilling:
- Make sure the fish hasn’t any water on its surface. Oil and seasonings are fine, but moisture = stickage.
- Make sure your grill-grates are clean.
- Make sure your grill is hot.
- Make sure your grill-grates are well-oiled.
- When you put it on the grill, leave it alone! Don’t try to move it until good grill-marks develop. Using a metal spatula you can try to lift up a corner to test it. If it comes away with minimal tugging, it’s probably okay to move and flip.
- The rest is just practice. But summer is here and it’s time to get your grill on! So practice.
Grilled to perfection!
Don’t forget, friends don’t let friends eat farmed (or Frankin’) salmon.
Well, bubba, I can’t say I’m very fervent about sticking only to wild salmon, although certainly that’s preferable for a whole host of reasons. I understand your viewpoint completely, but many Americans don’t have access to good wild salmon. Also, overfishing is destroying wild stocks; wild fish populations decrease as the human population increases. If farmed fish is your only option, I say eat it. It’s a better option than an industrial tube of commercially ground beef.