We sell a lot of locally raised (organic) salmon at our store in Maine, it is reasonable in price and quite easy to feed a crowd. Most everyone is intimidated by how to cook it, marinate or not, and what kind of sauce. So over the years we have broken the process down to practicable steps that everyone can easily follow.
Grilling for the Holiday that launches Summer must be fun, a little easy, with a noteworthy end result. I prefer a fillet at the widest end near the head, I like the taste better and the fatty mouth feel, but there are others that Like the tail end fillet preferring the leanest, flavor and probably a few less calories.
Always leave the skin on when grilling, without the skin it would be a big mess and fall through the grates!
Marinate the fish if you have time, try lemon juice and olive oil for a quick approach or orange juice and cracked coriander seed if you have a little more time but it isn’t imperative – and no longer than half an hour or your fish will start cooking like a ceviche.
Preheat the grill for a least 10 minutes after you have cleaned the grates well so your fillet won’t stick. Place the salmon on the hot grill at medium high heat, don’t move the fillet, really don’t, it is just starting to sear, which is really important, after 5 or 6 minutes take a spatula and move it free, nice and gently.
A basic rule of thumb is 10 minutes per inch of flesh at the thickess point, less if you like it underdone. How will you know that your salmon is done? There will be multiple small eruptions of white protein all over the surface of the fillet, this means 2 more minutes, so stay with it, dinner is almost ready.
Remove from the grill and enjoy with an simple herb sauce that is so quick to make, do it while no one is watching because it is ”larger that the sum of it’s parts”, if you know what I mean...
Brenda Athanus runs a small gourmet food shop in Belgrade Lakes, Maine with her sister Tanya called the Green Spot.
The Green Spot
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