Cider Salmon Sizzle

Growing up in Alaska taught me a lot of things, but one very important lesson was to appreciate salmon. My family and I never took advantage of the opportunity to have salmon for dinner, but I didn't start to understand the importance of the fish until recently, when I went to Whole Foods Market and noticed the price was $22 a pound for fresh wild caught Alaskan Salmon. I thought to myself, "It's a damn good thing my car runs on gas and not Alaskan salmon." This trip to whole foods, and a recent request for a fish recipe, inspired this dinner. It's too bad I can't be back up in Alaska to get the catch of the day, fresh off the dock for $1.40 a pound.

Cider and Brown Sugar Salmon Fillet

Ingredients

Cider and Brown Sugar Marinade:
6 oz apple cider
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs salt
2 lb wild Alaskan Salmon with skin on, about 1 inch thick

(The breakdown of pacific salmon goes like this - you can remember it all on one hand using your fingers. There's pink [pinky finger], silver [ring finger where you'd fit your silver ring], king [middle finger - it's the largest], sockeye [index finger, you can sock someone in the eye with this one], and chum [rhymes with thumb]. Also, some restaurants/grocery stores will try to trick you, and they're probably upset that I'm letting their secret out, by using different names for the same fish, making the salmon even more unique. King = Chinook, Chum = Dog (Alaskans typically feed this salmon to their dogs, it is abundant and gives sled dogs an amazingly warm coat for the winter), Silver = Coho, Sockeye = Red, Pink = Humpback (the male pink develops a hump on his back during spawning). All of these types of salmon are delicious, many people prefer king salmon, but it has a very strong, fishy, salmon flavor. If you're looking for something a little more subtle, go for the silver or pink.


Mixed Spice Rub:
1 tbs black pepper
1 tbs cracked mustard seeds
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs ground cumin (if you want some spice, instead of cumin use cracked red pepper flakes or cayenne)
1 tsp ground coriander


Vegetable oil spray

Directions

1. At least 1 hour and up to 4 before you plan to grill, prepare the marinade, combine all the ingredients into a large bowl. Put the fish in a bag and pour the marinade in and stick it in the refrigerator.

2. Mix the dry rub ingredients together. Take the fish out of the marinade and drain it, letting all the marinade drip off, but don't wipe it down. Cover the salmon with the dry ingredients, patting them all around the fleshy part of the fish until it forms a shell. Let it sit for about 20 minutes. Heat up your grill, get it very hot and use the vegetable oil spray to oil the grate, be liberal with your spray, otherwise you'll have a messy fish fillet. Cook the fish skin side down for 5 to 6 minutes, or until the skin turns black. Flip it over and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. When the fish is done it will be an opaque pink in the center and flaky, but not dry. If you like to add a final touch, peel the skin off, but people are used to doing this themselves on their plate.

Serve this dish with jullienned maple carrots (jullienne the carrots, blanch, and toss in a couple tbs of maple extract), and rice pilaf.