About 2 lbs fresh salmon pieces – skin trimmed off (I usually ask the person at the seafood counter to trim it for me)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
Garlic
Rub coarse salt and freshly cracked pepper generously over both sides of all salmon pieces. Combine sugar, water, soy sauce, garlic, and oil. Place salmon pieces in marinade and leave in fridge for a few hours.
Now I’ll turn it over to my husband Tim for the grilling instructions:
Heat gas grill on high until a wet kitchen (soaking wet) sizzles when placed on the grate. Using tongs to hold the towel, clean as well as you can – this is critically important to keep the salmon from sticking later. Oil the grate using vegetable oil – make sure to coat it well.
Turn grill down to medium and, using tongs, put the salmon on. Close the lid. Don’t open it a lot – be patient. Check after 4 minutes. While you’re waiting for the salmon to cook, put a plate in the oven on a low temp to warm – it’s for putting the salmon on after taking it off the grill – no need to have cold salmon. Also while you’re waiting, take the tongs back to the kitchen – you’ll only destroy your fish if you use them further.
After a bit, check the salmon. You can dribble some of the marinade on the fish if you want – we do.
Turn it when it is about 1/2 to 2/3 cooked through – look at the thick end to see the flesh change from wet translucent looking to almost opaque. Flip it over carefully or you will watch your expensive tasty salmon burn in the flames of your despair as pieces of it fall through the grate.
Turn heat up to high for the last couple of minutes after you flip the salmon to give it a nice glaze. Don’t over cook it. I take the salmon off nearly every time when I’m worried that it’s still slightly raw in the middle – as long as you’ve given it enough time in the grill, it will be cooked. You’ll be putting it on a hot plate and then tenting it so it will finalize then.
One more time – remove your fish when it looks done but you’re worried that it might be slightly under-done. It will be done perfectly by the time it gets to the plate for eating. If you carefully consider what you’ve done each time you cook it, you will rapidly get much better at determining when to remove it, and it’s so worth getting better since you get to eat your “mistakes.”
You can cook the marinated salmon on the stove and it turns out great as well! I have a non-stick grill pan that works well. Get it nice and hot and add a little olive oil before putting the pieces of fish in. Cook on med high and watch as the fish turns from opaque to cooked about 1/2 way up the side, then flip the pieces and finish cooking.
Tip:
Use a good fish turner like this one from Amazon for best results.
LamsonSharp 3″ x 6″ Chef’s Slotted Turner
