Grilled Sweet Bourbon Salmon
This is a great salmon recipe for the grill. The sweet
bourbon marinade is similar to that used at Lone Star Steakhouse. You'll
love this recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh salmon fillets, skinned and trimmed of all brown areas
Marinade:
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon of your favorite bourbon (whiskey)
- 1/4 teaspoon cracked or fresh coarsely ground pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
Steps
- Prepare marinade the night before or at least a few hours prior to
grilling. Combine all marinade ingredients in a non-reactive dish
(glass bowl works well). Stir well, cover and refrigerate until
needed;
- Using a fish fillet knife, carefully cut salmon fillets into smaller
pieces (about 6 to 8 ounce). Cut across the fillet, not down the
length of it. For a large fillet (about 3 pounds), I usually section
it every 3";
- Now, using that sharp fish fillet knife, flip the fillet sections over,
skin side up and even if the salmon has already been skinned, you may want
to trim a thin layer off the skin side anyway. I always do and I
always remove all brown areas of the flesh, leaving pink salmon only;
- To marinade the salmon, I use gallon size Zip-Lock bags and if I am doing
4 or more pounds, I use a large glass lasagne pan. Either way, divide
your prepared marinade into your bag(s)/pan(s) and add your trimmed
fillets. Seal/cover and refrigerate;
- I try to marinate the salmon for 3 to 6 hours. If using bags, turn
the bags over every hour. If using a pan, rearrange fish each hour,
rotating bottom pieces to top and top pieces to bottom;
- Prepare a medium-hot grill. When ready to grill, I spray some
cooking spray onto the cooking grates to avoid sticking. Arrange your
fillet section on the grill with the thickest pieces over the hottest part
of the grill. If you have more salmon than you have grill surface,
cook your thicker pieces first;
- I find cooking 5 to 7 minutes for the first side, then 4 to 6 minutes for
the second side to work well. It all depends on the thickness of the
salmon, the heat of the grill and the desired crispness. I like to
cook mine until the edges become a bit crisp;
- Salmon is a pretty sturdy fish and it usually flips easily. Don't
forget to spray the grill first and use a decent metal spatula to get under
the fillets and flip with the wrist;
- As larger pieces get done, move them to a warming rack in the grill or to
a low oven (200 degrees F) on an ovenproof plate, then add the smaller
pieces to the grill.
Serves 8
Suggestions
If desired, you may use the marinade from the bag/pan baste the
salmon as it cooks. I stop basting when the fish is near done and I never
baste a side if I don't plan to re-grill that side again. The marinade
contains bacteria from the fish that soaked in it and unless you plan to apply
heat to it, don't baste it.
I figure 8 ounces of salmon per person. Based on this, you
can easily scale this dish to serve as many as you'd like.
I buy my salmon at Sam's Club, a membership warehouse club owned
by Wal-Mart. The fish is fresh, the fillets are huge, therefore easy to
work with, the price is great and they almost always have salmon in stock.
Other warehouse clubs may carry it as well.
Recipe from and adapted by Jim Beletti - July,
2000
Original recipe by Todd Wilbur, Top Secret Restaurant Recipes (ISBN
0-452-27587-3)
Copyright (C) 1998-2000 J. D. Beletti, All rights reserved
Last revised: May 02, 2005 04:15 PM