Salmon

I prefer my Salmon raw, fresh from the sea.  But, if you simply must cook it, there's only 1 way to make Salmon:  with Fire Spice!  I use this basic recipe for most everything we cook on the grill, and we cook most everything we eat on the grill.

Preheat the barbeque grill.  Do what's necessary to clean up any amount or any cut of Salmon.  Coat it with olive oil (regular olive oil--it has a much higher smoke point, and save the EVOO for dipping & salads), sprinkle on salt (coarse grained Kosher is best), cayenne pepper, onion powder (granulated is better), garlic powder (granulated is better), and a bit of paprika for the color.  Adjust the cayenne to taste.  We like it spicy.  Throw it on the grill.  3 min on the first side, and 3-5 on the second, depending on how hot your grill is, how thick the salmon is, and how well you like it done.

Salmon, like all ocean fish (NEVER fresh water fish!), is best eaten raw.  Most Americans cook fish to death!   If you must cook it, at least don't destroy it!  It doesn't have to be cooked all the way through.  If you use a very hot fire, you can crisp/char it on the outside, and have it just warm on the inside.  That's way more than enough cooking for such a delicate and wonderful treat.


Oh, before you go yapping on how "dumb" we must be to eat our fish raw; there's a whole nation of raw fish eaters a little west of here--and they too find it just about perfect.  All ocean fish can be eaten raw, although some are better than others.  Yellow-tail, salmon, and the other blue water fish are wonderful just as they are.  Cooking does nothing to improve the flavor, texture, or "eat ability," it just makes it hot and dry, and loses most of the flavor...


We like to eat simple meals.  Mostly we make a huge salad to go with the fish.  Our favorite is either Sunomono or what's known as "spring mix", dressed with salt, olive oil, and lemon juice.  To that I may add fresh chopped pineapple, or tomatoes, or apples, or oranges, or mandarin oranges (our favorite).  You can also toss in some nuts, pine nuts, chopped walnuts, chopped pecans, or cashews.

A few pieces of sourdough bread and a glass of wine; or a tall, cellar cool glass of Arrogant Bastard Ale; and it's dinner time!