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Idaho Salmon
(recipe, Zena Chew)
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Introduction
This recipe comes from Sarah Ankersmit's father. Read more about Ankersmit's family traditions in Zena Chew's story "The unturkey."
Ingredients
- 1 salmon, at least 18 inches long, cleaned, gutted, and sliced into two fillets
- ½ cup butter (1 stick)
- 1 bottle beer (12 ounces); try a lager, such as Kokanee or Dos Equis
- 1 big handful brown sugar
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- Black pepper
Steps
- Prepare the grill. In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, warm together the butter, beer, brown sugar, garlic and pepper until the sugar melts.
- On a baking sheet or other hard carrying surface, unroll a sheet of aluminum foil long and wide enough to serve as a base for the fillets. Poke several holes in the foil so the fish skin will stick to the foil during cooking. Place the fillets, skin side down, on the foil.
- Once the grill has reached high heat, slide the foil (with the fillets on top) onto the grill. Baste the fish with the butter-beer sauce every few minutes. After 10 to 12 minutes, check for doneness; remove from heat just before the pink flesh starts to lose its translucence. (Be careful not to overcook the fish.) Slide a spatula between the meat and the skin and lift the fillets onto serving plates.