Salmon of the Year Award

Like most every other home cook, I've tried so many salmon recipes and salmon cooking styles that it's hard to keep track. We learned to love the process of salmon back in Seattle, where it didn't take but twenty minutes for Jan and I to hop in the Ford Probe, get on highway 5 into downtown Pikes Place Market

maybe grab a Hefeweizen at Pikes Pub – tucked underground the floor level shown above, like a subway station – then order a slab of fresh cut Pacific salmon.  I'll never forget the first time we ever watched the famous Pike's Market fish 'toss and catch' routine.  An old man was sitting in a chair in front of the display just rocking back and forth doing nothing, so it seemed...until you began to examine the crab a little closer.  From underneath his chair he'd pull a little rope and suddenly a set of ugly jaws from a monk fish snapped out at you.  He'd chuckle a little – then wait for the next Seattle sightseer. Ha, ha. I'd eventually set the salmon down on the hot gas grill of our apartment complex as if it were a jewel or prize.  The air in Seattle smelled a little differently – our apartment overlooked Lake Washington, the Cascades and Rainier were both visible, on clear days, at either end of the landscape.  You thought you were part of the water and mountains and salmon was the ultimate symbol of all.  For years, I would try to cook this same sort of mammoth piece on aluminum foil for at least two-beers time (45 minutes), while waiting for the heat to snake its way up through the tough skin and gradually into the dense layers of meat until the pink turned orange and began to flake away.  Pan fry, grill, broil, put on a cedar rack – top with lemon, garlic, rosemary, dill cream, honey, panko, chopped pistachio, who knows what.  Last night, though, here in the center of a sea-less and stark winter kitchen, I tried a fairly simple recipe for Soy-Maple Salmon and it was at least the best textured salmon I've ever had.  The first key is to cut your salmon into three - four inch steaks.  I've come to realize by cutting the salmon down, it cooks easier and more evenly, allowing the heat to move up through the piece on all sides.  You soak the steaks in a mixture of maple syrup, soy, crushed garlic, a dash of oj and water and let it cool in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, salt and pepper.  That's about it for prep.  You bake your steaks on a well oiled baking sheet for 8-10 minutes, until it reaches a golden color, and these are done.

The softness of well done salmon is its own class of texture, and you know it when you got it.  The maple sweetens the outside, but not too much as the soy tempers it.  A little cauliflower on the side, boiled in chicken stock, and you have the pic above in no time.