By Ali Slagle
Salmon likes to glom onto grill grates, and scraping the fish off can fracture it into flakes that fall into the fire. The experience is much like trying to get a piece of gum out of your hair. It’s sticky. You’ll lose some strands while prying it out.
But with these two savvy and simple techniques, you’ll be treated to fillets that release easily, flake under your fork, smell of smoke and possibly even have crispy skin.
Salmon can be tricky to cook for the same reason that it’s wonderful to eat: It’s moist and delicate, more so than steak or chicken. When any meat hits a hot surface, its proteins unravel and can fuse to a pan or a grill’s nooks and crannies. (Any bits of last night’s dinner may cause the proteins to cling, too, so be sure to clean the hot grates well with a wire brush before cooking.) Salmon’s loosely knit proteins are more prone to adhere to the cooking surface than to one another.
Only once the salmon hits a certain temperature does that bond break. Browning is a good visual clue that it is safe to move around, but a push from a spatula can cause the fish to separate into flakes that are hard to salvage. And by the time the salmon is browned, it also may be chalky and dry.
For silkier results, try one of the following methods, both of which create a protective layer between the fish and the grates, and skip the scary flip.
The new classic
Salmon skin provides insulation against the heat of the grill, but to keep the fish from sticking, swipe the skin with a thin veil of mayonnaise, which also gives it a chiplike crackle.
As New York Times columnist J. Kenji López-Alt has said about grilling chicken, mayonnaise helps seal in juiciness, promote browning and prevent sticking and burning. It works well on lean or temperamental proteins including chicken breasts, shrimp, turkey burgers and fish. Because the mayonnaise greases the salmon, there’s then no need to separately oil the grates, which can cause flare-ups.
Cooking the fish over moderate heat and exclusively on its skin side requires little attention. Place the mayo-slicked skin on the grates, cover the grill and leave it be. The heat will gently rise for tender results, and the skin will have plenty of time to crisp and brown, which is the key to ensuring the salmon releases. This bottom-up style of cooking also works for other fish fillets.
The time-tested technique
Coastal First Nations throughout the Pacific Northwest have been cooking on wood planks for centuries — especially salmon, considered a sacred food, and especially cedar, considered the tree of life by the Kwakwaka’wakw tribes that live and cook in present-day British Columbia.
Chef Freddie Bitsoie explains in his cookbook, “New Native Kitchen” (Abrams Books, 2021), that the steam and smoke rising from the planks delicately cook the fish, which, in turn, won’t fall through the grates and will taste like the wood that cooked it.
You can buy food-grade planks from a grocery or hardware store. Soak the planks in water so they don’t flare and heat them on the grill until smoldering before adding the fish. Place the salmon skin side down on the planks without coating it with oil or mayonnaise. In fact, greasing the fish keeps the smoke from snaking into the flesh. Cover the grill and let the cedar and fire do the work. Wood conducts heat more slowly than metal, resulting in tender, flaky fish that you can serve right from the plank.
Whichever method you choose, the combination of live fire and sweet salmon will lead to a speedy, succulent meal. Especially now that whole fillets will land on plates.
Grilled salmon
For grilled salmon with crisp skin, tender flesh and nothing stuck to the grates, coat the skin with mayonnaise, an insulator that mitigates sticking, then cook the fish skin-side down the whole time. Skipping the flip allows the heat to rise up and gently cook the delicate fish, and as a bonus, creates really crispy skin. This method also works for other firm fish fillets such as red snapper, halibut or sea bass; just be sure to adjust the cook time so that the internal temperature hits 130 degrees (the minimum internal temperature for the salmon is 120 degrees).
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
4 (6- to 8-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets
Salt
Mayonnaise
Preparation:
1. Heat a grill to medium. Pat the salmon dry and sprinkle all over with salt. Arrange the salmon skin-side up on a plate. Coat the skin with a thin layer of mayonnaise — less than 1 teaspoon per fillet. You should still be able to see the skin through the mayonnaise.
2. Clean the grates with a grill brush. (No need to grease the grates.) Place the salmon skin-side down on the grill. Cover the grill and cook until the skin is crisp and the fish is opaque, 6 to 8 minutes. (An internal thermometer should read at least 120 degrees; thinner fillets will take less time than thicker ones.) Use a fish spatula to carefully transfer the salmon to plates, skin-side up.
Cedar plank salmon
In the Pacific Northwest, Native Americans smoked salmon on cedar, embodying the belief that what grows together goes together. On backyard grills, planks insulate the salmon from the flames, so the fish stays tender, and they prevent it from sticking to the grates. Purchase food-grade planks from a grocery or hardware store, then soak the planks in water so they don’t flare. Heat the plank on the grill until smoldering, then add the fish. The steam and smoke rising from the cedar gently cook the fish and infuse it with woodsy flavor. Salmon kissed by cedar is such a special combination that additional seasonings are not needed.
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: About 2 hours
Ingredients:
4 (4- to 6-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets
Salt and pepper
Preparation:
1. Soak a food-grade cedar plank in water for at least 1 hour. To keep the plank from floating, top it with a bowl filled with water. When you’re ready to cook, heat the grill to high, which is between 450 and 550 degrees. You should be able to hold your hand 4 to 5 inches above the grates for 2 to 3 seconds. Season the salmon with salt and pepper.
2. Place the plank on the grill, close the grill and let the plank cure until the bottom side is charred, lightly smoking and maybe even making a popping sound, 5 to 10 minutes. If any part of the plank catches on fire, sprinkle it with a little water.
3. Reduce the heat to low, between 250 and 350 degrees. Flip the plank and arrange the salmon fillets skin side down on the plank, ideally at least 1 inch apart and 1 inch distant from the edges of the plank. (If you removed the plank from the grill to arrange the fish, leave the grill open so that the temperature drops more quickly.)
4. Close the grill and cook until cooked through, 10 to 16 minutes, depending on the size of the fillets. (The fish is done when the fish flakes easily or when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part reaches 125 degrees for medium-rare.)
5. To serve, slide a spatula between the flesh and its skin at the thick end. The fish will easily peel away from the skin. If your fish has white albumin, no big deal — just scrape it away with the spatula before serving. Discard the plank and skin (or, if you have a charcoal grill, scrape off the skin and put the plank on top of your next fire to infuse it with cedar).
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