Salmon on the Cobb

I love the Cobb, and so does salmon. You can use bottled teriyaki sauce with this recipe, but it’s not nearly as good as the fussy but delicious home-made version (recipe included below).

Try to get fairly thick fillets of salmon (wild spring or farmed Atlantic work well). This is a great summer picnic dish and goes very nicely with some Crunchy Asian Slaw (recipe also included below) and a crisp, fruity sauvignon blanc or dry reisling.

Note: make the teriyaki sauce ahead of time. It keeps indefinitely in your fridge.

4 6-oz. fillets of salmon, skin on

1 cup Complicated but Delicious Teriyaki Sauce (see recipe below) or your favoriate bottled version

1 or 2 golf-ball sized chunks of hickory

1 Tbsp. chopped green onion

4 lemon wedges

Marinate the salmon fillets in the teriyaki sauce for at least an hour, but preferably overnight in the fridge.

Get your Cobb going with about 8 – 10 charcoal briquettes. When you’re almost ready to cook the salmon, place the hickory chunks on top of the coals. Place the salmon fillets, skin side down, on the Cobb’s regular non-stick cooking surface and cover the cooker. Cook the salmon for about 8-10 minutes or until it’s springy to the touch (about 135F internal temperature). Remove the fillets from the Cobb (they should come right off the skin) and let them rest, tented in foil, for 4 or 5 minutes. Serve garnished with the chopped green onion and lemon wedges. 

Complicated But Delicious Teriyaki Sauce

Makes about 8 cups/2 L

This homemade teriyaki sauce, which I have slightly adapted from a recipe by famed Vancouver chef Trevor Hooper, has dimensions of flavor that make the extra work more than worthwhile.

1 1/2 cups/375 mL sake

1 1/2 cups/375 mL mirin
2 cups/500 mL brown sugar

4 cups/1 L soy sauce

1/2 cup/125 mL tamari soy sauce

1 small onion, chopped

1 shallot, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 2-inch/5-cm knob of fresh ginger, chopped

1 orange, skin on, chopped

1 small pear, chopped

1 small leek, split, washed thoroughly, and chopped

Combine ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a low boil. Cook until mixture is reduced by about 20 percent. Cool, strain into a large jar or bottle, and refrigerate.

Crunchy Asian Slaw

Serves 4 to 6

Asian-flavored fish demands an Asian-inspired slaw, and the peanuts add a nice crunch.

For the dressing

2 Tbsp. Soy sauce

2 Tbsp. rice vinegar

1 tsp. Chinese toasted sesame oil

1 1/2 tsp. finely minced ginger

1 tsp. Vietnamese chili sauce

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 tsp. sugar

water (if needed)

For the salad

2 cups/500 mL savoy or napa cabbage, grated or shredded into fine slices

1 cup purple cabbage, grated or shredded into fine slices

1 carrot, peeled and grated

1 green onion, chopped

1 small red bell pepper, julienned

2 Tbsp./25 mL fresh chopped cilantro

1/4 cup/50 mL fresh bean sprouts

1/4 cup/50 mL dry-roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Combine the dressing ingredients and whisk together, adding water a little at a time until the mixture is a smooth, fairly thick liquid. Toss with the vegetables and serve, garnished with the chopped peanuts. (If you’re going to store it, keep the peanuts and sauce separate from the veggies until you’re ready to serve.)