Josh I wish I read this before last weekend. My family and I were graciously hosted at a beautiful beachfront house on Long Beach Island, New Jersey.
We offered to prepare dinner one night as a thank you. I was making roasted zucchini, delicious roasted potatoes (recipe from The Food Lab), and grilled salmon.
Josh I wish I read this before last weekend. My family and I were graciously hosted at a beautiful beachfront house on Long Beach Island, New Jersey.
We offered to prepare dinner one night as a thank you. I was making roasted zucchini, delicious roasted potatoes (recipe from The Food Lab), and grilled salmon.
I decided to spring for the fattier and more expensive King Salmon-- four pounds of it, enough for the 10 adults. While I was just finishing the potatoes, I oiled the grill grate so the fish wouldn’t stick, tossed the filets in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, and placed the 10 5-6oz filets skin side down on the grill. I set the heat to medium after preheating on high.
I set a 5 minute timer and walked back into the kitchen. Three minutes later, someone yelled “Fire!” And I ran out to the deck faced with an inferno, billowing black smoke. I killed the heat, shut off the propane tank and closed the lid, thinking I’d just have to wait for the fire to die out. After 2-3 minutes with the inferno raging on the grill, someone finally brought out a fire extinguisher which I used to put the fire out and ruin $120 worth of food in an instant.
America’s Test Kitchen has a nice grilled salmon recipe. The crux there is to do most of the cooking over indirect heat with just a quick sear over the coals. It’s likely not worth the effort, but grilled salmon sans fire can be done.
Thanks! And I’ve done it before, usually for just my own family of three, so I have more grill space to work with to manage flare ups, use indirect heat etc. The issue this time was cooking for a large group, the grill was completely full, and I didn’t think to cook them in batches or do anything else to mitigate the sheer volume of animal fat that would be produced by four pounds of fish.
That makes complete sense. Batches definitely get hard for anything you want to cook below medium / medium well, and even medium gets rough if you don’t have a way to hold your food at 140.
Josh I wish I read this before last weekend. My family and I were graciously hosted at a beautiful beachfront house on Long Beach Island, New Jersey.
We offered to prepare dinner one night as a thank you. I was making roasted zucchini, delicious roasted potatoes (recipe from The Food Lab), and grilled salmon.
I decided to spring for the fattier and more expensive King Salmon-- four pounds of it, enough for the 10 adults. While I was just finishing the potatoes, I oiled the grill grate so the fish wouldn’t stick, tossed the filets in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, and placed the 10 5-6oz filets skin side down on the grill. I set the heat to medium after preheating on high.
I set a 5 minute timer and walked back into the kitchen. Three minutes later, someone yelled “Fire!” And I ran out to the deck faced with an inferno, billowing black smoke. I killed the heat, shut off the propane tank and closed the lid, thinking I’d just have to wait for the fire to die out. After 2-3 minutes with the inferno raging on the grill, someone finally brought out a fire extinguisher which I used to put the fire out and ruin $120 worth of food in an instant.
Never again.
America’s Test Kitchen has a nice grilled salmon recipe. The crux there is to do most of the cooking over indirect heat with just a quick sear over the coals. It’s likely not worth the effort, but grilled salmon sans fire can be done.
Thanks! And I’ve done it before, usually for just my own family of three, so I have more grill space to work with to manage flare ups, use indirect heat etc. The issue this time was cooking for a large group, the grill was completely full, and I didn’t think to cook them in batches or do anything else to mitigate the sheer volume of animal fat that would be produced by four pounds of fish.
That makes complete sense. Batches definitely get hard for anything you want to cook below medium / medium well, and even medium gets rough if you don’t have a way to hold your food at 140.