I actually got this recipe watching Rick Bayles on BBQ University cooking on a kettle. It works even better on a WSM (in my opinion) because of the very close proximity of the coals to the meat.

1) Go your Walmart BBQ section and buy one of those wire cooking baskets that is roughly about 12" by 12" by 2" thick with a long wire handle. (I got 2 of them so I can cook 2 batches without an unloading/reloading pause).

2) While you're at walmart, buy a 5lb bag of hickory chunks, mesquite chunks, or if you're really lucky, Alder chunks.

3) Buy or cut about 3 lbs of salmon filets, remove all bones and skin. (I do about 6 lbs in 2 batches).

4) Load 1/2 bag of your wood chunks into a chimney starter, then top off with kingsford and light it.

5) Brush both sides of salmon with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, then sprinkle lighty with salt and liberally with Lemon Pepper. (I have pre coated, then loaded in basket, or I've put in basket and done one side, close/flip/open basket and done the other side. both work fine).

6) Remove top and middle section of your WSM.

7) When wood and charcoal are fiarly lit, dump it into the charcoal ring of the WSM. Place the top grate from the WSM right on top of the charcoal ring. Wait for lingering flames on the wood chunks to die down.

8) Place the basket with salmon in it right onto the grate and wait for about 3 minutes.

9) Roate 90 degrees, wait about 2 minutes.

10) The bottom of the salmon should have a yellow color with some gold/brown sear on it. Flip basket over and wait 2 minutes.

11) Roate 90 degrees and wait 2 minutes.

12) Look again for the yellow color and gold/brown sear, or as Alton says, GB&D (Golden Brown and Delicious).

13) Serve

I have made this recipe about 20 times in the last 6 months with many types of wood. I've used 100% wood chunks (burns out too fast), 10% wood chunks (not enough smokey flavor). Hickory tastes wonderful, Mesquite is OK, cherry, oak, apple, etc are ok, but Alder is fantastic. And the 50/50 chunks to Kingsford seems just righ for cook time (2 batches) and smokyness.

If you get some salmon that's a tad old, you can soak it in milk for a bit to control the fishy smell while its raw, but I've never had salmon smell or taste the least bit fishy after this extreme grilling.

My girls who won't hardly touch any "wierd" food will eat this salmon cold for breakfast the next morning.

During my next cook, I'll try to take some photos.

Thanks for the recipe Clay. I'll give it a try. I've got lots of salmon and plenty of alder wood.
Yes, photos.

Richard

I grilled salmon over the weekend (allot of salmon).

I had one whole wild salmon, and 3 farm raised halves for a total over about 9 lbs. It fed 14 people with a bit left over.

Filleting a farm raised half



Slicing a farm raised half



Whole frozen wild salmon



WSM charcoal and wood



Lighting chimney with wood on the bottom & Charcoal on top



Wild salmon ready to prep



Wild salmon ready for olive oil, lemon pepper and salt



Pink wild salmon and orange farm unspiced



WSM loaded with coal and top grate



Salmon on the WSM



90 degree turn after a few minutes



Flipped and showing GB&D



Closeup of cooked salmon



It started snowing so I had to cook with the lid on



Coals died before the last 2 so we threw them on a Foreman (not great)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Clay J,

Nice report Clay!

Just made this. Turned out great. Mine was a bit charred, I got too excited and put it on the flames too early (another rookie mistake).

Good crust. Moist.

Excellent

Clay,

I finally tried cooking salmon in the fish basket over coals as you described above. Used four wild Coho filets which came out very good. I had never used the WSM for anything but low and slow, and this method opens a whole new way to cook. Thanks again.

Richard

thanks - gotta try that one

Mark

Clay, this sounds great. But I can't load the photos with Firefox or IE.

Rita

I made the smoked salmon this weekend from the cooking section of this site. It was good, but the grilled was sooooo much better.

quote:

Originally posted by Rita Y:
Clay, this sounds great. But I can't load the photos with Firefox or IE.

Rita

The CPU fan on my linux box died and the server shut down. I was on vaccation and couldn't do anything about it for a while.

If Chris wants to pull the photos and host them on TVWB, I'd be OK with that.

I moved all of the pictures to a hosting site and put the pics in directly.

I've made salmon 15+ times since I initially posted this. It's still my one of my girls all time favorite meals. I've tried varying it a bit here and there, things like using fresh lemon zest, soaking the fillets in lemon juice, different woods, using a weber kettle rather than the WSM, cooking fillets from frozen, and others that I can't think of right now.

This original way of cooking yields the best consistent results. The only real change I've made is that I really pack the salmon into a basket and thus cook allot more salmon. We will put the extra salmon in the fridge and nibble on it for a day or so afterwards, it's great cold or gently re-heated.

Made this again last night. Still as good as ever.

I tried cajun spice (emeril's essence) on one slab instead of the lemond pepper and it just tasted like plain salmon.

I was wondering what other experiments you'd tried and how they had worked out. I was consdiering using butter and blackening seasoning next time.

Still the best recipe,

Randy