The Greatest Grilled Salmon
Prep
10m
Cook
10m
Total
20m
Bigly says
Folks. Salmon. The greatest grilled salmon ever cooked over an open flame. Includes cavemen. Includes Vikings. Includes every salmon ever set on a grate by a human being from the dawn of fire to this morning. All of them. It's a slaughter — although in fairness the salmon was already slaughtered, you can't slaughter it twice, that's just biology, but you take my point.
Most people OVERCOOK the salmon. They cook the LIFE out of it. They take a beautiful piece of fish — pink, glistening, the color of a sunset over the Pacific — and turn it into chalk. Salmon chalk. A disgrace. Other so-called chefs will tell you 145°F internal because a lawyer told them to, and I respect the law, I love the law, but the salmon does not. The salmon wants to live a little. The salmon wants 125°F. Maybe 120°F. The middle should be just barely translucent, glassy, the way the sea looks at dawn — and I've seen the sea at dawn from three countries you've never heard of, so take my word for it.
The other half of the play — and this one is HUGE, this one is BIGLY — is the skin. Crispy skin. Crackling skin. Skin so crisp it snaps like a potato chip. Tough guys come up to me — fishermen, men with knives in their belts, men who do not cry — and they say 'Bigly, the skin, how do you do the skin.' I tell them: high heat, hot grates, dry fillet, and oil the FISH, not the grill. Most cookbook authors will not tell you that. They would rather pad the page with four paragraphs about their summer in Maine than give you one useful sentence. Embarrassing. Oil the fish. Dry skin meets hot metal. That's the alchemy. Believe me.
Ingredients
- 4 (6-oz) filletsskin-on salmon fillets(center cut, about 1 inch thick, skin-on or you're playing a different game)
- 2 tbspolive oil
- 1.5 tspkosher salt
- 1/2 tspblack pepper
- 1/2 tspgarlic powder
- 1/2 tspsmoked paprika
- 1 tsplemon zest
- 2 tbspfresh dill, chopped
- 2 tbspunsalted butter
- 1garlic clove, smashed
- 1lemon, cut into wedges
- for finishingflaky sea salt
Steps
- 1
Preheat the grill to high heat (450-500°F) with the grates clean and well-oiled. Close the lid and let it preheat for at least 10 minutes.
- 2
Pat the salmon completely dry with paper towels, especially the skin side. Moisture is the enemy of crispy skin.
- 3
Rub the fillets all over with olive oil. In a small bowl, combine kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Season the fillets on all sides.
- 4
Place the salmon directly on the grates, skin side down. Close the lid and cook undisturbed for 4-5 minutes. The skin should release on its own — if it sticks, give it another minute.
- 5
Carefully flip the fillets and cook flesh side down for another 2-3 minutes, until the internal temperature at the thickest part reads 120-125°F for medium.
- 6
Transfer the salmon to a platter, skin side up to keep it crisp. Let rest 2-3 minutes.
- 7
While the salmon rests, melt the butter in a small skillet with the smashed garlic clove over medium-low heat. Cook 1 minute, then remove from heat and stir in the lemon zest and dill.
- 8
Discard the garlic clove. Spoon the herb butter over the salmon, finish with flaky salt, and serve with lemon wedges.
One more thing
That's salmon. Done the RIGHT way. Don't sauce it to death. Don't drown it in glaze. The fish, the skin, the butter, the lemon — that is the whole play. You don't need anything else. Pair it with a simple salad, maybe rice, maybe nothing at all, because honestly the salmon IS the meal, the salmon is the EVENT. When guests ask how you got the skin so crispy you can tell them you preheated the grill like a serious person and dried the fish like a professional. Or shrug. Mystery is good. It's a beautiful thing.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about The Greatest Grilled Salmon.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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