Prepare the butter first and put it in the freezer to harden.
Use birch or alder chunks on top of coals for great flavor.
Cook on foil to distribute heat and facilitate getting the fish on and off the grill
Serve with Saffron Rice
While I enjoy preparing salmon many ways, one has to be creative when limiting out with a dipnet on the Kenai. I find the best way to serve fresh salmon is with a simple recipe that allows you to taste the flavor of the fish. I've used this recipe with Chinook, Sockeye, Coho and halibut. Chinook and Sockeye seem to be the best.
This works well for 4-8 pounds of fillets. My preference is to burn some birch and alder logs into coals and cook over them, creating just the right amount of smoke flavor. Take one stick of butter and let it soften, dice up 5 cloves of garlic, 1 to 2 tablespoons of fresh dill, the juice of a lemon and combine. Pour onto some parchment paper.
Roll it up and put it in the freezer until it firms up, I don't know how long this takes other than by the time you get the BBQ going and the fish on the foil wrapped grill it's ready.
As with any fish, cook until it just firms up. When I time it perfectly I'll pull it off the BBQ and cover it before it's completely firmed up and it will complete cooking while everything else goes on the table.
I like to serve the fish with saffron rice. Brown 2 to 3 tablespoons diced onions in olive oil, add 3 to 4 stems of crumbled saffron, add 2 cup basmati rice, 4 cups water, bring to a boil, turn down to low, cover and cook for 30 minutes.
