3/4 cup dark rum
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoon kosher salt
1-1/2 tablespoon pickling spice*
1 teaspoon anise seed
1 teaspoon dill seed
1-1/2 pounds salmon steaks or filets.
lump charcoal and chunks -- of cherry wood
Instructions:
*This is a mixture of spices allspice -- mustard seed -- bay leaves
-- etc. Look for it in the spice section of your super market. Lightly
toast the anise and dill seed until they start to release their aroma.
Combine with the other marinade ingredients. Not all of the sugar
will dissolve. Don't worry about it. Add the marinade to a shallow
bowl. Filets skin side up. With steaks -- you need to flip them 3
or 4 times during marinating. Marinate in the refrigerator for several
hours. Press the salmon into the marinade so that bits of spices adhere
to the flesh. Remove salmon from marinade and air dry on a rack until
a skin (pellicle) starts to form. This should take no more than an
hour. Prepare your grill. I use a 22 1/2" Weber kettle -- so I'll
give directions for that. Adapt the cooking process to whatever you
have. Start one chimney of lump charcoal. Set the Weber charcoal holders
on one side of the grill. When the charcoal if fully started -- dump
it into the charcoal holders. Add a chunk of two of cherry. Set the
bottom vents to just cracked. Cover and set the top vents to fully
open. When smoke starts to issue from the top vents -- add the salmon
as far away from the charcoal as possible. Recover with the top vents
over the salmon. If using steaks -- put the prettiest side up -- with
the backbone facing towards the fire. You may need to add more cherry
during the cooking process if you are using small chunks. If you got
the bottom vents set right -- the salmon should be done in about 20
minutes. The first time you do this start checking for doneness after
about 15 minutes -- and every 5 minutes after that. The meat should
flake easily when poked with a fork. If a white substance oozes to
the surface of the salmon -- your fire is too hot. Cut your vents
back more next time. If the salmon skin sticks to the grill -- all
is not lost. Slide a large spatula between the skin and flesh -- starting
at the smallest end. You can separate the salmon from the skin is
a single piece without much effort.
