Sweet and Saucy Charcoal-Grilled Salmon with Lime-Jalapeno Glaze
By America's Test KitchenPublished on July 27, 2011
Yield
Serves 4
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Use any brand of heavy-duty aluminum foil to make the grill trays, but be sure to spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Alternatively, you can use Reynolds Release Nonstick Aluminum Foil and skip the cooking spray.
Instructions
- Process jelly, cilantro, lime zest, lime juice, garlic, and scallions in food processor or blender until smooth. Heat glaze in small saucepan over medium heat until just bubbling, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer 1/4 cup glaze to small bowl to cool slightly. Stir butter into glaze remaining in saucepan, cover, and set aside.
- Light large chimney starter filled with charcoal briquettes (about 100 coals); burn until coals are covered with fine gray ash, about 20 to 25 minutes. Pour coals over three-quarters of grill; set cooking grate in place, cover, and let grill heat up for 5 minutes.
- Following photos, use heavy-duty foil to make four 7 by 5-inch trays. Coat trays with cooking spray. Season salmon with salt and pepper, brush each side of each fillet with 1/2 tablespoon reserved glaze (without butter), and place skinned side up on trays.
- Place trays with salmon over hot fire and grill until glaze forms golden brown crust, 6 to 8 minutes. (Move fillets to cooler part of the grill if they darken too soon.) Using tongs, flip salmon and cook 1 minute. Spoon half of buttered glaze on salmon and cook until center of each fillet is still just translucent, about 1 minute. Transfer salmon to platter and spoon remaining buttered glaze over it. Serve.
Yield
Serves 4Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
Salmon is perfect for glazing and grilling, but try to do both things at once and the fish desperately wants to stick to the grate. The promise of sweet, smoky glazed grilled salmon makes this recipe very appealing, but how could we make getting there less frustrating?
Of all the glazes we tried, tasters preferred the concentrated sweetness of a jelly-based glaze, which also had just the right consistency to coat and cling to the salmon. But no matter how much we scrubbed the grill grate or how well we oiled it, the sticky, sweet glaze adhered to the grill and wouldn’t let go. We came up with a simple solution: placing our salmon on the grill in individual pieces of aluminum foil. We were able to get great grill marks, full smoke flavor, no sticking, and, if we removed the skin (which most people discard anyway), we could glaze both sides of the salmon. The extra glaze, enriched with butter, even caramelized in the foil “boat,” adding another great dimension of flavor.
Before You Begin
Use any brand of heavy-duty aluminum foil to make the grill trays, but be sure to spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Alternatively, you can use Reynolds Release Nonstick Aluminum Foil and skip the cooking spray.
Instructions
- Process jelly, cilantro, lime zest, lime juice, garlic, and scallions in food processor or blender until smooth. Heat glaze in small saucepan over medium heat until just bubbling, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer 1/4 cup glaze to small bowl to cool slightly. Stir butter into glaze remaining in saucepan, cover, and set aside.
- Light large chimney starter filled with charcoal briquettes (about 100 coals); burn until coals are covered with fine gray ash, about 20 to 25 minutes. Pour coals over three-quarters of grill; set cooking grate in place, cover, and let grill heat up for 5 minutes.
- Following photos, use heavy-duty foil to make four 7 by 5-inch trays. Coat trays with cooking spray. Season salmon with salt and pepper, brush each side of each fillet with 1/2 tablespoon reserved glaze (without butter), and place skinned side up on trays.
- Place trays with salmon over hot fire and grill until glaze forms golden brown crust, 6 to 8 minutes. (Move fillets to cooler part of the grill if they darken too soon.) Using tongs, flip salmon and cook 1 minute. Spoon half of buttered glaze on salmon and cook until center of each fillet is still just translucent, about 1 minute. Transfer salmon to platter and spoon remaining buttered glaze over it. Serve.
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