Sweet and Saucy Charcoal-Grilled Salmon with Spicy Apple Glaze
By America's Test KitchenPublished on July 14, 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 vinegar, red pepper flakes, garlic, scallions, cilantro, and jelly 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 for grilling, but try to do both things at once and the fish desperately wants to stick to the grill grate. One typical way around the problem—cooking the salmon skin side down without flipping it—sacrifices the skin to the grill and renders salmon without grill marks—or much grill flavor. For our Sweet and Saucy Charcoal-Grilled Salmon recipe, we came up with a better solution: Homemade foil trays coated with cooking spray that allowed for great grill marks, full smoke flavor, and no sticking. We also removed the skin, allowing for a glaze on both sides of the salmon. To keep the spicy apple glaze from burning, we divided it in half and added butter to just one half, using the unbuttered glaze at the beginning (without butter, it wouldn’t burn). After turning, we added part of the buttered glaze, to thicken slightly. The rest of our spicy apple glaze recipe we spooned over the salmon just before serving.
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 vinegar, red pepper flakes, garlic, scallions, cilantro, and jelly 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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