Salmon Cooked on MAK 2 Star Pellet Grill

Wild Caught Salmon is some of the best fish you can put in your body. When selecting your fish, the redder and fresher the filet the better. The proteins, fats, and vitamins are outstanding and extremely beneficial to you, not to mention this fish is satisfying to the taste buds. Preparing your fish is simple and grilling is quick and almost effortless.

The Cook

• 2 tbsp melted Kerry Gold butter
• Basted Wild Caught Salmon filets on half shell
• Sprinkled granulated SuckleBusters Lemon Pepper Garlic Seasoning
• 350 degrees for 15 minutes
• MAK 2 Star General Pellet Grill
• Lumber Jack Supreme Blend wood pellets
• OPTIONAL… dash of Mexican wood smoked salt

Preparing The Fish

Create this dish with room temperature fish filets. Do not remove the skin as this binds the fish and creates a “plate” so that it does not crumble while grilling. I baste the filet with melted Kerrygold butter on all sides. Sprinkle and thoroughly rub the granulated SuckleBusters Lemon Pepper Garlic seasoning into the salmon filets. The seasoning is incredible for seafood, contains no MSG and is Gluten-Free. This blend was created and inspired by Treasure Cay in the Bahamas. That is a bit of history on the location that inspired the seasoning.

We are lucky enough to have a fantastic grocery store in my area that sells bulk fresh spices which includes Wood Smoked Salt. If you can get your hands on some of this salt, it would be an insane addition to the SuckleBusters Lemon Pepper Garlic seasoning.

We also grilled fresh Argentine Wild Caught Shrimp to accommodate the Salmon, so we could get some wood fired flavor. The butter and seasoning were also the same. The shrimp does not need to cook in the pit for the same amount of time as the salmon because it will cook much quicker. I highly recommend a 7-minute cook for the medium-sized shrimp. As a reminder always wash hands well when handling the raw fish.

Firing up the Grill

We have been grilling exclusively on the MAK 2 Star General pellet grill. Our pellet choice for this cook was the Supreme blend by Lumber Jack which consists of oak, hickory, and cherry. This has been one of our favorite blends of wood pellets and it compliments the salmon very well. Set your grill to a temperature of 350 degrees. Begin with a quick sear of about 1 minute with skin down. This should provide some good grill marks on the filet and then flip over and grill on the skin side for about 15 minutes. The skin allows the valuable oils and vitamins to remain in the filet as well as to allow the fish to stay intact. Once the fish starts to flake, it should be ready to remove from the grill. We would recommend a 15-18 minute cook for the salmon depending on the thickness of the filet.

If at all possible, feasting on salmon a couple of times a week is some of the best ways to get healthy vitamins absorbed into your body while enjoying an amazing dish. I know some of you like to have a garnish of sauce or a sweet glaze and that can certainly be added. Some savory flavors that pair with salmon are cherry, honey, sugar and lemon zest. Ginger goes well with salmon but it doesn’t have the popularity these other flavors do. Soy sauce has a different take and is a lighter way to add flavor. We have tried some Pineapple Mango but at the end of the day, the butter and dry rub ingredients allow you to get the fantastic taste of the fish without masking its own flavor.

Salad

We added a super savory salad to complete the salmon dinner. The salad was composed of iceberg lettuce and some oak leaf lettuce. Hard-boiled eggs, avocado chunks, bell pepper and grilled chicken were blended with the lettuce to make a refreshing, meaty salad.

To finish, we topped off the salad with some earthy pecan chunks. We purchased chopped La Nogalera pecans in vacuum packaging and tossed them straight into the dish. The pecan flavor adds so much in texture and taste.

Salmon cooked on the MAK 2 Star pellet grill came out moist with a good wood fired smoke flavor. This is a quick cook you can do any evening after work as preparation is minimal.