| Moscow Food Co-op Recipes | |
Bourbon-glazed Salmon
by Christian Wise, from the January 2005 newsletter
Before we get to the salmon, I must say that whoever developed the ‘Biker Bar’ recipe at the Co-op is stellar. Moscow Food Co-op Biker Bars are one of my favorite items in the Bakery department.
I never liked whiskeys much as I began to drink alcohol, until I started cooking with scotch and bourbon to make various sauces and glazes in the early 80’s. I decided that something that smelled so good seared with butter couldn’t be all bad. I still don’t like bourbon to drink, but a nice single malt scotch is pretty good. Maybe it was just the butter.
This bourbon glaze is a recipe that I have used over the last 15 years and, like many of my recipes, has evolved over time. When discussing a recipe here, I will try to appeal to both vegetarians and non-vegetarians; as in this recipe works with tofu too.
The following glaze works great with salmon, but also works with pork, chicken and, as promised, tofu:
Bourbon Glaze
Recipe makes approximately 1 pint of glaze
3/4 cup of minced/grated onion
1 Tbsp. of minced garlic
1/2 cup of butter
3/4 cup of bourbon
3/4 cup of dark brown sugar
1 tsp. of white pepper
Salmon
Use either half a salmon (3 to 4 pounds) or filets of salmon (6 ounces each).
First sauté onion and garlic together with the butter in a large 12-inch skillet or saucepan.
Add the bourbon to de-glaze the pan after the onions and garlic are translucent. When the bourbon has seared for about 30 seconds, turn down the heat to a low medium and add the brown sugar. Blend the ingredients together and let the mixture come to a low boil for about 6–7 minutes. The mixture should look like thin syrup. At this point, add the white pepper and turn the heat off.
Personally, I think a half salmon works the best for this glaze because the trick to this dish is to slow cook it—preferably over charcoal. When you are setting up your grill, offset the fish to the charcoal so that you have set up an indirect heat flow. You do not want to have the fish directly over the coals. In addition, a covered grill works the best.
When you set your fire, please allow at least an hour for the fire to burn down and become even. Once your grill is hot, offset your fish to the fire by at least 10–12 inches; place the skin side down on the grill. Glaze the fish with the Bourbon Glaze initially and repeat every 15 minutes. The desired effect over the next hour and a half is to make almost a sticky, candy-like texture on the fish. A three- to four-pound piece of salmon will take approximately 1.5 hours to cook. The idea is to fully coat the fish and allow the flavor to soak in so one tastes bourbon and brown sugar with a little butter.
The glaze also works very well with pork. The suggested cut would be the loin of pork and grilling it the same way the salmon was done is nice. The cooking time will be about an hour longer and basting it every 15 minutes works really well.
Chicken and tofu both can be done directly over the fire; however you need to keep the fire and target item at least 6 to 8 inches apart. The type of chicken can be boneless breasts or bone-in pieces. The suggested tofu for grilling would be “extra firm.”
The cooking time for the chicken should be about 35–40 minutes and frequent basting is suggested. The tofu will take only about ten minutes and actually dipping the tofu completely in the glaze before you place it on the grill works best; then baste the tofu every couple of minutes.
An excellent variation of the cooking method is to smoke the meat or tofu. Cherry or apple chips in the smoker give a nice flavor to help the bourbon and brown sugar. The salmon does nicely at about three hours smoking time. The pork needs about five hours. Chicken takes about 4 hours for a nice smoke flavor to develop, and tofu is nice and smoky without falling apart at about one to one-and-a-half hours, depending on the way you cut your tofu.
Hope you eat well.
Christian Wise, in another life, was a legal services provider; however he saw the light and decided there is a greater degree of ethics in the preparation of food and its service.
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