Admittedly, fish is something I’m overly fond of, but in the name of wanting to explore more of a 20-year-old University of Wyoming cookbook, here we are.

I was recently given some salmon fillets to “play” with for this food column and I wasn’t too sure I should approach it. I do like salmon, but generally there isn’t much you can do with it without overpowering the salmon’s natural flavor. Salmon has a mild flavor that goes well with citrus, herbs, and of course butter and/or olive oil. None of that is happening in the following recipe. Is it good? Yes, but I think the dish would be much better with some key changes.

West Coast Canadian Salmon

This recipe come to us from “Black Tie and Boots: Timeless Traditions from the New West” a cookbook published by the UW in 2005 that has been frequently used in these SweetwaterCHOW posts. It creates a marinade for your salmon while utilizing some ingredients that also baffle me. We’re using 1/4 cup of soy sauce as well as 1/2 teaspoon of salt. The added salt doesn’t need to be there because the soy sauce brings all the saltiness you need, and a 1/4 cup is a heavy amount. The sweetener used is brown sugar, whereas maple syrup would be more representative of Canada. The 1/4 cup of rye whisky seems to come from nowhere as well – until you learn that Canada is known for producing high-quality rye whiskies.

Finally, to address the odd spelling of whisky here, the form “whisky” is used for distilled spirits produced anywhere outside of the United States and Ireland. The “whiskey” form of the word is used for spirits produced within the United States and Ireland. 

What You’ll Need:

• 1 whole dressed salmon or 4 salmon fillets
• 1/4 cup of soy sauce
• 1/4 cup of rye whisky (or whiskey, country of origin does not matter)
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper

In a bowl, combine the soy sauce, olive oil, whisky, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Place the salmon in a resealable plastic bag or a coverable shallow dish, then pour the mixture over the fish and marinate overnight. Turn the fish over occasionally during this time. Preheat your grill and spray nonstick spray on the grill rack. Place the salmon skin side down on the rack and grill at a low heat for 15-20 minutes or until the flesh flakes easily.

As I mentioned before, it’s easy to mask the flavor of a salmon and this recipe creates a salty flavor that does just that. If I make this again, I’ll dial back the soy sauce to about 3 or 4 tablespoons, while eliminating the added 1/2 teaspoon of salt. I think holding off on adding the pepper until the salmon is about to be grilled would also make a difference in the flavor and let the pepper become a larger player. Marinating it overnight is definite overkill, and I would marinate the fish for about 1-2 hours maximum.