Salmon on Stakes

When the first Europeans arrived in the New World

they found a highly developed tradition of live-fire cooking. Barbacoa in the Caribbean

clam bakes in New England, luau's in Hawaii, and of course the great salmon roasts

in the Pacific Northwest and California. That's the inspiration for our next dish

salmon roasted on redwood steaks in front of an open fire. To be strictly authentic

you'd use wild salmon from the Pacific, either king or coho. and ideally it would come with the skin attached

Take the salmon and cut it crosswise into sections about three inches wide

This salmon has had the pin bones removed, but you can just run your fingers over the fillets

and if you feel any bones, pull them out with a needle-nosed pliers

Next, make a series of starter holes through the salmon skin. There are two reasons I like salmon with the skin one

First of all, the skin helps the fish hold together on the steaks. Second of all, I love the crunchy taste of grilled salmon skin

Next, make the rub. It starts with freshly ground black pepper, coarse sea salt And our Primal Grill Twist which pays homage to our southwest Arizona location These are suatu cactus seeds They got a nice crunch and a mild nutty flavor

So add these to the salt and pepper mixture. Mix the rub with your fingertips

Season the salmon on both sides with the cactus seed rub. If you can't find suatu cactus seeds, use poppy seeds or sesame seeds

The suado cactus is an iconic symbol of the Sonoran Desert, where we're taping Primal Grill

Just rub the seasonings into the fish. Take a piece of salmon

and thread the narrow end of the redwood steak through the starter hole

out the other end, and then just sort of curl back through the middle starter hole

and finally out the other side and slide the fish to the end of the stick

Do the same with the second piece of salmon. Now let me show you the fire To cook the salmon on a stick we have built a long slender fire pit

Now this shape is great because it helps localize the fire. Ring of stones on the outside, hardwood fire on the inside

Earlier today, we made a series of holes in the ground right behind the fire pit

And you just want to stand the salmon on its redwood steaks in front of the fire

Cooking time is about 30 minutes in all, 15 minutes on each side

You'll watch as the fish cooks and turn it around skin side to the fire when you need to

Another ingenious thing about this method, the self-basting process. As the salmon fat melts, and salmon is a very fatty fish

it drips down the fish, bastes it, and keeps it moist. Really simple, just spectacular to look at

The flavors are going to be out of this world. And from time to time, you can put fresh logs on the fire

You really want to cook next to the embers, not next to a raging fire

The traditional wood for a Yurok salmon roast is madrone, sometimes called madrone

It a hard fragrant wood from Northern California and the Pacific Northwest You got the wood fire you got the flavor from the redwood steaks the smoke You really don need

a lot of seasoning. Turn the fish from time to time so it browns evenly on both sides

It smells really nice. the salmon looks cooked and it looks beautiful the way you check it is to give it what i call

the flake test you kind of pinch a little bit and it will break into clean flakes yum

And here's the salmon

Hot off the fire You can really smell the wood smoke Okay, let's take a piece

Look how easily it slides off the steak A little lemon Mmm

Mmm. Wow. Utterly simple and utterly great. That salmon is so moist

you get the little nutty crunch of the cactus seed. Salmon roasted in front of an open fire

from the Klamath River to Primal Grill