Fifth recipe created by me: Bacon salmon

This recipe was created by me this evening, part by necessity: Bacon salmon.

See, after scorching the bottom of my camp oven dish last night, I wanted to fry some bacon in my 12 inch camp oven to help re-season it.

So I was planning to have a "breakfast for dinner" night, in which I would serve eggs and bacon and toast, and maybe pancakes too if I felt like it.

But my other half wanted salmon, so he asked if I could make something with salmon AND bacon.

I thought that sounded kind of weird, but wasn't opposed to the idea.

The result was the fifth recipe created by me, which is Bacon salmon.

It's very simple: You season a salmon fillet with black pepper and spray with olive oil Pam.

Bake it in the oven at 350. While it's baking in the oven, fry some bacon on the stove.

Put the cooked bacon over the salmon fillet, and serve.

Alternatively, you can wrap the raw bacon around the salmon and bake it in the oven at 350.

But, I wanted to fry the bacon, so that's what I did.

Can you grill fish directly on a volcano stove?

On a standard grill, you can't really grill fish directly on the grill, because fish "flakes," and chunks can fall between the grates when you turn it.

Instead, you either wrap the fish in aluminum foil, or use a grill basket or fish plank.

The Lodge sportsman's grill eliminates this problem, because the spaces between the grates are only 5/16 of an inch.

Yes, I'm a nerd, and I measured: The volcano grill's spaces are just under 1/2 inch.

Which is smaller than a standard grill, but larger than the Lodge sportsman's grill.

So, since I had some charcoal to use up, and some fish to cook, I decided to see if fish can be cooked directly on the volcano.

This was salmon fillets, which I seasoned with cumin, coriander and cilantro.

It was the first time I tried that seasoning on salmon.

There was some minor flaking, which is unavoidable, but no big chunks were lost in the grill.

But some fish is more delicate than salmon, and will flake more.

So if you're still worried, go ahead and use aluminum foil, or a basket or plank.

salmon pan fried with coriander

I saw a blurb online where someone was frying salmon fillets in a pan, seasoned with coriander.

There are lots of recipes for "coriander salmon" which are more fancy, but I was in a hurry tonight, so I just seasoned mine with dried coriander and black pepper.

I'm sure fresh coriander would have been wonderful, though.

Sprayed the cast iron skillet with olive oil pam, and fried the salmon in the pan.

Salmon isn't my favorite thing, but it's good for me, so I eat it. I'm always looking for creative ways to make it better.

my first smoked salmon, first time using the ultimate dutch oven

This is my first time using the ultimate dutch oven.

I'm using it to smoke salmon outdoors, on a propane burner.

It's on my outdoor cooking table, which is built from cinder blocks and patio stones.

Tonight I discovered a feature of the ultimate dutch oven that I did not realize was there: It has a notch between the lid and pot, to insert a meat thermometer.

I knew the ultimate turkey roaster had one, but didn't realize this one did too.

I smoked some mesquite wood chips in water for about an hour, then put them in the bottom of the pot.

You don't necessarily have to soak them in water; You can soak them in beer, liquor, or other liquid for flavor.

I cut up the salmon fillet into four pieces. I did not season beforehand; I put some black pepper on it afterwards.

I could have used the bottom rack for the fish, but I decided to use the top rack. (I left the bottom rack out).

Turned on the burner, left the lid cracked until it started smoking, then put the lid on.

I checked after about 30 minutes and it was done.

It tasted like smoked salmon. While I normally don't really like smoked meat, I can say that I like smoked salmon.

You can do this in a regular dutch oven; Just use a round cooling rack on top of the wood chips.

Cleaning this pot wasn't nearly as much of a hassle as it was for the turkey roaster, which is a major pain to clean.

So now I have this pot next to my back door. I'll try using it again, and maybe I'll warm up to it.

Skillet poached salmon or steelhead

This recipe is from Cast Iron Cuisine: From Breakfast to Dessert.

It's salmon, or steelhead, poached in a skillet instead of baked in the oven.

Slice onions, carrots, and celery. Those three veggies together are called a mirepoix.

Put the sliced veggies in a cast iron skillet, along with 2 cups of white wine.

Bring to a boil, and cook until the wine is reduced by one quarter.

Then put the fish fillets on top of the veggies, sprinkle with dill weed and lemon pepper, cover, reduce heat to medium low, simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove the fish to a plate. The fish will be medium cooked; This recipe is not for well done.

Bring skillet back to a boil and reduce the stock a little more.

Pour liquid over the fish. Add more dill weed and lemon pepper.

I think the recipe intends for you to discard the veggies, but I thought they were good having cooked in the wine, so I served with the veggies.

Bourbon garlic marinated salmon

I saw in the grocery store, bourbon and garlic marinated salmon for 12.99 a pound.

I didn't want to pay that much, so I decided to make my own!

Take a regular salmon fillet, and put it in a ziploc bag with bourbon and minced garlic. Marinate in the fridge all day.

When ready to cook, add dried dill. Into the oven at 350. Yes, it was that easy.

You can use bourbon and garlic to marinate any fish or chicken.

I also made the following salad dressing, which was "OK" on the salad, but great on the salmon:

Balsamic vinegar mixed with sour cream. Add garlic salt and black pepper.

I try different salad dressings, and always end up using it as a condiment or marinade instead.

Another example is olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and dijon mustard. Great on fish or chicken.

I'm not a huge salad person anyway, but Hidden Valley Ranch remains my preferred dressing.

A separate, designated pan for fish?

Cast iron is porous.

As a result, flavors from the previous meal can slightly linger, and slightly affect the flavors of the following meal.

So, should you reserve a separate, designated cast iron pan for fish, to prevent future dishes from having a slight fish flavor?

Personally, as much cast iron as I have, maybe I should. But, I don't.

And I haven't had a problem with it yet.

If there is a slight flavor affect on the next meal, which there might be, I haven't really noticed.

Pictured above is the Lodge 2 quart oval casserole dish, which is what I use for salmon fillets, because they fit nicely in the pan.

But, I wouldn't necessarily restrict the pan to just salmon. I don't want to restrict any of my cookware to just one purpose.

To each his own, though.

Someone made a really good point: If the pan is well seasoned, that should be a non issue.

So I'll just make a point to fry bacon in the above pan at regular intervals.

***UPDATE: Today I used the pan to roast boudin.

If there was any affect at all from lingering fish flavor, I didn't notice it.

I've cooked salmon in this pan for at least the last 10 consecutive uses, including last night.

So if any pan would have a lingering fish flavor, it would have been this one.

If you're still concerned, re-season the pan before cooking something else in it. But from what I discovered today, it should be OK.

Salmon prepared differently this time.

Salmon is very easy.

I normally season it with lemon pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and sometimes sage. Then spray with olive oil or butter flavored Pam.

This time I seasoned it with lemon pepper, dried dill, and white wine.

Into the oven at 350.

I got the seasoning idea from Cast Iron Cuisine: From Breakfast to Dessert.

That recipe calls for salmon seasoned as above, but poached in a skillet over cut vegetables.

Since I still have some salmon, I'm going to try the full recipe soon. Tonight I was short on time, so I just used the seasonings.

I actually liked it better than my usual way.

Salmon isn't my favorite thing, but it's very easy, and my counterpart loves it.

Here's a couple of things you can do with leftover salmon:

Put the salmon in a blender with cream cheese. Worcestershire sauce or liquid smoke is optional. Blend. Great on crackers or apples.

OR

Mix the salmon with pesto, grape tomatoes, chopped celery, and olive oil. Great on pitas or french bread.

OR

Salmon burgers. See my article, "much better way to make salmon burgers".

A much better way to make salmon burgers

The first recipe I tried for salmon burgers, was a "flop", literally. They fell apart!

Tonight I tried a different recipe; Much better.

Leftover salmon (or canned salmon), sweet pickle relish, 1 can cream of chicken soup, bread crumbs, 2 eggs, onion powder, garlic powder.

Combine all ingredients, form into patties and fry up on the cast iron griddle.

Mashed potatoes can be used instead of the cream of chicken soup, as a binder.

The former recipe was leftover salmon, onions, bread crumbs, eggs. Fry up in the griddle.

They didn't stick together at all. It was a nice little salmon "casserole", but it wasn't salmon burgers!

simple salmon, and other cast iron blogs

Last night I made baked salmon.

Lay out the fillet in a cast iron skillet.

Add lemon pepper, sage, onion powder, garlic powder. Spray with butter flavored Pam. Into the oven at 350.

Yes, it was that easy. Easy as fish sticks.

If fresh salmon is beyond your budget, Wal-Mart sells frozen salmon for $4 a pound.

I just now found another cast iron blog, castirondarling.blogspot.com, which is based in Montreal and has a variety of fancy French recipes. Appears to be inspired by Julia Child.

I've also referenced "black iron dude" before, blackirondude.blogspot.com, which appears to have a "grilled food" theme.

Here's another one I found: cookingincastiron.com, apparently written by someone as enthusiastic as me! Recipes, product reviews, why cast iron is wonderful, etc. I could get lost on this site!

And then there's castironcookingblog.com, with its own recipes and tips.