Weekday 6 star salmon

Sometimes life is busy.

Wait who am I kidding. Whoever invented the 24hr day must have been just insane. What do you mean I only have that amount of time to eat, sleep, and fit in ALL of my busy life?? Ridiculous.

Luckily I have just the recipe that manages to be simple, fast, and amazingly delicious.

What you need is a salmon filet. The one I have here is 1lb, and nothing went to waste between two healthy people. You do the math.

The pink stuff is salmon. I'm not lying.

Get out a bowl, and throw in a handful of salt.

NaCl.

Now add hot water enough for it to dissolve. Rinse the salmon fillet, put it in a container, add the dissolved salt water, and fill with cold water to cover.

Swim free, little fishy!

The salt water brine works miracles for plumping and tenderizing meat, I love doing this step for pork and chicken as well. However since fish tends to get... well, fishy, I like to counteract it with the acidity. I cut up thin slices of lemon and put them on top.

Pucker up!

Now I cover this and throw in the fridge for an hour while I make other side dishes.

Cedar.

Salmon grilled on a cedar plank is simply divine. It's also stupidly easy. Soak the planks in water for a bit until they're pliable. While it's soaking make up your herb mix.

Randomness.

I can't tell you the combination of herbs here. Not because it's top secret, but it's pretty random and full of whimsy. My exact methods are 1. pull out herbs/spices, 2. sprinkle a bit of each in the bowl, 3. repeat. This is the place to make your mastery of spices shine. If you're unsure whether a spice will be good or not, only do the tiniest dash. The depth of flavor created by many spices will surprise you. Mix in enough oil to make a spreadable mixture.

Walk the plank!

Take the plank out the water, take the salmon out of the brine, and place the salmon on the plank. Brush on the herb mixture. Throw the plank on the hot grill and use your judgment on cooking time and temperature (it should be firm and flaky when done). The plank will burn and smoke and it will set off your neighbor's smoke alarms. And when they come pounding on your door making sure you know there's copious amounts of smoke, be sure to inform them you're contacting your ancestors with news about your new refrigerator and stare at them wildly. This will ensure they will leave you and your beloved salmon alone.

There's never enough.

Serve hot. Well worth the ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ rating that was given by some really incredibly famous and amazing person you would definitely know.