With our penchant for dip-netting Copper River red salmon each summer, we get to enjoy some excellent fish year-round. We smoke grill it often, and sometimes we add a sauce…

Main ingredient: salmon fillets. You can add some seasoning if desired. We often sprinkle it lightly with taco seasoning or lemon pepper.

Wet a big handful or two of wood chips for half an hour or so before cooking. If using fine wood chips, less time is needed (I’ve taken to cutting birch logs with a box below to catch the sawdust for this; a five-minute soak is fine). Place the wet wood chips in the grill below the grate and light it on low (we use gas, so this works). Now wait ten minutes or so until the grill begins smoking.

While waiting, rinse and pat the fillets dry on a grill pan (the ones made for vegetables with holes in them). Season if desired. Put them onto the grill when it’s begun smoking. Cover the grill and rotate the pan of fish after the first ten minutes. Watch closely with the cover closed between looks to be sure a) you don’t get wood-chip flareups (pour some water on the wood chips if this happens; it makes it too hot), and b) so you don’t overcook the fish. The time required varies with the thickness of the fillets and the outdoor and grill temperatures. When it’s -20 or colder with a big fish, it can take 30-40 minutes. Usually it’s more like 15-20 minutes. If it is taking a long time and the wood chips become exhausted, add more mid-way by moving the fish, dumping the remaining wet chips onto the grill, and raking them through with a grill brush. Replace fish and keep grilling.

Watch for the cooked oils leaching out (white spots in the image below) to see how it’s coming along. We generally pull it before it’s quite cooked through at the thickest spot. Serve immediately and eat while hot.

For the pineapple sauce:

¼ pineapple
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp corn starch
1.5 Tbsp salsa

Cube and then mash the pineapple in a saucepan with the soy sauce. Heat to simmer; add corn starch and salsa; whisk until thick. Serve on top of just-done salmon fillet.

Smoke-grilled salmon with pineapple sauce