On a short notice, we got the word that some friends would come over today, and I happen to know they love salmon. What better way of making a visit of friends even better? By giving them what they want, of course. And I shall.

Defrosted a piece of salmon, around 600gr, and cleaned it from fishbones. For the rub, I used the following.

• 2 tablespoons of dill
• 2 tablespoons of coarsely ground peper
• 1 tablespoon of mustard powder
• 1 cup of firmly pressed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of sea salt

I’ve mixed it up well, and it looked like a lot, but looks can be deceiving. Take a piece of foil, twice the size of the piece of salmon, and place it down in front of you. Put roughly half of the mixture on there in about the size of the piece of salmon. Place the salmon on top of that mixture and put the rest of that mixture on the top side of the salmon. Now close the foil as good as you can, as it should be airtight, as good as possible. Now place it in the fridge, as we do with most marinades and rubs, and leave it there for at least 3-4 hours.

About 2 hours before grilling time, I’ve placed a cedar wood plank in water and let it soak. Meanwhile I rinsed of the sugar and salt coating from the salmon and dried it with some paper towels. This will make sure that the smoke flavour will stick to the salmon better.

So I fired up the little starter with some coals and emptied that on the (still present old) coals in the Q. Made it quite hot and placed the cleaned up salmon on the board directly on the coals. Closed the lid, and let it go for a good 20-30 minutes. This piece is a little thicker then normal, so a little more time was needed. Usually a good 15-20 minutes will suffice.

Halfway through the process I suddenly noticed that it was changing weather, but that’s not really an issue, seeing that the coals are covered by a lid that prevents it from going out, of course. Nevertheless I removed myself from the exterior and went inside to wait.

A good 25 minutes later I took the salmon from the Q and took it inside. Warm smoked salmon from the grill is a fantastic dish to have with a good glass of wine and some toast. Not a meal, this way, but very tasty!

I loved it, and so did our friends!