GrillinFools
Recently I went on a coffee bender. No, I didn’t camp out a Starbuck’s for a weekend mainlining java. I included coffee in a variety or rubs (Coffee/Chocolate Ribs, Coffee Steak) and even a brine (Coffee Brined Ribs). This coffee rub adds a wonderful rich/earthy flavor to BBQ that I just love, so much so that I plan on doing a coffee BBQ sauce soon. In the mean time stay tuned for Coffee Rubbed Grilled Salmon
Coffee Rubbed Grilled Salmon Ingredients:
- 4 salmon filets
- Salt to coat the filets
- 1/2 cup finely ground coffee (I used a decaf hazelnut blend. Decaf is not a necessity.)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp white pepper
One note on the coffee for this. You need to grind it yourself and grind it extra, extra fine. I bought the coffee at the local grocery store, set it to the finest setting, ground it and ran the coffee back through the grinder on the same setting to make it uber fine. Think coffee powder rather than coffee grounds for the coffee rub. Don’t believe me? Grind it just once and then make this recipe and after eating it, head into the bathroom and smile at the mirror. Trust me.
Coat the salmon filets with coarse salt:
Then mix the rest of the ingredients together to make the coffee rub. I thought the coffee cup was an appropriate vessel to do the mixing:
Then sprinkle the coffee rub over the salmon. Go as light or as heavy as you like. Don’t be afraid to go heavy because this rub is outstanding:
Don’t forget the sides and don’t waste that coffee rub on the plate:
How to Grill Salmon on a Gas Grill
Prepare the grill for high heat grilling. In this case, my gas grill. A charcoal grill would work too. Use whatever you prefer.
Place the coffee rubbed salmon skin side down on the grill:
I almost forgot, you want to forget the tongs and make sure you have a good meat turner/spatular like this one:
Regular tongs are only going to mangle the grilled salmon which could wreck your presentation.
I made two different salmon filets for this post/photo shoot. One I flipped over at five minutes:
Don’t sweat the blackened skin. That skin was delicious! The other salmon filet, I left skin side down the entire time. I removed both coffee rubbed grilled salmon filets after a total of 10 minutes. Here is the second one that I didn’t flip:
After I removed it from the grill, I plated and served the grilled salmon:
Coffee Salmon Summary
The coffee adds a wonderful richness and earthy flavor that melds well with the smokiness picked up from the grill and is countered nicely by the sweet of the brown sugar.
As for flipping or not flipping, I preferred it unflipped, but they were very similar. The flipped salmon filet was a little more done than I like than the unflipped, but it also had a better char on the top. I would suggest if you flip it to remove from the grill at about 8 minutes of grilling rather than 10.
If you have any questions about the above dish please feel free to comment below or shoot me an email.
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Coffee Rubbed Grilled Salmon
Ingredients
- 4 salmon filets
- salt to coat the filets
- ½ cup finely ground coffee (I used a decaf hazelnut blend that I ground myself at my local grocery store. Decaf is not a necessity.)
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp white pepper
Instructions
- Coat the salmon filets with coarse salt
- Combine the rest of the ingredients other than the salt and salmon and sprinkle on the salmon (make sure to get the sides)
- Set the grill to high heat grilling
- Place the salmon on the grill skin side down and close the lid
- Remove from the heat after 10 minutes
- Plate and serve
Scott Thomas
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