It’s been my experience in the Dutch oven cooking world that “fish recipes” tend to be under represented in Dutch oven cookbooks, mine included. So, I’m always on the look out for new methods or techniques which feature fish when writing a cookbook. In this video clip I first utilize a quick grill of the salmon steaks for that “grilled flavor” and then place them in a Dutch oven to finish on a bed of onions and dress them with a reduced sauce of butter, garlic, and lemon.
Some folks approach a recipe as if it’s written in stone and hesitate to change, alter or adapt a recipe to fit their own tastes or wishes. In the politically correct world I suppose one could call such cooks “creatively challenged”! I’ve been accused of many things, but that is one category that really doesn’t fit me. In fact, this recipe is actually rooted in one from my second book, MORE CEE DUB’S DUTCH OVEN AND OTHER CAMP COOKIN, entitled “Hells Canyon Salmon Steaks”. In 1997 I came up with the original recipe to celebrate my son Brian catching his first chinook salmon near Riggins, Idaho, a couple of days earlier. At that time salmon numbers returning to Idaho were fluctuating wildly with some prognosticators predicting the 1997 sport season might be the last ever for spring chinook in Idaho. I’m happy to report that prediction was wrong! But…it made those fresh caught salmon steaks prepared at Johnson Bar in Hells Canyon some of the best I’ve ever eaten.
I so enjoy the delicate flavor of fresh salmon I didn’t even salt/pepper the steaks before I put them on the grill. By basting the salmon steaks just once before steaming them in the Dutch oven the reduced sauce of butter, garlic, and lemon melts off the top of the stacks leaving a hint of each component without overpowering the final product.
This recipe is available in our cookbook MORE CEE DUB’S DUTCH OVEN AND OTHER CAMP COOKIN