This salmon recipe is very simple to make and has a ton of flavor. The salmon mixed with the flavor the honey citrus glaze is incredible by itself. Then you add on the flavors from the brine and the rub and this will quickly become your new favorite way to prepare salmon.
Since I live in Maine I felt like I needed to get some more seaffood recipes up on the blog. Whenever I try to look for salmon recipes I always see an asian spin on it so I think this recipe is a nice change of flavor. I actually can’t take credit for this one though. My dad gave me this recipe and allowed me to share it. We have an annual family BBQ and he always makes brisket and salmon and the salmon is always just as popular as the brisket so that tells you something. I really enjoyed the honey citrus glaze flavor. My wife was actually gifted some different flavors of infused honey so I made my last batch with lavendar honey which seemed to mix well with the citrus flavor.
Cooking Basics
There is not too much prep work for this recipe but you do need to plan ahead a little. That is because this recipe calls for brining your salmon. To create the brine you will mix all the ingredients listed below except for the ice into a saucepan and heat it up until all the spices have combined with the water. Once this is done add in the ice and allow the brine to cool down. Make sure this is cool before adding the salmon to it. Once you have placed the salmon in the brine you will want to store this in a cool place for a couple of hours before cooking.
Once you are done with the brining process you will want to rinse off the salmon briefly and then pat dry it. I put tin foil on a sheet pan and used this to cook the fish on because it breaks apart very easily once its cooked. Once you have your fish on the pan apply your favorite seafood rub. I used some paprika and a maine seafood rub I had gotten locally. If you dont have anything on hand you can use equal parts salt, pepper, garlic powder, and brown sugar for a rub and top it with just a dash of paprika. Now you are ready to fire up the pit.
Preheat your smoker or grill to 225. You will want to use indirect heat to cook if using a grill. If using a smoker I suggest using some type of fruit wood. If you only have a grill but would still like to smoke the salmon you can buy yourself a smoke tube which can sit on your grill and produce the same effect as a smoker. This could be used with most of the recipes on my blog. I have included a link below if you are interested. Once the smoker / grill is up to tmeperature throw the salmon on and let it come up to an internal temperature of 140 degrees. This will take 45 minutes to 1 hour. While the salmon is cooking you will want to prepare your glaze.
Once you have the salmon off the smoker / grill you will apply the glaze mixture and then yrou ready to eat.
Final Thoughts
I really liked how this recipe turned out. There are only a couple things I can think of that I would like to try differently next time I make it just to see how it affects the flavor and texture.
- I would like to try to apply part of the glaze durring the last bit of the cook to see what giving it a chance to carmelize would do for the texture.
- The recipe just calls for normal honey but the last time I tried making the glaze with a lavendar infused honey. I have another one that is bourbon infused I would like to try that out just to see if I notice much of a flavor difference.