We’re just past Memorial Day weekend. I have to say that I’m a bit saddened that Memorial Day isn’t really observed for what it’s meant to honor, which is fallen U.S. soldiers. I don’t go out of my way to do a lot for the day, but I do think about the sacrifices made by others. Unfortunately, I saw a lot of other celebrations going on, too, that had nothing to do with that; people are just confused, I guess.

On Saturday, Pat of Patrick’s BBQ held his annual customer appreciation event by cooking anything that he could fit in his smoker (which is a whole lot). While there, I noticed a field of wildflowers, and I had to wander down to get a better look.

It is a long weekend, and it unofficially denotes the start of summer. We had incredible weather for Saturday and Sunday, with Monday not too awful. On Sunday, my dad and stepmother were in Ohio, and they spent the afternoon and evening with us, which was all the excuse I needed to put the XL Big Green Egg through it’s paces, just to see how it did with a variety of tasks.

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When my wife and I were coming back from Maine last Monday, we found out that we could buy live lobsters and check them as luggage on the plane… So we did!

Pre-sunrise, Kennebunkport, ME

Roger at the Portland Lobster Pound was more than happy to help us out, so we got a couple 1 1/2 pounders in a box to go. We were told that these bugs would be fine for about 24 hours in the box… So off to the airport, a couple of hours early for our flight, since it was starting to rain anyway.

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It’s good to be back home now, but not completely. My wife and I just spent a few days in the great state of Maine, specifically in the Kennebunkport area. No, we didn’t dine with the Bush family, but we did drive by George Sr’s compound. The town was gorgeous, and nearby Goose Rocks beach provided some great sunrise photos.

I never thought about Maine and food much, but there are a few things that I will always connect with Maine now… The most obvious is, of course, lobstah! Along with lobstah, and, yes, I’m going to spell it that way throughout this blog entry, is the Lobstah Roll, a sandwich I quickly came to love. Also, Maine produces more blueberries than any other state.  Note:  I was corrected!  Maine produces more WILD blueberries than any other state!

The first question I’ve been asked is - Why would you go to Maine in April??? And that’s easy to answer… I like cooler weather, and the season is just getting under way, so the crowds weren’t there yet. Why choose Kennebunkport? It’s not because George Sr. thinks it’s great; it really got decided because the hotel I found was offering a weekend of ballroom dancing lessons along with 2 nights in Kennebunkport. It turns out that more weddings are done at the Nonantum than any other place in Maine.

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I have to say that I’m a really lucky man. Not only did my wife want to fix dinner for me, but her gift got to my office after I’d had to leave for the day. She could have been furious with me; instead, her response was, “I get to have Valentine’s Day two days in a row!” How many women out there would respond that way?

For the gifts, though, she made me this:

Psalm 37:4 has special meaning to us, and she had a friend help her emboss it onto paper, then fit it to the frame. And she got, finally, this (not a great pic, but I was in a hurry:

As it turns out, we each made part of dinner. I made her something she requested… bacon wrapped shrimp with peppers and cheese. I made something similar a few weeks ago, and she wanted it again. The only real differences were that I cooked the prawns on the stove and I wrapped the shrimp much better with bacon so they stayed together better.

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There’s a great grocery in Hamiton, Ohio, called Jungle Jim’s. The place is several acres under roof, with huge selections of wine, beer, cheeses, meats, seafood and all kinds of ethnic foods (arranged by region/country). My wife and I stopped by over last weekend, and they had a special on some wild caught sockeye salmon that I couldn’t pass up, along with a cart full of English beer and hard cider. You’ve got to love a grocery that has a sign outside saying, “Foodies Welcome”!

My wife and I don’t really celebrate New Year’s Eve. It’s not that we’re old and boring (I am, she’s not); it’s just that it’s never been a big deal to either of us. But we don’t have to go to work the next day, so I usually try to make something good.

Sometimes I feel like I’m something of a rut with salmon, but my wife requested that I cedar plank this, so I did. It’s easy to do and tastes really fantastic! I use the simplest of recipes for this; I’m a believer in using good ingredients that don’t need to be covered up with spices and sauces all the time (though now and then is good). For good salmon, all I use for seasoning is grey salt, black pepper and brown sugar. That’s it.

So here is the list of ingredients:

• 1 salmon fillet
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grey salt (this is along the lines of Fleur de Sel)
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• enough brown sugar to liberally cover the filet (maybe 1 cup)

Two hours before cooking, I put a cedar plank in water to soak. An XL kitty litter box (unused, please!) works great for this. I lay the salmon out to let it get to room temp, about a half hour before putting it on the grill. I don’t season until just before I put it on though.

I also get a chimney of coals going, so they’re good and hot when it’s time to grill. This also simplifies the fire in that there’s no need to worry about making a 3 zone fire; the cedar plank makes all the heat indirect. When the coals are ready, I put them in something of a rectangular shape, right below where I’ll put the cedar plank.

About 5 minutes before I put the salmon on, I spray the smooth side of the cedar plank with veggie oil spray and put the plank on the grate of the grill, about 6″ directly above the fire. It’s ready once the cedar wood starts smoking.

Once I see the smoke coming out of the grill, I put the salmon fillet right on the plank, doing my best to not let it hang over the plank. The lid comes down, and all there is to do is wait.

I don’t really time this too much, but I usually start looking at the fish after about 15 minutes. Depending on how hot the fire is burning and hot thick the fillet is, this is about the earliest the fish will be ready. This time, it took just under 20 minutes.

The brown sugar melts all over the fish, and the plank, and into the fire… which is ok. It forms a bit of a crust on top of the fish, adding some sweetness, but not as much as you’d think. I’ve had non-fish-eater friends decide salmon was good stuff after having this.

A trick I’ve finally taught myself is to have an already-charred plank from before that’s clean and dry. When the fish was done, I transferred it to this plank and served it. If you try to serve on a smoking plank, you’re going to empty the dining room! Only do this if you’re outside and won’t catch anything on fire!

The presentation ends up really nice, and the fish is well worth the effort. As with many things, the quality of the fish really makes a difference. The idea is not to overseason or overcook the fish; medium rare is great for this. If you can’t get wild caught or Scottish salmon, using spices more like dill or tarragon may be a better way to go. But this is so good, it’s worth a splurge when/if you can find good wild caught salmon. The planking also works for other fish, pork chops and chicken, and scallops are really great this way.

By not having to watch over the food too much, this also makes a great winter grilling exercise.