Red-Chili Rubbed Salmon

Red-Chili Rubbed Salmon from Boy Meets Grill, page 92. Just look at this golden salmon smoking on a cedar plank over the grill! This all started with a trip to Tag'z Five Star meats. They had a wild salmon filet that weighed in at five pounds, but they let me get just two, one-pound slices. When I got home, I soaked the cedar plank in the sink and prepared the rub for the salmon. The rub was made with ancho chili powder, cumin, brown sugar, cinnamon and olive oil. The plank went first to the grill with the rough side down. I let the plank start to heat up until it started popping. I flipped the plank over so that the charred and smoking side was up and laid the salmon, skin-side down on the plank. Then I just let the grill and the plank do its work. Close the grill hood, don't turn the salmon, you just let it bake and get surrounded by the cedar smoke. I was shooting for an internal temperature of just about 130 degrees - you can easily overcook salmon leaving you with a dry, non-pink, piece of fish - so watch it carefully. When we got to about 110 degrees, I brushed on the rub. The smell of that cedar smoke and then that chili, brown sugar, cinnamon rub bubbling over the salmon, brought the neighbors out of their homes! You must try smoking a salmon and you must try this Red-Chili rub.

Weather Report. It may finally be spring. And spring reminds me of Spring Training. For several years I completed my annual flight simulator training for a Cessna 404 in Orlando, Florida at Simcom. I would arrange this training during spring break. I told people that I was going during spring break so that I would not miss teaching my classes when the semester was in session - but the real reason was so that I could combine this official trip with some unofficial business: Baseball and Seaplanes. After several long days in the classroom and flight simulator, we would extend our trip a few more days. Friends of mine would also find their way to Orlando for those few days. What was going on?

Spring Training in the Grapefruit League! We would barnstorm the east coast of Florida hopping from one small ballpark to the next - sometimes two games a day. We always saw the Braves, Mets, Nationals, Astros, Marlins, Cardinals, Dodgers and Indians in their springtime home stadiums. Check it all out at
http://www.floridagrapefruitleague.com/
One of our favorite towns and ballparks was not on the coast but in Winter Haven, because not only was it the home of the Cleveland Indians (until they moved to Arizona last year) but also home to Jack Brown's Seaplane Base. Several years ago a friend and I got our seaplane pilot certificates at Jack Browns, then in subsequent years, we would just go fly the floats for fun. 

This is me returning from my Commercial Pilot Seaplane flight test. I don't look very happy - but I did pass the test. On a typical Seaplane/Baseball day would start on smooth, glassy water. We would fly, just past dawn with the doors open so we could smell the oranges as we leaped over the groves. Then we would drop into a lake, skim across the water, jump back into the air, hop over a land bridge and splash into another lake. The unique thing about Winter Haven is that it is surrounded by about 30 interconnected lakes. The baseball stadium is even named "Chain of Lakes" stadium. You can make 20 or 25 splash landings in an hour flying around Winter Haven in 20 or 25 different lakes - it is fantastic!  Go see the Seaplane Base at http://www.gate.net/~seaplane/index.htm By noon we are ready to go to the ball park. It never mattered which teams were playing or which players we would see. We did see baseball superstars, but we also saw prospects that we had never heard of before. Once in the late innings the Dodgers put a guy on the mound wearing number 168 on his uniform!

I didn't get to do any of that this year and I really miss it. I always looked forward to smelling those oranges from 300 feet up and dodging aligators in those lakes. Going to a baseball game under the hot sun, when it is snowing back home is amazing.  I always looked forward to that first long draw of ice cold beer and opening my eyes over a field of green and the crack of a bat. It is a right of spring.

Grilling is a right of spring too, so fire up the grill and play ball!
Paul