OK, the dark, dreary January days have impacted even me, the barbecue lover. But, thanks to extended “family,” I returned to the outdoors on the weekend, for a longer time period than just walking to or from my vehicle.
Thanks to a visit from Jen and Allie, whom I am told are my second wife and daughter (and Jen’s not to be confused with Michelle, my “work wife,” or Mary Beth, my actual wife), I sauntered out into the chilly air Sunday evening to grill some meat!
It seems Allie had never had salmon before. Her mom, Jen, recalled only eating it from a tin.
For shame!
So we set about rectifying that. And because we love cooking it a couple of ways, we subjected them to both, and added steak as a back-up plan.
We Corcorans enjoy the lemon pepper option on a cedar plank, as well as the sweet and savory cast-iron griddle option.
Both are very easy to prepare and cook, but one requires more cleaning. I’m talking about the cast-iron griddle version, which is my favourite.
Thankfully, Mary Beth enjoys attacking the task of cleaning the griddle, which she accomplishes with coarse salt as an abrasive. No detergent, of course, and oiling the griddle afterwards is a must.
I soaked the cedar plank for about 45 minutes a side. Mary prepared the salmon by adding diced garlic (we love garlic!), pepper, juice from a squeezed lemon, and three thin slices of actual lemon on each piece of salmon.
As for the cedar plank, you put it on the grill for three minutes, cooking side down, and flip it over before you place the salmon on it. That heats and prepares the surface for the salmon.
In regard to the griddle version, it is simply salmon marinated in a mix of maple syrup and soya sauce, with a healthy amount of chopped garlic on top. It sounds like an odd combo, but it is heaven on the taste buds. Heat the griddle in advance of adding the salmon.
I cooked both options at the same time on my Big Green Egg, giving the planked salmon about three minutes longer than the 15 minutes for the griddled salmon. Cast iron transfers heat much better than a piece of wood of course, but that wood delivers some great flavour.
I cooked the salmon at about 400 degrees, and checked for flakiness before pulling it off the barbecue. It should be cooked to at least 145 F.
I turns out I didn’t really need the steak – three sirloin strips that were seasoned with Cow Lick Steak Rub on two, and Schinkels’ Coffee Rub on the other. Although some of us did enjoy samplings of it. If you haven’t tried it yet, I’d suggest giving the Coffee Rub a sampling. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I love the flavour it imparts on the steak. So do Brenna and Mary Beth.
Naturally, meat rarely goes to waste around our house. We kept the extra salmon, which was gobbled up the next day, and sent Allie and Jen home with the leftover steak for the men of their house.
Budget season
So, the municipal budget sessions are upon us. Chatham-Kent staff likely has an over/under bet on the number of days council will utilize to hash out this year’s budget, and I think they wouldn’t be too far off if they chose three.
Will council add to the budget, as it has done historically, before subtracting? I think we may be in for a pleasant surprise this time around, as there aren’t any municipal service reduction items in the draft budget, something that has led to contention in recent years.
As well, lifecycle infrastructure funding is front and centre this year. Traditionally, this had been pushed towards the end of discussion talks, and became an annual victim. Council historically realized after several days of deliberations that it was facing a tax hike higher than it wanted to offer up to the citizens, so it took the knife to lifecycle funding.
That slicing of support over the years has left this municipality only funding half of its $88 million annual lifecycle needs, badly underfunding road, storm sewer and bridge maintenance and replacement. More than half of the proposed 1.96-per-cent increase in the draft budget is earmarked for infrastructure.
Years of underfunding have led to this. One can only wonder how many members of council, hell bent on a zero-per-cent increase back in 2015, wish they’d at least added a modicum of an increase then to support lifecycle funding, thus reducing the pressure today.
