Simple Suggestions for Seafood, Steak and Pork

We asked our Backyard BBQ chefs to tell us about their go-to proteins—and easy ways to prep and barbecue them.

SEAFOOD
Salmon and tuna are favourites of Edmonton chef Doreen Prei. She likes using a marinade on her salmon—made with soy sauce, some maple syrup, wasabi, chili, ginger, mustard and a little bit of water. “I bring this all to a boil until it turns into a thick sauce,” she says.

Place the salmon on tin foil, then on the grill, and brush the fish with the marinade. “Close the grill, so it heats up really, really fast, then lower the temperature and just finish the cooking really slowly,” says Prei. “It takes about 18 minutes with Atlantic salmon.”

For tuna, she likes to season it with pink peppercorn, lemon zest, olive oil and Maldon sea salt. Prei then quickly sears the outside of the fish on the barbecue, so it develops a crust but the rest is rare or raw. “You want to sear the tuna at super high heat—so you hear the sizzle,” she says.

STEAK AND SAUSAGES
Butcher, blogger and cooking instructor Elyse Chatterton likes flank steak, a cut of beef taken from the abdominal muscles or lower chest. “I really like cooking a bigger piece of meat, and then you can slice it thinly afterward,” she says. “That’s the best.”

“You also can’t beat sausages on the barbecue—somehow they taste 10 times better when they’ve been on the barbecue. It just seems to do something magical to them.”

PORK
Edmonton chef Brad Smoliak prefers the versatility of pork chops. He suggests using Asian- or Spanish-inspired flavours, or brining pork in salt water to tenderize it. “There are so many different ways you can do pork chops and they lend themselves to so many different flavours,” says the owner of Kitchen by Brad. “They’re also relatively inexpensive.”

Smoliak recommends buying pork chops at local independent butchers such as Backyard BBQ partner Acme Meats in Edmonton.

SHOP LOCAL
Visit AMA’s Backyard BBQ partners to pick up all your barbecue needs.