BY 
I’m a pretty organized person. People sometimes ask me if this blog thing takes over my life, and for the most part, my obsessive organizational skills keep that from happening. I plan way ahead of time, prepare my photos before my deadlines, check my calendar 50 times a day, etc. But then there are those rare occasions when life just takes over and my blog brain slips away for a little while (which is often a good thing!). Today was one of those days. My husband and I went out with friends and stayed out later than my thirty-two year old body is used to. It was totally worth it though, especially seeing as it ended at Applebees at 11pm (seriously, why are there not more places open at 11pm??) where we won the late-night trivia game with answers to questions like, “What’s the abbreviation for trinitrotoluene?” “What’s considered the luckiest number worldwide?” and “What is 15 feet high, 26 feet wide, and 1500 feet long?” (TNT, 9, and the Great Wall of China in case you’re wondering) We pretty much rocked it and won first place and after awarding us with our grand prize $10 off coupon (yessss) they made a special announcement that there was “talk” of cell phone usage. Seriously, we had no idea that wasn’t allowed. Wasn’t everyone googling? Okay, probably not the girl who named the “Caribbean ocean” as the largest lake in the world. But I digress. It was midnight when I yawned and noted how tired I was and my husband casually said, “It’s not your turn to post on the blog tomorrow, is it?” Doh! So here I sit at 1 am in my nice warm bed on my nice soft pillow as my husband snoozes and I write about fish. What’s that you say? Why don’t you stop blabbering about Applebees trivia and just get on with the recipe? You could have been done with the recipe by now and had your head on that nice soft pillow? Okay, got it.
Remember this post where I told you about my amazingly awesome sister Becca? The one where she made her famous Orange Teriyaki Steelhead for our bbq after our Seattle book signing? Just say yes. I know you remember. I followed her around the kitchen taking note of everything she did, and totally annoyed her by making her actually measure things. Thanks Becca!
This is a great method to know for cooking fish. You’re basically going to create a sealed foil tent so it can steam inside. Use heavy duty foil because it’s larger and stronger. Place one sheet across the width of the pan and one sheet across the length of the pan like you see here:
Make sure to leave quite a bit of overhang because you’ll be folding all of those up.
The marinade comes together really fast. It’s got both orange marmalade and orange juice in it which gives it a really well rounded flavor.
And a punch of green not only adds to the flavor, but makes it look pretty too!
Rinse off your fish under cold water and pat dry.
Then place it skin side down on your prepared baking sheet.
Grab that yummy sauce and pour it all over the salmon
And then pull up the edges of the foil to make a big pouch. This is why you needed the overhang on your baking sheet- you want to make the big tent of foil so it can fill with steam to cook the fish.
Pop it in the oven, and after only about 30 minutes you can crack open that foil.
Spoon juices over the fish to serve…
and eat up!
Orange Teriyaki Salmon
Recipe by Becca Smith for Ourbestbites.com
*This makes quite a bit of marinade. You could definitely get away with a little more fish in there, or even half the recipe for smaller portions.
about 2 pounds salmon; one large filet or 2 smaller ones
3/4 C orange marmalade
4 Tablespoons butter
1/2 C orange juice
3 Tbs bottled teriyaki sauce
6 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs worshershire sauce
2 Tbs vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1/8 tsp ground red pepper, or 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
several cracks black pepper
2 Tbs chopped dry onion, or 1/4 C minced fresh onion
3 Tbs dry parsley or about 1/2 C fresh
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Layer a piece of heavy duty foil over a large baking sheet Lay on one more sheet in the opposite direction, leaving about 8″ of overhang on all sides.
Place marmalade and butter in a small microwave safe bowl and heat for about 30 seconds, or until butter is melted. Whisk until smooth. Combine this mixture with all ingredients (except fish) in a bowl and stir until smooth. Rinse salmon in cold water and pat dry. Place skin side down on baking sheet. Pour marinade over fish.
Starting from one end, gather the foil overhang together and roll them together to seal a tent-like pouch. Bake in oven for about 25 minutes. Fish should be opaque and flake easily with a fork. Test fish and return pan to oven for an additional 5-10 minutes if necessary. Serve salmon with sauce spooned over top.
Grill instructions: Preheat gas grill to 325. Place foil pouch on upper rack if you have one, or on indirect heat on the main rack. Follow the same baking instructions as if it were in the oven.
Fish can also be cooked in a foil tent over a camp fire. Season the fish as desired (you can also add a couple of tablespoons of water to help it steam in the hot fire) and close up your foil tent. Nestle your foil pouch into the glowing embers where the heat isn’t as intense as the flames. Cooking time may vary depending on the size and variety of fish, so check it after 10 minutes. If it’s not done, check at 2-3 minute intervals after that.
My hubby loves salmon and is always looking for new/different marinades. I’ll show this to him. 🙂 Thanks!
does this method of steaming fish in the foil tent work for other types of fish? unless we’re talkin’ sashimi, i’m not really into salmon. but the marinade sounds delish!
I love salmon and this sounds like such a delicious marinade for it! I can’t wait to try it.
Looks delicious! Any special instructions for doing this on the grill? When it’s 108 outside, I won’t turn the oven on for even the most delicious of fish… 🙂 But I probably will for Mississippi Mud Brownies. I know, it’s a total double standard. 🙂
This looks so good and I have every single one of the ingredients in this recipe! I know what’s on the menu for tonight! I’ve never cooked salmon by steaming it in a tin-foil tent. We eat a lot of salmon though – so this might become my new method of choice!
I love salmon and can’t wait to try this tent thing! Awesome served with Jasmine rice and a asparagus! followed by the Mississippi Mud pie of course!
Dear Kate, you must be my soul mate!
I’ve come to rely way too heavily on the “try it with this…and this…or this” on y’all’s posts. I now serve lime cilantro rice or mushroom rice with everything… Got any other suggestions for this one?
OK, so what is “liquid smoke” and will this be OK if I don’t have/use it?
This sounds wonderful!
(And I know it was 1am, but I really do think the Great Wall of China is a little longer than 1500 feet.)
@Stephanie- You can use this method to steam any kind of fish. For basic steamed fish, all you really need in there is salt, pepper, a little olive oil or butter. I usually add some chopped onions or onion powder and a little lemon or orange zest, too.
@Becky- I usually DO serve this with lime cilantro rice! Sara or Kate might have some more suggestions, but I think asparagus goes particularly well with salmon.
@Becca- (lovely name, by the way!) liquid smoke is basically smoke-flavored water that has been condensed and bottled. You can read on wikipedia how it’s made; it’s actually a pretty neat process! It gives things a “fresh-off-the-grill” smokey flavor. In this particular recipe, it adds a really nice undertone, but it’s not one of the “key” flavors. Your salmon will still be delicious without it.
this looks delicious as all of your recipes do! i’ll make it for sure! thanks!
I had not been a fish fan until my brother-in-law made salmon on the grill. It was so dang good!! He does this same thing with the foil but uses different seasonings and not a marinade. Anyway, my point is that you could do this same thing with this recipe – grill it instead of baking it in the oven. We haven’t had salmon in a while. I’ll have to go buy all the ingredients for this and try it out!!
It’s a shame Sara probably didn’t eat that salmon. Or did she? It looks delicious.
She tasted it. Her reaction? “It still tastes like fish. But I can tell the sauce is really good!” LOL I tried…
When we went to Arizona a few weeks ago, she sent me a SUPER excited text halfway through dinner that she ate a whole crab cake without gagging. Turns out she also reaaaaaaally liked the remoulade sauce that came with it… 🙂
Hahaha, seriously, I did eat an entire crab cake (slathered with sauce) lol
Yum! I love salmon and was actually thinking last night that I hadn’t made some in a while! I can’t wait to give this a try!
I am not exactly a salmon lover, but living in Alaska I have easy access to quite a bit of fresh salmon. My husband recently canned all of our salmon so it wouldn’t get freezer burned and amazingly, I am actually loving it! It makes for some incredibly easy and healthy dinners and no bones to pick out! I am just having a bit of trouble being creative with cooking it now-with the salmon being cooked already, how would you recommend making things like this recipe? Just bake it for a shorter amount of time-till it is heated through? Would it still taste as good?
Teagon, in this type of recipe, fresh fish is a must! Use canned salmon any way you would use canned tuna- sandwiches, dips, spreads, casseroles, probably even salmon burgers/cakes?
This looks fantastic! I’m not so great cooking fish so I’m a sucker for a good recipe (no pun intended). Another little bit of trivia for you: Steelhead is not Salmon, but actually a vibrant-fleshed type of trout!
We had a lively family debate about this very fact the night we ate the fish! There was even internet research backing up each opposing view (both stated that the other was a common misconception). Somebody must be wrong, but I don’t think we ever figured out who!
Curiosity has gotten the better of me, I guess. After consulting both the department of fish and game and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, I have concluded that both points of view are right. Steelhead is in fact a type of trout (most closely related to rainbow), but all trout are related to Salmon. Commonly referred to as “Salmonids,” trout belong to the family Salmonidae (taxonomically speaking). Feel free to mock me for my ultra-dorky contribution to this conversation.
Ha, I missed this conversation! Becca told us we were having Steelhead Trout, and my husband was convinced it was Salmon (our local pro sports team are the “Steelheads” and they are salmon!) So yes, there was lots of internet research at this meal and in the end we determined that everyone was right, lol.
Wow, yum!! Like Teagon above, I live in Alaska and Salmon, Halibut and Ling Cod are pretty much the staple fish up here. I will definitely try this recipe and grill it. When we grill it, we also end up using a cedar plank to place the salmon over it (and covered in tin foil). gives it an AMAZING taste. Teagon, did you guys smoke the salmon before you canned it? It really depends if its “fresh” or not smoked, you can try this recipe, if it is smoked, I would probably use it for dips or eating it out of the can
It’s not smoked, just canned. I don’t particularly care for the flavor of smoked salmon. I love the canned salmon with a bit of Yoshida’s…SO easy and yummy, just not creative. I imagine it’ll get old though, so I am hoping to find some ways to dress it up.
I’m so glad you pulled off this post! It sure looks good. Interesting technique for cooking the salmon.
The recipe sounds delicious! And the photo of you and your Sister is so sweet! You are both blessed!!!!
My family isn’t big on seafood in general, but this looks so good and fish is really healthy… is salmon a good starter fish to try on them? If not, is there a lighter “fishy” fish I could substitute? I LOVE seafood and really want to do this marinade with some shrimp! Yum!
Hmmm…this is tricky. My kids love, love, love salmon and it was one of the few fishes I liked growing up, but I find that if it’s not fresh or not cooked correctly, it can taste very fishy whereas other fishes like cod or tilapia are a little more forgiving (I believe it’s because those are very lean fishes whereas salmon is fattier, so, while more flavorful, it has more of a chance of having an off flavor.)
I hate how my salmon gets dried out on the grill so I am totally going to try this for our next BBQ!
It’s amazing how you girls always seem to KNoW what type of meat/fish I have sitting in my freezer that I can’t figure out what to do with … Can’t wait to try this one, I’m sure it will be fabulous … As always!!
I love the foil tent idea!
This looks delish and so easy, can’t wait to make it.
Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook
I made this for Sunday dinner and my husband loved it. I didn’t really like adding olive oil AND butter though. Is there a reason for both? How do you suppose it would taste with only one of those ingredients?
I”m sure you could leave either one of those out and it wouldn’t make one bit of difference. I actually had the same thought!
Uhhh, the Great Wall of China doesn’t sound that great at only 1500 feet long:)
I love your site…you ladies do an amazing job! So living up here in the big AK (Alaska) we have lots of salmon but my family has always cooked it this one certain way, which is delish, but my hubby and I are pretty tired of it, me especially since he grew up in Utah he hardly had it. But since he brought me back up here we again have lots of salmon and knew we needed new recipes. We tried this out Sunday night and it was a hit, we are making it again soon, lots of salmon to use up and this was seriously amazing! I loved how it almost tasted smoked because of the liquid smoke, without being too strong, awesome, awesome recipe we will be having over and over again!
Sadly this wasn’t a hit with our family, except our 6 yr old dd who said she really liked it. The rest of us seem to like salmon either deepfried or salthered in mayo and lemon pepper. But thanks for helping us to try something new!
This recipe looks yummy. I wasn’t a fish lover until I purchased this baking/grilling board to cook fish on. Salmon was never on my list of fish until I got this board. I couldn’t belive the first time I used it how good the salmon was. It didn’t taste fishy at all. Could I do this recipe and still use the board to steam the salmon on??
Michelle, I’ve never done it but I can’t imagine it would be a problem!
Made this for dinner tonight and talk about delicious! Served it with some sweet potato fries…talk about a tasty meal! Thanks for the great recipe.
Made this tonight for dinner and everyone loved it! I had all the ingredients except the orange marmalade and it was still sweet and delicious!
This was delicious! Thank you. My husband loved it. I’ll probably blog about this within the next few days and link back to you. I think next time I made it, I might make some rice to go along with it. The sauce was so nice, it would be good over rice. Also, I think this could be done in individual salmon packets so that each person would have their own little foil pack!
I’m always looking for new ways to cook salmon and this one was fabulous! Thanks for the recipe!
Just made this…yum! Definately will make again…
Made this tonight and it was amazing! I did change a few things to account for what I had on hand but it still turned out perfect!
Thanks for sharing this simple but look sooo yummy recipe. Will definitely make this one this days.
I have never liked salmon before. I absolutely hated it. Well, I found this recipe earlier this week, and made it tonight for dinner with just a few little tweaks. I loved it. I can’t believe I found a way to actually enjoy salmon. Also, eating it with pineapple chunks is really delicious too. Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
Made this last night… AMAZING, like every single other recipe I’ve tried! Sadly I couldn’t find this in either of your cookbooks last night, but a quick search of your website turned up this gem! You girls are awesome… please keep doing what you’re doing!!
I made this for company and family for Sunday dinner and it was a hit! Everyone said it was the best salmon they’ve ever had! It was so moist and delicious! My picky husband, who hates fish, loved it and said I could make this for him anytime! We used your tent method on the grill outside and it worked great! Thanks!
Looks so good! i want to make this tonight. Would it still work out the same if I used Apricot, (peach and passion fruit marmalade)?
Yep, I bet that would be great 🙂
This looks so fun to try! We’re trying to steer away from butter for health reasons. What do you think would make a good substitute? Would an olive oil work well? I’m thinking if the oil has a light, fruity flavor it might work well. Thanks for this amazing blog!
I just made this tonight with some alternations. I followed the recipe through until putting it in the oven, and used a BBQ instead. It stayed between 400 and 500 degrees the majority of the time, so I pulled the fish off at 20 minutes instead. So good! And really excited to do this again.
It is 2016 and I am making this for the first time. The sauce is extremely tasty. I can’t wait to marinate some chicken thighs in the left over sauce and grill them over charcoal!
Yes, chicken would be great!