This recipe won first prize in the Western Living magazine “Best Barbecue Sauces” contest in 1982. The sauce is very versatile and can be used on any B.C. fish, like salmon, trout, char, lingcod, and halibut. Kokanee are great-tasting land-locked sockeye salmon, and this sauce will still allow their rich flavour to shine.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup of Miracle Whip or other creamy salad dressing (not a full-fat mayonnaise as it has too much oil and will cause major flare-ups)

1/3 cup melted butter or margarine

1 heaping tbsp liquid honey (more if you like it sweeter)

1tbsp white vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 to 1 tsp dried dill

squeeze of fresh lemon juice (optional if fish is really fresh)

Mix all ingredients until smooth and well-blended.

Slather sauce all over the flesh side of fillet or steaks

Place grill about 6 inches from coals that have a light coat of ash over each briquette. For gas barbecues, heat well then turn burners to medium.

Grill the flesh side of a fish fillet first, and place a small amount of sauce on the skin side or the other side of the steak. Grill for about 7-10 minutes, or until flesh has nice brown grill marks, and sauce on top is turning to a glaze the colour of maple syrup.

Flip fillet over so flesh side is up, slather more sauce on top, and continue grilling until the sauce on top glazes, and the juices in the thickest part of the fillet are just clear. The flesh should be opaque but still very moist. Do not overcook!

Note: Keep a water bottle ready for flareups if using a gas BBQ, and turn burners to low to finish cooking.

It also helps to cut the fillet into pieces that can be easily flipped by two spatulas. If the skin sticks to the grill, just split off serving portions, and serve by placing spatula between the skin and cooked flesh.

Serve with more warmed sauce on the side.