By Jonathan Miles

Roasting fish that’s encased inside a salt crust is a centuries-​old method of ensuring moist, ultra-flavorful flesh. The dramatic presentation is just a happy bonus. Nearly any fish benefits from this treatment, and feel free to adjust the herbs as desired. For an easy side, toss some cut potatoes in olive oil with salt and pepper, spread them on a roasting pan, and put the pan in at the same time as the fish.

By Colin Kearns

Draper and I have been talking about adding another regular on the blog — something to help wash down all of the great game and fish that’s served here. So, we present The Toast. Every now and then we’ll bring reviews, recipes and stories of our favorite drinks (and, no, not all will be booze) to enjoy with a meal or just to celebrate a good day outdoors.

I’ll kick The Toast off with some notes about a new whiskey I was lucky to enjoy over the last month: Crown Royal Black. I’m definitely more of a bourbon and rye guy, but I enjoy Canadian whiskey now and then. I’ve always liked classic Crown — but now I like Black more.

By David Draper

When it comes to grilling, there are few things that foster fear like fish. Cooking fish well can be challenging indoors, and when you enter the variable nature of a hot fire into the equation, even the most experience backyard barbequer can go weak in the knees. The delicate nature of fish fillets, or even a whole fish, can cause a grilling disaster if it sticks to the grate or falls apart when you try to flip it.

I’ve heard all kinds of way to make grilling fish easier, including wrapping it in wet newspaper before you lay it on the flame. I don’t know about that one, but here are a few tips I’ve used to avert a fish and flame disaster.

By David Draper

Contributing editor David Draper recently returned from a fishing trip in Alaska. While there, we asked him to cover all things salmon—cooking, eating, and, in this case drinking. This is the first of five stories from his trip.

There are a number of foods associated with Alaska, where reindeer sausages are sold on street corners and a restaurant’s menu isn’t complete without an appetizer of fried halibut chunks. But no edible epitomizes the last frontier like smoked salmon. In the peak of salmon season, an alder-smoked haze settles over the state as residents put up fish and commercial operations fill their smokers with fresh red flesh. Tourists and angling-challenged locals spend their savings on Denali’s delicacy.

Just when we all thought every smoked-salmon variable had been it explored, some enterprising distillers just up the valley from Anchorage broke the boundary from food to drink with the introduction of Smoked Salmon Vodka.