Hi there :) I've come to visit from the cooking forum The Tourist mentioned - I know nothing about bikes, but might be able to help with the salmon :) I'm from the UK and live in Ireland, so my common fish species might differ a bit from yours - but we do have some great wild salmon here!

1. When you're buying fish, it's easiest to tell how fresh it is if it's still whole. You're looking for bright eyes and shiny scales - and there shouldn't be a 'fishy' smell at all. If it's really fresh, it'll still be stiff, but that's unlikely unless you live close to the sea. Buying fish in fillets makes it a bit harder - but again, give it a good sniff - no smell=good.

2. Fish doesn't take a lot of cooking. A lot of people (me included) like it to still be a bit translucent in the middle (depending on fish type, but salmon, for sure). This is more true of oily fish (salmon, mackerel, tuna etc.) than white fish (cod, haddock and so on). Overcooking will result in dry meat, and a crumbly texture. Cook it just right, and it'll melt in your mouth.

3. You have a few ways of getting your fish cooked right. You can use high heat and sear it on the outside, which can give you crispy skin - good if you have a herb crust or something on your fish. Alternatively, you can use a lower heat and cook it more gently - poaching it in a flavoured liquid, for example. Microwave cooking works really well with fish, but you have to be careful not to overdo it.

4. So, let's say you have a 1" thick salmon steak. We don't get the weather for much outdoor grilling here, so I'll assume you're doing this in a kitchen. What I'd do - for a plain piece of fish (we can get on to marinades etc. later if you're interested) - is put a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan, followed by a lump of butter (the oil stops the butter from burning, the butter imparts flavour).

Heat the oil/butter over a medium to high heat, until the butter starts to foam (just what it sounds like). Add your salmon steak - now watch the side of it (the 1" depth, if you like) - you'll see it begin to change colour and become pale pink rather than the raw red it was. Give it about a minute (but watch the colour change - it depends on how strong your heat source is), by which time the cooked area should be about 1/3 up the depth of the steak. Now flip it over, and cook for another minute on the other side. The cooked regions should just about be meeting in the middle. The salmon's ready for eating.

If it's not cooked enough for your preference, you know to leave it a bit longer next time - but don't be afraid of leaving a bit warm but raw looking in the middle - it's delicious! This method works REALLY well with fresh tuna steaks - in fact I like them with only about 2mm of cooked depth on each side, and the centre almost raw. Better than a rare beef steak, I think.

If you want to do this on a BBQ, grease a piece of aluminium (aluminum to you;)) foil with butter and make a packet with it for your salmon - you won't be able to watch the cooking process 'cos you can't see through foil (doh!) - but a 1" thick salmon steak should take around 1 minute on each side, maybe a bit more - experience will educate you about this, cos grill heats obviously vary.

So that's lesson 1 - if you're interested let me know and I'll go on to lesson 2 - poaching salmon (in the cooking sense, not the illegal hunting sense, though it has been known (cough))...

Oh, and if you're into dips - try making your own tartare sauce to go with this - mix mayonnaise with some chopped capers and a chopped pickle - simple as that :)

Hope that helps some, and do feel free to ask if any of it's unclear :)

Darkginger, welcome aboard and thank you for coming!

Thanks for the hook up T