Salmon

[PSUFAN]

Me and my family have been on a big Salmon kick lately. Our local grocery store has great Alaskan Sockeye for 8.99/lb., which is awful hard to beat.

We all like it baked, so that's what I've done with it so far. The fish itself is delicious enough to enjoy alone, but I'm interested in some preparation recommendations, if anyone has any.

So far I've baked it with homemade Pesto, and with a spicy Thai peanut sauce. Last Sunday I made Chipotle Aoili and Tarragon and Kalamata Olive Aoili, and those were great for dipping.

[Mikey]

We like it here too, but I've decided that I will not buy it unless it wild-caught. There's none of that available around here right now (at least not fresh).

I like to take a nice sized fillet, spray some Pam on the shiny side of some foil, and put the fish skin side down on the foil. Paint the flesh side with some EVOO and season with garlic salt or whatever you prefer and then cook in the Weber on HIGH indirect heat for 20 min plus or minus (depends on the thickness). When done the skin will probably be stuck to the foil, but the meat will slide nicely off the skin.

If I feel lucky, I'll take smaller fillets and grill on direct heat. First for a few minutes on the meat side to get it a little brown and then finish off on the skin side. I like the crispiness that it imparts to the meat but if the gill isn't really clean and the fire really hot it usually sticks.

[King Crimson]

a good side dish with broiled/baked salmon that's a simple preperation featuring just a few strong tastes (like herbs and garlic alone) is couscous cooked in apple juice (or half AJ/half H20) with raisons (currants) and pistachio nuts.....and parsley.


a good way to bake/broil salmon is to dice (in dimensions about the length or your pinky fingernail)length of your a large bowl of roma tomato, small dice garlic, possibly small dice red onions/or scallinons (optional).

add a healthy quantity of lemon juice and a drizzle of XVOO. and tarragon, thyme, and a nice amount chopped fresh mint. the t and t can be dried and should smaller amount than the mint--which must be fresh....because it's the star with the lemon.

mix in a bowl. let sit in fridge for a few hours.

take salmon filets and place in baking dish with some dry white wine a little XVOO and pepper. put in hot oven for few minutes (however you like yer salmon)....take out, flip filets and spoon a healthy amount of tomato mixture over each filet....and finish in the oven for a few more minutes.

ideally, you'd be doing this at about 500-550--but, most stoves don't have the btu's for that.

[ppanther]

I use a modified Tyler Florence recipe. Not sure how many you're cooking for, but in the small pyrex dish I use, I can get 3 filets in pretty easily... 4 if I really sqeeze. You could use a bigger baking dish and fit as many as you want, you'd just need to increase the couscous and water to fit, and then maybe alter cooking time. It's pretty easy, though.

You need 1 filet per serving, 6-8 oz will work.
1 c. couscous (approx)
big handful of currants (or golden or regular raisins or really any dried fruit cut into small pieces)
big handful of toasted almonds (but any toasted nuts would work, pine nuts and pistachios are worthy subs)
big handful of kalamata olives, chopped coarsely
capers, chopped coarsely (maybe 1 tbsp or more to taste)
juice of 1 lemon
half a bunch of parsley, chopped
olive oil
salt/pepper

Heat oven to 375.

Mix couscous, currants, almonds, parsley, olives, and capers in a bowl. Stir in lemon juice, and then ad olive oil until everything is nicely mixed. (maybe 1/4 c. olive oil.) Season to taste.

lightly grease baking dish (I use spray olive oil for this). Lay in salmon filets skin side down, season and drizzle with EVOO. Cover wtih couscous mixture. drizzle with more EVOO. Add water (for my measurements, I use 1 1/3 cup) and bake for 25 minutes.

DELICIOUS.

If you want to start with the original recipe, go to foodtv.com and look up Tyler Florence's "Salmon in a CousCous Crust" or something.

Serve with warm sourdough and maybe a salad and seriously, you'll be feasting.

[PSUFAN]

Wow...some great ideas! Thanks. My kids generally want the fish sans extras, but the extras will be great for my wife and I.

Thanks again.

[indyfrisco]

PSU,

If you have a BBQ grill with one of those grill plates (or you can just do in the oven)...

Take the salmon and brush olive oil on the skin. Turn it over skin side down on the grill pan or baking dish. Olive oil, salt and pepper on the fish. Squeeze lemon juice over it.

Mince some garlic or just use the prebought minced garlis and mix it into some dijon mustard. Coat the fish with the mustard/garlic mixture. Take some pecan pieces (the small pecan pieces you can buy in the baking section of the grocery store) and cover the mustard. Press the pecans slightly into the mustard to help form the crust.

Cook on indirect heat on the grill or pop it into the oven, however you want to cook it. Remove from oven when cooked to desired temp.

I like to dallop some horseradish on mine when I eat it, but that's up to you. It's great with or without the horseradish.

[indyfrisco]

IAnd if you really like it spicy, do the same thing, but spread a thin layer of wasabi on the salmon. Then take italian breadcrumbs mixed with parm cheese and spread over the wasabi. Damn good eats.

[missjo]

Thai spiced salmon

1 inch piece fresh ginger root grated
1tsp coriander seeds crushed
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1 tblspn lime juice
1 tspn sesame oil

4 pieces of salmon fillet


mix marinade ingredients together & sppon over the top of each fillets cover & chill in fridge for at least 30 min
cook on char grill plate or in a large frypan

I like to serve with steamed jasmine rice &
thai cucumber salad


Thai Cucumber Salad

1 cucumber
1tsp salt
1 small red onion
1 garlic clove
½ tsp chilli paste (fresh chopped chilli can also be used)
2tsp fish sauce
1tblspn fresh lime juice (lemon juice can be used if you have no limes)
1tsp sesame oil

peel & finely chop cucumber, place in a sieve & sprinkle with salt
leave to drain for at least 20 min, discard liquid

peel onion finely chop & toss with cucumber

Mix together the garlic, chilli paste, fish sauce, lime juice & sesame oil then spoon over salad
Cover & chill before serving.

[peter dragon]

We like it here too, but I've decided that I will not buy it unless it wild-caught.

Rack.

Farmed salmon tastes like warm open ass.

well unless salmon start spawning in Ohio then farming is prolly the best were gonna get.

[Mikey]

I sort of doubt they're farming much salmon in Ohio, either.

You can't genetically modify corn stalks to produce fish, at least not yet.

[PSUFAN]

We like it here too, but I've decided that I will not buy it unless it wild-caught.

Rack.

Farmed salmon tastes like warm open ass.

Yep. I only buy Alaskan wild salmon. I'm not into fish that color has to be added to, because it is so poorly nourished - also, the taste is vastly different.

[Mikey]

and then cook in the Weber

Perhaps it's just me, but I can detect a grill that's been used to cook seafood. And it seems no matter how hard you try and clean it, that smell will stilll linger and adhere to burgers, steaks, etc...none too appetizing.

Or do you just have a seperate grill that you use for seafood only?

Never had that problem. I just make sure that I run my grill on at least medium high heat for 15 or 20 minutes or so after grilling anything.

[PSUFAN]

Copper river season, baby!

[Diego in Seattle]

Copper river season, baby!

Over-rated in my book. Alaskan or local is just as good if not better.

[PSUFAN]

I'll grant you that. The sockeye I've been getting is almost identical.

[Mikey]

The local market had copper river salmon "on sale" for about $29/lb a couple of weeks ago, and it went down to about $24 last week. Sorry I won't pay that much for anything, except for maybe abalone.

Just this week they started having King Salmon and Chinook for $9.95. Grilled up some of the King last night (brush with EVOO, sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic and just grill). That was some really good fish.

[Dinsdale]

They had Kings and chinook?

WOW!!! That's big-time. Did they have a sale on blackmouth, too?

It's the same fucking thing, douchebags. Different regions call chinook different nicknames. Around here, they're often called "hogs," although I doubt anyone is going to market them under than name any time soon.


And the whole Copper River thing...what a wonderful marketing gimmick they've come up with there. Yeah, flatlanders on the other side of the country can taste the difference between fish that's been shipped cross-country. Great maketing trick, though, since many people seem to fall for it.

The sockeye I've been getting is almost identical.

Out West, we have another name for sockeye, too -- we call it "cat food." (Not that sockeye aren't pretty much extinct in Oregon).


But hey, I hear you can score a hell of a deal on chum in a few weeks...


Fuckers are KILLING me. Alder planks...ever heard of it, motherfuckers?

[Headhunter]

Just cover it in capers and safron and you're golden!

[Dinsdale]

Hazelnuts...it's all about the hazelnuts.


WTF good is a cooking forum without smack?

[Headhunter]

Can you cook Salmon in a crock pot and coat it with some killer chocolate sauce? That's sounds freakin' delish!

[Dinsdale]

Freaking dolt.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

flatlanders

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you weren't referring to PSUFAN on this one.

Regards,

The Alleghenys, Appalachians, and Pocanos

[Dinsdale]

It was a generic term for the dullards who occupy the central part of the country.


Although we also have a different name for those "mountain" ranges -- Out West, we call those "hills."

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Yeah, yeah...

They're mountains by definition regardless of what U&Lers want to contrast them to.

And that's not really the point anyway...high points or low points, Pennsylvania is totally covered with those sumbitches, as well as plateaus, valleys, rolling hills, etc. No flatness going on there.

But yeah, I get it, you were using the term generically. Fine. Back to the salmon talk.

[PSUFAN]

Yes the Alleghenies are basically hills, especially here in Pittsburgh. I do very much miss the Ridge and Valley area that I became accustomed to growing up in the center of the state.

As long as I'm getting Alaskan salmon that isn't artificially colored, and isn't farm raised, I don't care much what they call it.

[Dinsdale]

As long as I'm getting Alaskan salmon that isn't artificially colored, and isn't farm raised, I don't care much what they call it.

OK, you're not really catching on...but that's to be expected.

There's 5 kinds of Pacific Salmon in North America. Of these, 2 of them are good to eat, with a third, sockeye, being marginally edible.

The species you're looking for are chinook and coho.


And no...."Kings" aren't a unique species of salmon...it's what Alaskans call a chinook.

[Ruff]

You can have good or bad fish of any variety, it all depends.

I don't care if you're talking about kings, silvers or reds. Some are good, some ain't as good.

One thing is true, the fresher the better. Fish starts to loose flavor as soon as it dies.

[Dinsdale]

One thing is true, the fresher the better. Fish starts to loose flavor as soon as it dies.

Huh? Not familiar with this concept. Are you saying that the fish I bought labelled "fresh" wasn't really fresh?

Sin,
Every non-U&Ler(extended to incluse Alaska) in this thread



Most of the people in this thread haven't a clue, quite frankly. Commercially caught/raised fish are done so for maximum efficiency and profit, with little regard for finished product. And why would they do any different? It's not like their target market would know any different.

But yes, I agree. Lactic acid has a PROFOUND effect on the taste of the fish, and very little is done to keep levels of lactic acid down in the catching and processing of commercially produced salmon. Most fish are net-caught, which leaves them hanging around, dying a very slow death...which sends the levels of lactic acid off the charts.

Most of these people don't know what they're missing, and few will know the joy of chasing the fish, catching the fish, bonking the fucker over the head with a rock or club, then bleeding it as quickly as possible to keep the lactic acid to a minimum...then driving an hour (or less...the nearest salmon fishery to me is about a 15 minute drive) home and cooking it immediately.


Absolutely NO COMPARISON to the garbage you buy in stores. Not even in the same league.


Freaking greenhorns.

[indyfrisco]

All that being said, Dins...it makes me even more proud of how damn good my "shit" salmon tastes. Because it...is...good.

[Dinsdale]

Another concept foreign to you flatlanders...putting ANYTHING on a freshly caught salmon is an insult, a waste, and a travesty.

If you have GOOD fish, any sort of seasoning or any other prep makes it taste worse.

Werd.

Pull that sucker out of the water, bash it's head in, bleed it, cook it. Any deviation from this results in a far inferior plate of food.

I guess you'll just have to trust me.


But congrats...you fuckers are making me jones for some estuary salmon fishing...soon...very soon.

[Mikey]

Unfortunately, we don't all live in the U&L, so we can't wade into the clear cold waters, and catch and eat our salmon REALLY fresh, like Dins does.



That being said, it actually is possible to get decent fresh fish at the market - at least you can at the market I shop at. And no, you don't have to have the freshest, most beautiful and lactic acid free chinook to get a fillet worth eating. I bought a couple of sockeye fillets yesterday and cooked them up on the grill last night WITH SEASONING (minimal) and they actually tasted good. Really, I know that this is hard to believe, but they were actually MORE THAN JUST EDIBLE!! (even better than that farmed atlantic salmon that costs so much less).

And guess what? There are actually some people in the U&L who will eat the sockeyes on occasion. Prolly only the po' folk who can't afford the really bloody fresh king salmon that Dins eats every day off an alderwood plank, but really they do. I read it in the internets.

[Dinsdale]

I don't think I ever said your days-old fish was bad...I'm just particularly spoiled.

And as far as U&Lers eating sockeye("reds" in Alaska, "humpies" in other areas, "bluebacks in yet other places, although "blueback" is usually a sea-run cutthroat trout west of the Cascades...BY FARmy very favoritest fish to eat, but regulations have tightened quite a bit over the last decade in regards to keeping them...but they make fresh chinook/coho seem bland by comparison) -- Yeah, I'm sure there are some NW folks who eat sockeye...along with canned and frozen fish, too. But around these parts, sockeye are an endangered species, so any Oregonian/SW Washingtonian is consuming the same shipped-from-somewhere-else(Alaska) stuff as everyone else.


To be honest, I enjoy getting out and catching them a lot more than I enjoy eating them, anyway...the succulent results of a day's fishing is merely a bonus.

[PSUFAN]

I was basically under the assumption that the sockeye that I buy for $9.99 a pound was previously frozen...as in, murdered then frozen before the spoilage went down... and then thawed and sold to me. At any rate, it's excellent.

[Dinsdale]

as in, murdered then frozen before the spoilage went down... and then thawed and sold to me.

When fish are put in a life-or-death situation, they release lactic acid, like many other animals. Fish do this more than most animals, and salmon do it worse than most fish, even to the point where under enough stress, it can reach fatal levels.

When a fish hits a net, the lactic acid levels go through the roof. It gets high enough to make a big difference before the net ever gets pulled back to the boat, and long before the fish hits the hold for processing.


Sport caught fish, caught with either very light or very heavy tackle, then immediately dispatched and bled doesn't have nearly the problem.

Properly handled sport-caught fish is ALWAYS going to be better...not because it's more fun to catch it yourself, not because salmon fisherman are arrogant about their hobby/passion(we are), and not "because Dinsdale said so" -- it's due to biology.

$9.99 for sockeye, eh? I don't peruse the fish section at the food store too often(for obvious reasons, #1 being that I'm not a yuppiesissy and can catch my own...freaking transplants), but I don't think I've ever seen any type of salmon priced higher than $8.99 in my entire life, and that's only during off-seasons...I think the fishmonger would go out of business with a quickness if he tried to pawn off cat food for $9.99. Actually, I rarely even see sockeye for sale around here, if ever...that might just tell you something, eh? Chinook and coho, and in the late summer if it's a big-harvest year, they try to give away pink salmon(the next grade down of cat food) for anywhere from $0.49 - $0.99 a pound, which most discerning consumers put in a smoker.


You people are nuts-btw-imo. But, I'm not trying to tell you that you shouldn't enjoy the stuff. If you like it, then by all means, have at it. But, don't be so silly as to sit there and try and tell U&L salmon angler what's up...I mean, c'mon. You guys are ranting and raving about shit I won't even eat.


Really -- when you want to know the finer points of fucking your cousin, you talk to people from Kentucky/Tennessee.

When you want to learn more about bilking old ladies out of their last penny of retirement, you talk to the Texans.

When you want to know about catching/preparing salmon, you talk to a U&Ler.

It's just the way it is.

Then again, Alaskans are inbred enough that they still cling to the notion that "the dark ones aren't too bad smoked"...fucking ingrates. Never fished in or been to Alaska myself, but just about all of my fishing buddies have(and my bestest fishing buddy was born and rasied there). What a bunch of barbarians they are...all those wonderful runs, and they still use the phrase "smoker quality." Egads. Oh well, fuck 'em...the "World's Geatest Salmon Hole" is still in Oregon(and although the Kenai River gave up a chinook that finally broke Oregon's largest-fish mark, let the record show that it was caught by an Oregonian).


So, in conclusion...eat a dick...or a sockeye...similar concept.

[indyfrisco]

[Diego in Seattle]

Copper river season, baby!

Over-rated in my book. Alaskan or local is just as good if not better.

You do realize that the Copper River is IN Alaska, right?

No shit? I thought it was in Nebraska!

[Diego in Seattle]

You do realize that the Copper River is IN Alaska, right?

No shit? I thought it was in Nebraska!

So you felt it necessary to say that you thought that Alaskan salmon was better than salmon caught in Alaska?

So you think the Copper River salmon are the only salmon in AK?

[Dinsdale]

The reason Alaskans don't call reds humpies is because they're NOT humpies. Humpbacks are pinks.

I stand corrected. Cut me some slack, bearing in mind that pinks became extict a long time ago this far south, and sockeye are pretty darn close, although the World's Greatest Salmon River(despite what the rednecks...ERRRRRR "Alaskans" might think...go ahead and Google "World's Greatest Salmon Hole...which opened this last week-btw)still has (off-limits) runs.

And that's interesting that you don't think red tastes very good

An opinion shared by two of my fishing buddies, who were born and raised in poverty in Alaska, and ate the stuff because it was all they had).

Tell you what, though. I've got some line-caught Nushagak red salmon in the freezer (yeah, sorry, it's frozen in vacuum packs :rolleyes:) I'll put it up against ANY King ever caught, including Copper River.

Well, if you talk to the guides and sportsmen who work the fisheries up and down the North Pacific, they'll tell you something entirely different -- that the best-tasting salmon known to mankind are the Willamette River Springers...not even close, due to a higher oil content than other subspecies. Catch is, there's little-to-no commercial harvest(save for gillnet caught Willy Springers out of the Lower Columbia), so if you don't catch it yourself(or one of your buddies), you've probably never had any. And let the record show that the best tasting(once again, due to a measurable higher oil-content) salmon are caught...not in some remote location, but right in the middle of the Portland Metro Area. Argue this all you like, but you're wrong -- the Copper River fish are better known because they are commercially available, but very few knowledgeble people rank them higher than Willy Springers...higher fat/oil content, richer flavor.

Matter of fact, this very subject was discussed on the local fishing show on the radio this morning.

For myself, I get after the springers(I know multiple-seasonal runs are a foreign concept to Alaskans...but it's true...really) when they leave the Willamette, and hit the Clackamas in late spring, when they're still in good shape...awful lot of snowmelt to get too crazy bank-ratting the Clack this spring, though. And unfortunately, my buddy, just this week, is moving out of his dump across the street from a bitchin salmon hole on the Clack...:sadface:.

If by "finally" you mean 1985 and by "largest-fish mark" you mean "largest King Salmon ever caught at 97 pounds 4 ounces" and by"Oregonian" you mean "Soldotna resident Les Anderson" you're right.

I do believe he was a transplanted Oregonian, yes(could be mistaken, though). And if you recall, the second largest Nooker caught was a 95 pounder(caught in about 1995?...somewhere in there), and it was caught by a local homey from Aloha, while his brother was spending the summer guiding on the Kenai. AND LET THE RECORD SHOW, that particular fish, and just about every notable fish to come out of the Kenai(or any other Alaskan stream) was caught using the backbouncing roe/bait technique, which is well-known as very much an OG Oregonian thang...taught to Alaskans by guides doing double-duty in Alaska, who capaitalized on the late 80's/early 90's explosion in the reputation of the Kenai.


So there.

[Dinsdale]

You're basing your whole argument on "You've never had it and you can't get it so there" and what some local honks said on a radio show?

No, I'm mostly basing it on the notion that I wanted to poke an Alaskan with a pointy stick(and those "local honks" are some of the baddest-ass guides/pros known to mankind).

Yes, oil content is a prime determinant in the taste of salmon. The prime determinant in oil content is the length and coldness of the river-the longer and colder the river gets, the more a genetic predisposition towards high oil deposits begins to express.

Yes and no, but grossly oversimplfied.

When the fish enter the estuary, they're taking in their last meal(but you knew that). In water temps lower than 50 degrees, salmon will reduce activity, including foraging for their last meal(but you knew that). The more the fish eats as it prepares for its spawning run, the higher the amounts of fats the fish will have(but you knew that).


But, reality says that Willy Springers have more Omega-3 than any other salmon.


Sorry, Alaska...it's true.


And on to a little more reasonable point...Willy Springers, while coming out of what they tell me is the Third-Nastiest-River in the country(neat), are the tastiest I've ever had, by an undefinable, anecdotal margin. And I've caught silvers and nookers in lots of different places.

Matter of fact, just about all of the fattiest/best tasting(goes hand in hand...but you knew that)...the ones that stand out in my mind as being memorable for their rich flavor...were all either springers, or coastal summer-runs. Kinda shoots the "cold river" theory to all fuck, eh? While colder water will keep the fish from darkening as quickly while it's on its spawning run, the idea that the cold water makes them taste better is ludicrous and easily disproved.

It's just not true. BtH...let's take the next few months off, hop in the truck, and I'll prove you wrong....sounds good to me. Not so good to my bank book, but sounds good to me.


But in the reality that isn't messageboards, I would say to truly formulate a decent opinion, one would have to do extensive traveling between NoCal and SE Alaska and fish several hours a day to really be informed enough to offer what would be a credible opinion...

I'll get back to you on this matter in about 20-30 years.

[Dinsdale]

They'll be coming in somewhere from now until mid/late December...

Then the springers start reloading.


May not have some of the outrageous returns Alaska boats(anymore), but we got em' 12 months out of the year...salmonBODE.

My favorite time is the first heavy rains of fall(or better yet, late summer...but that so rarely happens) being my favorite time, and much easier to bankrat(I own or own part of more than one fishing vessel...and I don't use any of them if I can help it...a $50 vinyl raft being about my favorite, but sitting in a boat all day just doesn't appeal to me so much). But if the weather cooporates, and freshets are big enough to bring them charging, but small enough to keep the streams at reasonable levels...nirvana, baby. Fishing in a freaking barrel.