Salmon: World's Most Over-Rated Fish

I like cheap canned salmon patties with cream peas, vertebrae and all (excellent source of calcium). Most of the fresh salmon that I have eaten in my life, was poached and served with an unusual, warm, cucumber and dill cream sauce at the restaurant I worked at, it was very good, but I don’t think I’ve ever ordered it of my own volition on a menu unless it was smoked. Salmon is good fish, but it’s not my favorite.

It smells like dead fish in an aquarium. :slight_smile:

Oh Boy…good fresh Pacific wild salmon steaks grilled until they have that little crisp edging, and succulent inside - maybe with a bit of dry rub. Nothing better, unless it is a half salmon put on a buttered piece of aluminum foil and drenched with white wine (add herbs of your choice); seal it up and throw on a very hot grill. Turn down the heat and let it cook for maybe 15 minutes, then open and turn the heat on medium and cook until flakey.

Just never serve it in pasta, especially cold. Ick!

Yea, the flakieness of the pinkmeat is also one of the things that I don’t like about salmon. I’ve had it grilled and that is definitely an improvement… I guess I just prefer the real, white fleshed , carnivores bourne to the ocean, as opposed to the freshwater borne salmon. I Love shark swordfish, tuna, grouper, sea bass, pompano, halibut, cod etc., those are much nicer. Salmon is also way overordered on menus as well, it’s the New Chicken of the sea.

Salmon, the OTHER pink meat. :wink:

Yeah, not all salmon is created equal. My favorite is sockeye (or red), with king being a close second and silver (or coho) third. Pink or chum are are not even in the picture.

If you don’t care for salmon, try it dry-smoked. This site sells all manner of Copper River fish. About halfway down the page there is alder-smoked salmon by the jar. It’s like candy, believe me, and is the best smoked salmon I’ve ever had. I prefer the sockeye, but it’s all good.

I didn’t see this thread yesterday, and I have to start working so I haven’t read the whole thing; but let me chime in anyway, and apologies if things have been mentioned before.

I agree with everyone who agreed with you. Now, I’ve had Norwegian farm-raised salmon from Trader Joe’s that was good (TJ’s also has wild-caught Pacific salmon in the frozen section); but getting generic farm-raised filets from the supermarket is a different matter. No flavour to them.

Wild-caught salmon is wonderful, and it’s plentiful up here. (susan, you’re in the general region, aren’t you?) There’s a link in the A friend wrote a cookbook thread to a Cajun Salmon recipe that I can’t wait to try. And it can be made as appetizers or as a full filet.

A while ago I posted about some dill salmon I made. Just salmon baked in the oven with a little kosher salt and some chopped fresh dill, and a white sauce I made with roux, milk, lemon juice, chopped fresh dill, and salt.

Of course there was the gravlax I made in September. I prefer gravlax to lox.

I love smoked salmon. Once upon a time, I could take it or leave it. Then I started coming up here to Washington and got good smoked salmon. See, down in L.A. you buy your salmon in vacuum-packed plastic, and it’s often covered with pepper or garlic to give it the illusion of flavour. And it’s dry, and as hard as a brick. Up here it’s easy (if not cheap, unfortunately) to get fresh, locally-caught, locally-smoked wild-salmon. There is no comparison. You can actually taste the fish, which is moist and flaky with lots of nice salmon oil. Freakin’ yum!

Still, some people won’t like salmon. De gustibus and all that. But there are a lot of people who ‘don’t like salmon’ whose only exposure to it is from canned salmon at the grocery store; or brick-hard, dry, flavourless smoked salmon from the supermarket; or farm-raised Atlantic salmon, which many people agree is inferior.

I just might walk down to Pike Place today, and buy a pound of smoked salmon. And I’ve got some wild-caught salmon in the freezer that I can get out tonight so I can try that Cajun Salmon recipe this weekend.

When I liven in Anchorage I’d drive down to the Kenai and Russian Rivers after work and fish for silvers and Kings. There was a guy at work that you’d give three fresh caughts to and he’d give you one smoked back. When I moved back “outside” I was 100 miles down the road, too far to turn back, when I realized I’d left three full storage bags full of delicious smoked salmon in my rental home fridge. I’m tearing up now just thinkin’ about that.

Not aware of any place around here that has good smoked. Perhaps I’ll look for a technique and start doing it myself.

See my link above. It’s really good stuff, if a bit pricey. They vacuum pack it in jars with a bit of olive oil. No flavorings or other bullshit, and it’s fall-apart tender, not dry and tough.

Dude. I would have went back. 100 miles is nothin. 'specially in AK.

In addition to Chefguy 's link try the below.

I can personally vouch for these:

http://www.portchatham.com/

I’ve heard good things about these:

http://www.smokinshack.com/

If you’re going to smoke it yourself:

Sometimes it is. It probably won’t be available all year round, though, and it probably will be more expensive than the farm-raised stuff.

Fresh fish is something I recommend getting from an upscale supermarket (Whole Foods or the like) or a good fish market (like Wholey’s here), not at whatever supermarket you happen to be at. It really does seem to make a difference in the quality of fish you end up with.

Buy fish on the day you’re going to cook it, ideally. If you can’t do that, at least eat it as soon as possible after you buy it. It will go down in quality in your fridge.

Much of the fish in supermarkets has been previously frozen, especially if it says “Alaska salmon”. While they won’t advertise it as having been frozen, there’s really no other way they can get it delivered in quantity. And if you ask, they have to tell you.

Well, I’ve had fresh Pacific NW salmon dozens of times, including line-caught that day, and I still think it’s overrated. I like it smoked, and I do smoke a lot of it when it’s available, but I can think of many fish I prefer. True cod, rainbow trout, black cod (sablefish), sturgeon, tilapia, tuna - any of these, I’d fight you for. I wonder what lox would be like if it were made from a different fish.

Wild fresh salmon uncooked is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Me and Yogi agree on that. Overcooked salmon in any preparation is waste of a great fish.

When grizzlies are storing up calories to hibernate, they eat the salmon fat and discard the flesh.

I can’t remember if the cite for that is National Geographic or Grizzly Man.
:slight_smile:

Tween Yogi and me, there are just bones left for compost and skin for salmon skin rolls.

You watch your ass around Yogi. Grizzly Man found out the hard way. :slight_smile:

It’s not about the hunting.

In Grizzly Man, bears hunt you. :slight_smile:

Canned salmon is awful, I agree.

But a nice salmon filet? Microwave or pan saute, season with garlic salt, butter, lemon. It just doesn’t get any simpler than that, and it’s delicious. Easy variations are even better: marinate in soy/teriyaki sauce for an hour then cook. Or coat with sesame oil and sesame seeds and bake.