Grilled Salmon

[Mikey]

(Please note: Any and all Dinsdale responses regarding freshness will be summarily ignored)

About to grill some "fresh" coho salmon fillet. Usually I just season with some lemon pepper and EVOO. Anybody have some tried and true seasoning advice for salmon that they'd like to share?

Serving with fresh cheese and meat ravioli with marinara, a green salad with classic EVOO and wine vinegar dressing, and a few slices of fresh peach. Think I'll break open the Carneros Pinot Noir for accompaniment. Dessert will be pomegranate ice cream with milk chocolate shavings and biscotti.

BTW it's our 23rd anniversary.

[Screw_Michigan]

BTW it's our 23rd anniversary.

[Goober McTuber]

Anybody have some tried and true seasoning advice for salmon that they'd like to share?

Salt. And pepper. Kind of like you'd do with steak.

[Mikey]

Anybody have some tried and true seasoning advice for salmon that they'd like to share?

Salt. And pepper. Kind of like you'd do with steak.

Yeah. I get that. If you've got a good piece of fish to start with why cover it up?

This one might be more than an hour out of the water though, and so well on its way to spoilage. What's a SoCal to do?

[Goober McTuber]

OK. Olive oil and tarragon.

[indyfrisco]

How about a little of that truffle oil you got? Maybe drizzle a bit on after grilling.

I can't stand salmon though so I don't know. I admit I probably have never had "fresh" salmon. Every piece I've ever had tasted WAY too fishy.

[mvscal]

Anybody have some tried and true seasoning advice for salmon that they'd like to share?

Salt. And pepper. Kind of like you'd do with steak.

Yeah. I get that. If you've got a good piece of fish to start with why cover it up?

Because sauce is good and salmon is robust enough to carry any one of a number of different sauces beautifully. A well made sauce compliments the fish rather than overpower it.

I frequently use this herb cream sauce.

1 1/4 cups fish stock
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 shallots (finely minced)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
4 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (I usually use chives and parsley. Tarragon, dill and chervil are options as well)

Add stock, wine and shallots to a small heavy bottomed sauce pan and reduce to ~5 tbs. Add cream and simmer at a lively bubble for a few minutes to thicken it up a bit. Salt and white pepper to taste then add herbs. It will serve 4.

If I use this sauce I either bake it in parchment or grill it using only a light coat of oil and lemon.

[Mikey]

That does sound pretty good. As dill has always gone nicely with salmon I may try it that way next time.

The lemon pepper and EVOO seasoned salmon came out awesome, BTW. Sopping up a little of the marinara with the fish did not suck. One thing to keep in mind with salmon...DON'T OVERCOOK IT.

[Dinsdale]

One thing to keep in mind with salmon...DON'T OVERCOOK IT.

If you're eating that days old tough-meated dreck, is it possible to overcook it?

Of course when I catch one, properly handle it (and if you think store bought salmon was properly handled, you're ignorant to a hilarious degree), properly bleed it (commercial outfits don't, which makes a HUGE difference in quality), and properly store it the few hours until cooking...

I just barely cook the outside. Leave the inside pretty much raw. Wouldn't even think about doing that with a store bought fish (not that I'd ever buy one).

But to end the Dinsdalian rant... if you haven't had fresh-caught, properly handled salmon... STFU. There really is no comparison between the two. Not even in the same universe.

But lemon pepper is always a nice seasoning for salmon.

Lately, I've been into the indirect smoking thing for fish. Around 300 degrees for a few minutes (depends on the thickness of the filet/steak).


Hmmm... I think I'm getting roped into camping for a couple of days with my buddy and his boy (6) at the coast. Might have to sneak out and hit the Nestucca, and see if I can't get me a chinook (if the season is still open on the coast like is it around here) or steelie or two. Steelhead are usually pretty abundant on the Nestucca this time of year, and may be the only fish that competes with spring chinook for flavor (a Willamette River Spring Chinook has more Omega 3 than any other fish-BTW... big ol' greaseballs). But, I probably won't get to go... probably end up just teaching some little brat how to fish the whole time. OK, a little brat and his son.

[Dinsdale]

Oh, fuck me

PACIFIC CITY, Ore. - A prominent, sustainable seafood watchdog group has warned consumers to not eat Oregon salmon because there are too few chinook originating from California’s Sacramento River.

The warning comes from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s popular Seafood Watch guide and is another hit to the state’s salmon fishermen.

It’s been two years since fishermen have been able to fish for salmon because of low runs. But last April the Pacific Fishery Management Council approved fishing for chinook and coho salmon from the Canadian border to Mexico.

Some local fishermen said they disagreed with the guide’s reasoning.

“Mother Nature herself actually regulates and cycles those runs all the time. One river’s always low,” said fisherman Craig Wenrick.

The executive director of the Oregon Salmon Commission, Nancy Fitzpatrick, emphasized the fact that Oregon’s salmon fishing is federally managed and said the government wouldn’t allow salmon fishing if there were too few fish.

She called the guide’s decision to “red list” Oregon salmon irresponsible.

“I was amazed, totally amazed,” she said. “This is the first year fishermen have been able to go out and fish and I was appalled, actually.”

At Cape Kiwanda RV Resort and Marketplace, tourists come from all over to buy fresh, wild Oregon chinook. And when one tourist from California was told that her dinner had been “red listed” she said she wouldn’t buy anymore salmon.

“I’ll eat other kinds of seafood while I’m here,” she said. “But I won’t buy any more salmon while I’m here because of that.”

Other consumers said they’ll wait and see what the research shows and if wild salmon are really in danger.

“But I do agree, that we need to vote with our dollars that we spend at the grocery or in any market,” said Nanette Colby.

According to Seafood Watch, consumers who want to eat wild salmon should buy fish from Alaska and if that’s not available, shoppers should purchase fish caught off the coast of Washington.

So, got it? Because california is an environmental disaster and can't manage their fisheries, it only makes sense to boycott Oregon salmon. I'm guessing the percentage of Oregon's ocean catch that's made up of Sacramento River fish is next-to-none (especially as far up as Pacific City, and most of the commercial fishing is done even farther north of there).

Poor Oregon -- sandwiched between two states full of fucking idiots.

[Mikey]

Why do you have a problem with Californians not buying Oregon salmon?

By definition (yours, BTW) by the time it gets here it's no longer fresh, resulting in smelly, tough, flavorless fish that any true U&Ler wouldn't foist off on their neighborhood tomcat. Who would want it anyway?

[PSUFAN]

I like a lemon soy butter sauce with my store-bought dreck. There's a restaurant here that makes a great strawberry sauce for salmon...way better than it sounds.