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Salmon

By Carole Kotkin

Always savored as a rich, opulent fish, salmon is more versatile than many wine aficionados imagine. Depending on the preparation, salmon dishes can be paired with everything from Champagne to Chardonnay to Pinot Noir. But as much as this fish's viticultural omnipresence is a source of delight for salmon-lovers, it is also an area of concern. Overfishing has endangered wild populations, and genetic tinkering raises doubts about food safety and the continuation of the species in its natural state. Fortunately, a steady supply of farm-raised fish ensures that connoisseurs will not only have an abundance of it to present to guests during the holidays, they'll have an enduring food for all seasons.

Even those who claim to dislike fish in general often appreciate salmon. Salmon is incredibly versatile. “I have been cooking salmon for 30 years and I must have 200 recipes for salmon in my head," says Jasper White, executive chef-owner of Summer Shack restaurants in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Mohegan, Connecticut. "Champagne goes well with everything, especially Pacific Northwest salmon chowder. The distinctive flavor of salmon combines beautifully with the other chowder ingredients and makes a splendid holiday feast," he continues. Credit chefs for exploring new and exciting ways to cook salmon. While working with his father at  Etta's Seafood, the Palace Kitchen and the Dahlia Lounge in Seattle as a teenager, Christopher Steinbock, executive chef of Perlot in Hotel Majestic in San Francisco, developed an early affinity for salmon. Today, he's reinterpreting classic salmon recipes such as salmon en papilotte and spicing it up with a julienne of fresh vegetables and herbs. "I grew up smoking salmon, poaching it, or cooking it on a cedar plank, but most of the time we simply grilled it to perfection, then served it with simple accompaniments, and let it do the talking....and it spoke to many, " he continues. "Basically, there's only two things you can do wrong in cooking salmon, "says Chef Steinbock. "You can, one, buy fish that's inferior or two, overcook it." Michael Mina, chef at Aqua in San Francisco and Nob Hill in Las Vegas agrees, "It's probably the most versatile of all fish because people are accustomed to it, so you can have a little more fun with it."  Part of Mina's fun includes adapting the fish to seasonal tastes. "Salmon holds up well to almost any preparation. In the spring, I serve pinwheels of king salmon that is slowly cooked in lobster-clarified butter accompanied by creamy morels, spring asparagus and fava-bean-lobster-stuffed agnolotti. In summer I poach or grill it; in the autumn I might pan roast it with root vegetables." During the holidays he prepares Wellington of salmon, a play on the better known beef Wellington. His version is made with foie gras, black truffles, braised cabbage and apples, resulting in a hearty winter dish. "A bubbly, crisp, clean and acidic Champagne or Sparkling wine balances out the high fat content of the salmon, "he says. 

Salmon has an unparalleled taste and needs very little embellishment to be truly wonderful, but it also lends itself to assertive adornments.  Bright, acidic sauces - those made with lemon, capers, sorrel, tomatoes and fruit vinegars work well because they cut through some of the fish's natural richness. Conversely, the richness of the salmon can be heightened with sauces made of butter, cream, crème fraiche or sour cream. Asian marinades and sauces that include soy sauce, ginger, garlic, hot peppers and sesame oil enhance the salmon without losing the intrinsic flavor. Cooking methods are multitudinous -- it can be served raw, smoked, poached, grilled, steamed, or baked, and as whole fish, fillets, pieces of fillets and steaks. Even the skin, broiled or grilled crisp, is savored. In short, because of its adaptability, the list of possibilities for salmon is quite long.

Executive chef Ris Lacoste of Restaurant 1789 in Washington, D.C., serves a "salmon Martini - julienned layers of impeccably fresh, raw salmon tossed with lemon juice and cucumber "noodles" alternating with layers of shredded potato salad, crème fraiche, dill and red onion and topped with caviar. "A good, yeasty, lean Champagne or sparkling wine is a great counterpoint with the rich taste of salmon and the caviar," she says.

When shopping for the fish, the home cook should look for a glistening, clean, firm appearance with scales intact for whole fish. Steaks and fillets should be clear and moist. The color will vary, however, from a pastel coral to a deep reddish-orange, depending on whether it is a Pacific variety, caught en route from the sea to the rivers of the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and British Columbia, or Atlantic, found in the waters around the rim of Europe and Greenland and down the North American shore to Connecticut. Unlike the distinctive, pink Atlantic salmon, the Pacific species has several sub-genres, including king (also known as Chinook), coho (silver), sockeye (red), pink (humpback) and chum (dog) salmon. The flavor of a particular type can also change according to diet, season and on how long it has spent in saltwater versus fresh: By nature an anadromous fish, migrating to the ocean shortly after birth and returning to freshwater tributaries only to spawn and die, some salmon have become lake-bound and taste more like trout.

Basically, though, the life cycle of a wild is a tribute to the force of nature. The fish lay their eggs in the gravel of river bottoms; the hatchlings migrate downstream and out to the ocean to mature.  Salmon spend one to six years at sea, all the while grazing on shrimp, herring and squid to build up nutrients and body fat. They then swim hundreds of miles against the current, sometimes leaping over waterfalls, to spawn and die in the precise spot where they were born. Despite extensive research, it's still a mystery how salmon find their way back thousands of miles to their native streams, pinpointing the exact river, tributary and pool from which they left perhaps five years before. What remains indisputable is that after this journey, these magnificent silvery fish are in top form for eating.

Prior to the 1960’s and the advent of fish farming which made salmon available year-round, salmon was traditionally  served in the spring, when the wild salmon are harvested either by longliners, who fish offshore waters with long lines to hook king, coho and silver salmon; by seiners, who fish close to shore by enclosing a net around and under the schools of pink, sockeye or chum salmon; or by gilnetters who fish near the mouths of rivers for all species of salmon, catching the fish by their gills in the webbing of the nets. The best-tasting fish are those that are line-caught and individually handled. "The Pacific Northwest has a fantastic variety of salmon including Chinook, King, Sockeye and beautiful little cohos. But, the prize of them all is the Copper River Spring King, or the Copper River salmon period," explains  Chef Christopher Steinbock. 

These days, the demand for salmon is year-round for many reasons, not the least of which is health. The fish is rich in heart-friendly omega-3 fatty acids - polyunsaturated fats that seem to lower harmful blood-cholesterol levels by boosting HDLs (high-density lipoproteins, the so-called good cholesterol) found in the bloodstream. But the culinary advantage is paramount to your appetite. The fat bastes the fish during cooking, keeping it moist and tender, and absorbs flavor, making salmon one of the tastiest fish around.

Indeed, Americans are eating more salmon than ever before. A record average of two pounds was consumed per person in 2000 - with a large percentage of this increase attributed to the huge growth in farmed salmon imports to America. As of April, U.S. imports of salmon were up 21 percent from 2001, making the United States the second-largest consumer of salmon behind Japan.

Current market demand far outpaces the production capacity of oceans and streams. Accordingly, aquaculture is one of the world's fastest growing food industries. Salmon farmers nurture hatchlings in freshwater tanks for about 18 months, and then move them to offshore saltwater pens where they reach their full adult weight at about age three. The salmon are fed high-protein pellets of fish, vitamins and, in the case of domestically raised salmon, small amounts of antibiotics regulated by The Food and Drug Administration.  The industry estimates that almost half of the fresh salmon consumed in the world today is Atlantic farm-raised, although it's as likely to have come Norway, Chile, Australia, Canada, England, Iceland, Ireland, Japan or Scotland as it is from the United States. Thus salmon for the home or restaurant chef is a miracle of consistency - always excellent, always reasonably priced.

Still, differing opinions on the farmed versus wild debate abound. Some people maintain that properly farmed salmon has a higher fat content and therefore more flavor, while others insist that nothing approaches the taste of a wild fish caught before it goes to spawn. Most chefs agree with the latter.   Lacoste, however, prefers farm-raised Atlantic salmon from Iceland or Canada. "Their pens are in the ocean so there is a constant flux of water and less need for antibiotics," she explains. She also finds the fatter Atlantic salmon very moist and easier to cook than wild Pacific salmon. "The best of all worlds would be wild Atlantic salmon, but I haven't seen it in ten years," she continues. Lacoste may soon revise her viewpoint. Though endangered at the moment, so-called Atlantic salmon is being geared toward a comeback. Genetically modified salmon, which contains DNA from the Arctic char, a relative of both salmon and trout, looks and tastes identical to non-engineered Atlantic species. Currently, the cross-bred fish is under review by The Food and Drug Administration. If approved, we'll see an aquaculture-raised Atlantic salmon that grows 400 to 600 percent faster, developing from egg to market size in a record14 months (as opposed to the three years it takes non-manipulated fish to develop). The advantages for farmers include the reduction of production costs, since these fish require less feed, and increased profits. Consumers could expect decreased pricing cut also plenty of protests: A group of 200 chefs, grocers and seafood distributors across 40 states have pledged not to purchase fish that have been altered through biotechnology. Their concern is that if genetically altered (transgenic) fish escape from their pens, they could interbreed and endanger some species. Others argue that transgenic fish may actually save wild populations.

Recently farm-raised salmon received some bad publicity from the Washington, D.C. based Environmental Working Group who found chemical traces of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls that have been linked to increased risks of cancer) in samples of farm-raised salmon. They found the results disturbing enough to recommend consumers eat no more than one 8-ounce serving a month. This finding has been challenged by both the industry and some federal officials, who say it was based on a narrow study that overstates risks to consumers. In fact, the FDA says that the Environmental Working Group’s test results do not yield levels high enough to justify any new restrictions. To further complicate matters, Washington state studies have found higher levels of PCBs in wild Chinook caught in Puget Sound than those found in most of the farmed salmon sampled by the environmental group.

Salmon, genetically tooled, farmed,  or otherwise, have always been held in high esteem.  At least 25,000 years ago, cavemen sculpted a salmon in near perfect detail in France's Grotto du Poissons (Cave of Fish).

Salmon dishes have long been haute cuisine in Europe. In his book Ducasse Flavors of France, Michelin chef Alain Ducasse writes, "I have loved fish ever since I was a child, growing up on a farm. There, meat was our 'daily bread,' and fish, especially salmon, was the special-occasion treat. You might say to me, 'Salmon is a banal fish, something you see on every menu,” but for me it has always meant celebration. Every holiday, every special occasion, out of the kitchen would come this beautiful, succulent fish caught by local fishermen in the River Adour."

In the United States, salmon was ordinary fare, once so plentiful in the early American diet that farm laborers employed along the Connecticut River refused to work unless their bosses promised to limit the fish and chips to once a week. The great majority of the fish consumed by the Northwest native Americans was salmon, cooked in scores of ways, including planking the fish on driftwood or alderwood and allowing the embers of a fire to cook the flesh.

As civilization advanced, so did salmon cuisine. By the Middle Ages in Europe, salmon was on spectacular display at banquet tables where it was served whole on silver trays to the sound of trumpets. Although here are no trumpets, whole poached salmon graces many modern buffet tables. Quenelles (delicate, egg-shaped pillows made of ground salmon and cream) were the rage during the late 1700s at the court of Louis XV (and later again as part of the nouvelle cuisine rage in France in the 1970's.

Additionally, the ways in which we have cooked salmon over the last 40 years say a great deal about the development of American cuisine. In the 1960s, when we were deep into Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, poached salmon with hollandaise was considered the height of fine fish cookery. The next decade, influenced by food writer Craig Claiborne, we discovered coulibiac, a Franco-Russian extravaganza consisting of salmon layered with rice pilaf, mushroom duxelles, hard-cooked eggs, and crepes baked in a brioche crust. On the heels of coulibiac, nouvelle cuisine arrived on our shores and with it the famous salmon of France's Troisgros brothers - stylishly undercooked in a sorrel beurre blanc sauce.To publicly acknowledge the Troisgros' for putting their city on the culinary map, the city council of Roanne painted the train station salmon-pink and green in honor of Troisgros' signature dish.)

Now, thanks to the inventive regional chefs of the 1980's, fillets are being cooked on backyard grills without a second thought. Chef Paul Prudhomme in New Orleans showed us the ever-popular pan-blackened salmon; Chef Mark Miller in Santa Fe gave us salmon topped with salsa. Pacific Rim cuisine entered the picture with salmon sushi and salmon folded into rice paper. The Italian fad in the 1990s brought salmon carpaccio. Chef Daniel Boulud covered his salmon with thinly sliced potatoes and Chef Douglas Rodriguez covered his with plantains. Around this time we also began baking fish on alder or cedar wooden planks, much as the native Americans did in colonial times.

Along with planking came pan-roasting, a two-step process that starts off like a simple sauté but finishes up in the oven for even cooking. Smoked fish, once the staple of the Jewish deli, went uptown with chefs smoking salmon over exotic woods in their restaurants, then serving it in exotic ways.

The simplest of all salmon preparations are dishes that require no cooking.

Gravlax - While some chefs are as likely to prepare this Scandinavian classic with Thai herbs or fennel, Chef Jasper White enjoys preparing gravlax in the traditional way for the holidays. "It's a recipe that is hundreds of years old, and by now, it's perfected," he says. The beginner can easily make it at home. A little salmon, a little spice and three days later you have a savory expanse of pink velvet ready to be sliced and served with anything from bagels and cream cheese to caviar and crème fraiche. Salt - in combination with sugar and pepper - is rubbed into fillets of fresh salmon, preserving it by drawing out the moisture and firming cells. Bunches of dill are layered between the fillets and the whole thing is weighted down and refrigerated. Chef White likes to serve his gravlax with a sweet mustard sauce.

Salmon Carpaccio - Slice the fish as thinly as possible on the diagonal. Arrange the slices in a single layer on individual plates or on a platter. Drizzle the salmon with fresh lemon or lime juice and extra-virgin olive oil, then sprinkle it with kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and minced chives and other fresh herbs, such as chervil or tarragon. Let the fish stand for a couple of minutes to allow the flavors to blend.

Salmon Tartare - Finely chop one pound of impeccably fresh, boneless, skinless salmon fillet with a sharp chef's knife. Don't use a food processor, which will make mush of the flesh. Transfer the salmon to a mixing bowl and stir in two tablespoons each of olive oil and minced shallots; one tablespoon each of capers, finely chopped anchovies, and finely chopped parsley; and salt, pepper and fresh lemon juice to taste. Serve the salmon tartare on toast points. Wayne Donaldson, executive winemaker at Domaine Chandon comments, "With the touch of acidity in this dish, sparkling wines with rich fruit flavors and fuller texture combine with the dish to create a delightful balance. I enjoy Chandon Riche with this dish."

While a lot of salmon are simply marketed as "salmon," there are six distinct species (five Pacific and one Atlantic). Each type offers an entirely different eating experience. The designation "Atlantic Salmon" or "Pacific Salmon" means about as much as "French Wine" or "American Wine." A good parallel is with wines: different species of salmon (different grapes), different rivers (vineyards), different runs (vintages).

Atlantic Salmon - Most Atlantic salmon are farmed, and what little remains of the wild salmon stock comes from Norway, Scotland and Ireland. Atlantic salmon is a large fish with pink-orange flesh and a high fat content, which makes it especially suited for smoking. They can grow as large as 40 pounds and are available all year. Their fat content is about 15 percent of total body weight. Atlantics are the easiest to farm, accounting for more than 80 percent of the world's farmed production. Most European smoked salmon is Atlantic. Unlike Pacific salmon, Atlantic salmon can reproduce several times during a lifetime. Pacific salmon spawn only once, then die.

There are five varieties of Pacific salmon:

King, also known as Chinook. This is the largest of the Pacific species, commonly 18 to 20 pounds or more, although a whopper can weigh as much as 40 pounds. These are also the most rare of the five Pacific Ocean species, accounting for less than five percent of North American salmon production. Depending on the color of the flesh, they're referred to as red or white kings. Kings are thought to possess the "wildest" flavor, especially if taken from stocks originating in fast, strong rivers such as the Copper in Alaska and the Columbia. Kings have the highest natural oil content, up to 15 percent of total body weight, which gives them a complex flavor and rich texture. Kings are available fresh most of the year in the Pacific Northwest, though you'll pay more for them in winter when supplies are limited. They are farmed (mostly in Canada) year round. Although the king takes well to roasting and broiling, most chefs prefer to simply sear it to crisp up the skin and lock in the juices. Kings dominate the cold-smoked (lox) market in the United States.

Silver, also known as Coho. A smaller fish than the king (averaging six to twelve pounds), leaner with an oil content ranging from 2 to 12 percent.

This red-fleshed fish with silvery skin available wild from July to October. Silvers are farmed in large numbers in Chile and exported fresh to the U.S. from December to March. Farm-raised baby cohos are sometimes available but they taste more like trout than salmon. They make up less than five percent of the North American catch, but they are one of the best eating salmon. Because of it's lower oil content, the fish can be dry if over-cooked. Cohos are best suited to moist methods of cooking such as poaching and braising, or covered baking, or in foil or parchment.

Sockeye. Once the mainstay of the canning industry, sockeyes are now esteemed on the whole fish market for their firm texture and bright red flesh. Fat content is generally higher than the silver's. They are available from late May through July. Sockeye is the most important commercial U.S. species; most of the catch is exported to Japan, where sockeye is the favorite salmon. Sockeyes are not farmed. Averaging four to eight pounds dressed, sockeye lends itself to the grill.

Chum, also known as dog salmon because of its canine-like incisors, has mild-flavored orange, pink or red meat. Chum are leaner (less than eight percent oil) and firmer than Chinook and some other salmon species.  Their average weight is about eight pounds. [Chums] are farmed, but are available wild from June to October. Chum eggs are sold as salmon caviar.

Pink, also known as humpback are relatively small salmon, rarely over five pounds, and also the leanest. They are the most abundant of the five species, accounting for half of the U.S. salmon catch. They are [generally] taken in large numbers by gill net and [generally] go to the canners. They are not farmed.

Tips:

Fish should be at room temperature, not cold, when you begin cooking (Let fish stand up to 30 minutes out of the refrigerator). Preheat the skillet for 3 to 5 minutes and heat the oil before adding the fish. Hold your hand above the skillet, out of spattering range. You should be able to feel the heat.

The small pin bones left after salmon fillets are removed from the backbone must be removed. Run your fingers over the fish, feeling for the bone ends. You can pull them with a strawberry huller or with needle-nose pliers.

A great do-ahead technique for entertaining: Rub fish with ingredients such as coarsely chopped cumin, black sesame seeds and cornmeal - they create a crust that seal in the flavor of the fish. Saute lightly with the crust side down; set aside on a cookie sheet. Just before serving, finish cooking in a preheated oven for about 5 minutes.

Salmon steaks are good for baking, poaching and grilling ; the backbones hold the fish together while it cooks.

Fillets are ideal for smoking, curing and slicing into escalopes. When serving fillets, figure on six to eight ounces per person.

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