<p>I make wild salmon a lot. I marinate the fish up to 6 hours in a pyrex baking dish. The marinade is: 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons melted butter, 3 tablespoons soy sauce (low sodium), 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 2 tablespoons dry white wine. I mix the marinade in a bowl and pour it over the fish. I cook at 400 degrees (preheat the oven) for 20-30 minutes, basting every 5 minutes or so until the fish is done. Fish is lightly browned when its finished. </p>
<p>We love this recipe. </p>
<p>A wild fish will have less fat content. You need to turn down the heat so the fat doesn’t render completely. </p>
<p>A simple way to do this is bake on parchment paper at 275, 300 or 325, depending on your oven, your preferences and so on. You can pour on a little oil or butter (mixed with oil if you want to avoid browning), lemon, garlic, thyme, dill, etc. </p>
<p>Look up any recipe for low temperature or slow cooked salmon. </p>
<p>I learned to cook salmon from the school cafeteria cook at the high school where I taught (when I moved to the Northwest I had never cooked salmon). Yes, a public school. She managed to make 450 servings of wild salmon taste great. Each was wrapped in foil with its seasonings, then put into a 350 degree (F) oven for twenty minutes–or longer, if you were at the back of the line. The foil held in the moisture. The foil made timing not so critical. </p>
<p>I use a little olive oil, a little garlic, a slice of lemon, some fresh thyme, a little pepper. </p>
<p>Alternatively, if you can get really good fresh salmon (I do love living in the NW), slice it very thin and sear for a few microseconds on a hot pan, then eat the slices standing over the pan.</p>
<p>I like wild salmon that I buy from Whole Foods. I’ve been using Julia Child’s recipe for poached salmon with cucumber sauce for a long time. It’s really good. This is it (found it on a blog, so I didn’t know if I could post the link–just copied the recipe).</p>
<p>Poached Salmon:
Salt
Red or white wine vinegar
1¼ pounds salmon filet</p>
<p>Cucumber Sauce:
1 cucumber, diced
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon wine vinegar
1 cup sour cream (I used ½ light sour cream and ½ Greek yogurt)
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill</p>
<p>Directions
For the poached salmon:
Measure 3 inches of water into a wide-rimmed saucepan. Add 1½ teaspoons salt and 3 tablespoons wine vinegar for every quart of water. Bring to a boil.
Add the salmon. Bring to just below a simmer and cook for about 6 minutes until done. According to Julia Child “Fish is done when the flesh has turned from translucent to opaque and, rather than feeling squashy to the touch like raw fish, it feels lightly springy. It should still be juicy. Fish that is resistant and flaky is overdone – too bad!”</p>
<p>Remove the salmon with a slotted spatula and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to absorb the extra water.
Transfer to a serving platter or plates and serve with the cucumber sauce.</p>
<p>For the cucumber sauce:
Put the cucumber in a bowl and toss with the salt, sugar, and vinegar.
Let stand for about 5 minutes, then mix in the sour cream.
Season to taste and fold in the dill. (May be made a few hours in advance and refrigerated).</p>
<p>Yields 4-6 servings.</p>
<p>I also prefer wild caught salmon and agree that the silverbrite is not as good, but it is less expensive. Farm raised salmon tends to have more PCB’s, man made toxins, although that may be changing. I usually buy it frozen at Trader Joe’s, along with the other ingredients in these recipes.</p>
<p>First recipe:</p>
<p>Coat the bottom of a ceramic/glass baking pan with olive oil
Place fish in pan
Squeeze lemon juice liberally over the top of salmon filets. Let is marinate for 10-15 minutes.
Sprinkle with fresh or dried rosemary
Sprinkle lightly with sea salt or one of the fancy flaky salts that cost more</p>
<p>Bake at 350 F for approximately 20 minutes</p>
<p>Favorite recipe:</p>
<p>Coat the bottom of a ceramic/glass baking pan with olive oil
Place fish in pan
Coat top side of fish with mustard or with TJ’s mayo-mustard blend, this keeps the fish moist
Sprinkle thickly with finely chopped pecans, which will stick to the mustard</p>
<p>Bake at 350 F for approximately 15-20 minutes</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p>If there is a Trader Joe’s near you, frozen wild salmon can be less expensive than at WF. </p>
<p>Yes. You’re over-cooking it. If you want to cook it on top of the stove, get your pan very hot first and sear on both sides until for just about 3 minutes or so, depending on the thickness of the portion.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the advice and information! I have a lot of recipes to try now. I had been avoiding farmed salmon but lately I’ve been buying it at Whole Foods, hoping that it is safer there. Now I can try wild salmon again. It’s often on sale.</p>
<p>The very best salmon Ive ever had is made by the tribes, who cook it over alderwood.
So much yummy.
I love all these ideas.
I was planning to have Blts for dinner but now I want grilled salmon & spinach salad with balsamic vinegar, & corn on the cob.</p>
<p>I was in Seattle for a week once, emeraldkity, and I had salmon every single night. You are fortunate!</p>
<p>We are lucky to have several good fish markets as well as a Whole Foods nearby, although I notice that sometimes the wild does not look as appetizing as the farm-raised - the filets look like they are breaking apart. My family’s favorite, and easy for me - season the fish and grill (preheat the grill so it is very hot) with top open about five min per side. Meanwhile, mix together a diced tomato, 1 clove pressed garlic, a tablespoon of capers, a little chopped parsley, a grating of dried red pepper, salt and pepper, and a little olive oil. Remove the fish from the grill and spoon the topping over - this is really fresh tasting and the flavorful topping masks the stronger flavor of the wild salmon.</p>
<p>FYI, the fish person I know - runs a wholesale fish company - says European farmed salmon is the best choice to buy for the environment.</p>
<p>Somehow, I doubt that.
For one the push is to eat local. Unless you are in Europe, european fish isnt local.
Another is that I have read European farmed fish have more parasites.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.slowfood.com/slowfish/pagine/eng/pagina.lasso?-id_pg=88”>http://www.slowfood.com/slowfish/pagine/eng/pagina.lasso?-id_pg=88</a>
<a href=“http://www.tnp.no/norway/panorama/3780-norway-lobbied-to-raise-toxin-level-in-salmon-feed”>http://www.tnp.no/norway/panorama/3780-norway-lobbied-to-raise-toxin-level-in-salmon-feed</a>
The fish person I know.
He is also the head of the anthro dept at a local college.
<a href=“http://www.lokifish.com”>http://www.lokifish.com</a></p>
<p>Eat farmed, and you are polluting. Eat wild, and you are depleting the oceans. I gave up on that and eat whatever salmon looks fresh and tasty - in moderation. </p>
<p>Whats depleting the oceans are the way that the Japanese and others catch up everything in their nets and just dump overboard what they dont want.
The increase in temps doesnt help either.</p>
<p><a href=“Marine Fisheries & Aquaculture Series: Empty Oceans, Empty Nets – Tuna: Case Study | PBS”>http://www.pbs.org/emptyoceans/eoen/tuna/casestudy.html</a></p>
<p>Whats depleting the oceans are the way that the Japanese and others catch up everything in their nets and just dump overboard what they dont want.
The increase in temps doesnt help either. ( neither does mudslides that block access to spawning grounds)
Some farming practices are ok. But I wouldnt want to eat fish that had a high level of toxins in their kibble.</p>
<p><a href=“Marine Fisheries & Aquaculture Series: Empty Oceans, Empty Nets – Tuna: Case Study | PBS”>http://www.pbs.org/emptyoceans/eoen/tuna/casestudy.html</a>
<a href=“http://www.fishresearch.org/sea-surface-temperature/”>http://www.fishresearch.org/sea-surface-temperature/</a></p>
<p>Marinate in maple syrup, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper for about 30 minutes. Grill or bake 20 minutes or so. If baking, bake in some of the marinade in hot (400 degrees) oven.</p>
<p>IMO the gold standard for farmed seafood is “open ocean farming” where the fish are contained in their natural environment. I believe this is just starting to take root in the U.S. I would consider purchasing “ocean farmed” fish but am reluctant to purchase land based farmed seafood, </p>
<p>The land based tanks are overcrowded and the fish produce too much waste for the constricted environment. The standards to flush out that waste vary from country to country, as do the standards for cleaning those tanks. I also believe that the health benefits from seafood come from what the fish consume in the ocean. Not sure one can realize the same benefit from seafood fed a diet created by people who are attempting to make a profit. The fish are most likely fed the cheapest feed that will keep them alive. No thanks.</p>
<p>I use the foil method a lot - olive oil (or butter), fresh dill or basil, and a couple slices of lemon. Seal and bake - 350F for 20 min or so (I’m in the UK, so I have a Celsius oven - 180C for 20 min). I have also used a mixture of Colman’s hot mustard and honey. </p>
<p>What do Scotsmen or Norwegians know about Salmon? LOL.</p>
<p>Salmon season just opened here. Caught a little eight pounder this morning, it’s on the grill in about an hour. I rub olive oil on outside, grill with the skin on for about 15 minutes until nice grill marks appear. Flip and cook through about 15 more minutes. It’s done when thermometer reads 130. You can put a variety of things in the body cavity for flavor but tonight it’s just slices of Meyer lemon. </p>