The Mighty Salmon
Salmon has been popular for many thousands of years. It was so plentiful in Medieval Times that a law was passed forbidding the feeding of aprentices with salmon more than three days in a week. These days, with reducing stocks, this fish is farmed, making the food cheaper, but with associated environmental problems.
Pressure on stocks has led to the formation of salmon farms, which in turn have both environmental animal welfare implications.
We tend to think of the salmon as an Atlantic fish, though it does live in the Pacific. It prefers cooler waters, and is extremely common in the northern hemisphere, including other fish in the same family, notably char and trout.
It is equally happy in salt as well as fresh water, where it spawns high in the rivers, and the young travel downstream and cover whole oceans in their migratory travels. The young may stay in the river for three years before leaving and from thence return, mostly to the same river system, to spawn again.
Salmon as a food is quite remarkable in as much as it has fed both the poor and the very rich alike, and still does. Platefulls of smoked salmon, salmon mouse with roe, have long graced noble tables, while tinned red salmon with salad, salt and vinegar and plenty of vinegar did for the rest of us. That was our Sunday best.
If you want to catch your own salmon, particularly in the UK, you will have to pay handsomly, an indication of how salmon is consumed by the different strata of society. The fish in the river belongs to the owner of the river bank, and a salmon might cost you a lot more to fish than to catch, though people who like fishing just love the sport anyway and no amount of cost will deter them. In the United States I believe the situation is much more open, and in northern Europe, freer still.
Salmon is an easy fish to gut and fillet, all you need to remember is there are a lot of 'pin bones' in the steaks which have to be removed by hand.
The easiest way to fillet the fish is to use a short but flexible knife, cut behind the gills and then twist the blade towards the tail, cutting with the blade on the backbone down to the tail.
To gut the fish, insert the knife just inmfront of the anal opening and keep the point of the knife pointing out of the fish. Stabbing too deeply might cut the liver, which will influence the flavour of the flesh.
Remove the head and cut beyond the vent and scrape the contents onto newspaper to discard. Wash the inside and outside of the fish.
Remember to use the rest of the filleted carcass to make stock.
What to look out for when buying salmon
Eyes should be clear and shiny, not opaque or cloudy.
The skin should be shiny, wet looking, almost slimy but not quite.
Look for the scales, they should be more or less all in place. Avoid fish with areas of patchy scales. They shouldn’t be sticking up, but flat, close to the body of the fish.
Smell – should smell pleasantly of the sea, not sickly or bitter. Don’t be afraid of having a good sniff, and as you approach the fish, is there a pleasant aroma in the shop? If it is fishy or if there are any strong smells, go elsewhere.
Gills should be bright pinky-red, moist and bright. Any sticky film means the fish has been hanging around for some time. Don’t buy it. I find the gills are the quickest and best way to spot freshness.
Touch the fish if you can. They should be cold, almost slimy and firm. If floppy and spongy, pass them over.
Generally a fish should still look alive, without the movement of course!
If you are buying fillets, avoid discoloured, smelly flesh. The flakes should be constant, intact, not gaping or falling away.