Farmed salmon has got itself a bad name
By: Faith Bahadurian
Spring and early summer are prime time for salmon lovers. In recent years, however, serving salmon has become problematic for environmentally and health conscious cooks.
Farmed salmon has got itself a bad name. The use of drugs and chemicals used in raising it, reported PCB contamination, the release of wastes and possibly stray genetically altered fish into coastal waters have made me reluctant to buy farmed salmon. And the feed for farmed salmon is based on wild fish, contributing to further reductions in wild populations.
Wild caught salmon does come onto the market in limited quantities each spring, but it also raises concerns about contributing to overfishing. If we buy it, will it stop coming?
The nonprofit organization Environmental Defense recently announced a new initiative with Wegmans Markets to develop strict new standards for farmed wild salmon. Suppliers will be required to meet stringent new standards promoting innovative technologies and strategies. I’m crossing my fingers.
Meanwhile, I have another problem with farmed salmon compared to wild salmon, farmed can be oily, flabby textured and lacking robust flavor. Much as free-roaming meat and poultry are leaner than their feedlot or caged cousins, salmon that has never swum free has a fattier texture yet is lower in desirable omega 3 fatty acids.
I turned to three books in order to learn more about such things. In Harold McGee’s "On Food and Cooking" I found confirmation that well-exercised meat is indeed more flavorful. In "What Einstein Told His Cook," by Robert L. Wolke (I have the older, 1984 edition), I read that salmon, like flamingos, are pink because of the pink-shelled crustaceans they feast upon (no wonder the farmed ones must be artificially colored). And while Shirley O. Corriher’s "Cookwise" did not discuss these issues, it did have elegant fish recipes, one of which appears below.
TRIPLE-LAYERED FILLETS
IN GOLDEN BEURRE BLANC
adapted from "Cookwise, "
William Morrow, 1997
4 servings.
4 tablespoons butter to grease foil
8 flounder or sole fillets, skinned (about 1 pound)
4 slices salmon fillet (about ¾ pound)
Salt
Butter to dot fish
About 2 quarts fish stock or water with 1 quartered onion and 1 quartered lemon
4 recipe Beurre Blanc (below)
15 asparagus spears, steamed 2 minutes or blanched 1 minute
1 tablespoon salmon caviar
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Tear off five pieces of aluminum foil, each large enough to wrap a fillet. Lightly butter the shiny side of each piece.
With a mallet, gently flatten the flounder fillets slightly, trimming each to a rectangular shape. Gently flatten the salmon slices and trim to match flounder. Save all trimmings. Place a flounder fillet on a piece of buttered foil, sprinkle lightly with salt, and dot with a small amount of butter. Place a piece of salmon on top, sprinkle with salt, dot with butter. Place another flounder on top, sprinkle with salt, dot with butter. Fold foil across the top and fold ends up. Do not seal tightly. Repeat with remaining fish, making an extra packet with the trimmings.
Bring stock to a boil in a deep baking casserole. Place packets in stock and place casserole in oven. Bake 10 minutes. Partially open one end of each packet, and stand in a bowl to drain.
Prepare the beurre blanc.
Spoon beurre blanc onto room temperature (not warmed) plates. Place one fish stack on the sauce, near bottom of plate. Arrange three asparagus tips in a fan shape long the top edge of fish, and top fillets with a dab of salmon caviar.
Beurre Blanc:
5 medium shallots, chopped
1/3 cup Chenin Blanc, Rhine wine or other medium dry white wine
¼ cup white wine vinegar
½ cup heavy or whipping cream
¾ pound softened butter
¼ teaspoon salt
Place the shallots, wine, and vinegar in a medium-size heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Boil and reduce to about ¼ cup. Add cream and continue to boil. Reduce to ¼ cup again. Remove from heat.
Whisk in chunks of butter, whisking constantly, until all the butter is added. Return to low heat for a few moments if butter is not melting. Do not let the sauce go over 130 degrees. If it starts to break from overheating, remove from heat and whisk until it cools a little and comes back together.
Whisk in the salt. Taste and add more salt if needed. Can be held for about 30 minutes in a wide-mouth thermos that has been rinsed in hot (not boiling) water or held for hours in a 120 degree water bath.
CHAMPAGNE-POACHED SALMON
WITH CHAMPAGNE CREAM SAUCE
adapted from "Kosher by Design," Susie Fishbein,
Mesorah Publications, Ltd., 2003
5 servings.
Salmon:
1 tablespoon butter
4 cups kosher champagne
1 shallot, chopped
6 springs fresh dill
3 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
5 6-ounce salmon fillets, skin off
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
Cream Sauce:
½ cup chopped shallots
1 cup champagne
1½ cups heavy cream
4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Grease a fish poacher or large sauté pan with one tablespoon butter. Add champagne, shallot, dill, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil over high heat; reduce heat to medium and gently simmer five minutes.
Add salmon fillets to pan. Sprinkle minced dill on top. Spoon liquid over fillets as they cook uncovered for 10-15 minutes, until salmon is just cooked and lighter in color. Remove fillets with slotted spatula.
For the sauce, combine shallots and champagne in a saucepan. Bring to boil and cook about 6 minutes, until almost all liquid is evaporated. Add cream, bring to boil, lower heat and simmer 3-4 minutes until thickened and reduced by half. Whisk in the butter a tablespoon at a time. Pass the sauce through a strainer, pressing on solids. Season with salt and pepper and serve with salmon.

