Why do we talk about distasteful politics but never food?

I thought I would do a whole salmon on the smoker today. But not just any old salmon, a stuffed salmon! The stuffing is key:

1/2 tube sausage meat
2 avocados (never tried this)
1 sweet onion
mushrooms
bread crumbs
cream cheese
lemon juice and rind
parsely
black pepper
1 egg

Sautee onions and mushrooms and sausage drain and cool.
Chop up the fresh ripe avocado and then mix up the stuffing. Lay out 2 large salmon filets. Pile the stuffing on and tie the baby up like it wants to take to the water once again! (poetic aspect) Lather with olive oil and smoke at 250 for...however long you desire.

Serve with a dill and cucumber sauce, baked potaoes and corn on the cob. Now don't even think about poetry till you're back from the store and everything is well under way!

p.s. Apple crumble and a hot cup of coffee anyone?


[This message has been edited by Roy Hamilton (edited September 07, 2008).]

What happened to the "whole salmon"? The recipe mentions only two fillets. These days I expect youtube videos of all recipes, please.

If you go with a whole salmon you'll have to deal with those nasty bones. When I get a yummy idea like this I go online and get ideas to flesh it out. The consensus for this type of recipe seems to be two filets, pin bones removed. There may be pictures...we see.

Now I best get my act together here if I'm going to shop, prep and get this on in good time!

[This message has been edited by Roy Hamilton (edited September 07, 2008).]

Best way to do salmon if you can't smoke it all day: grilled with a bit of olive oil and lemon--nothing more. I grew up on the stuff.

Dave, you are almost right -- you forgot the garlic. And maybe a touch of salt and pepper?

I love it too Dave. I used to make a fresh cucumber and dill sauce to have on the side but then I discovered a brand in the refrigerated salad dressing section called Renee's Gourmet and it is truly fabulous with salmon. Now I just buy it.

Hi Roy,

Salmon is about the fattiest fish you can buy . . . and you're adding half a pound of sausage?! At that rate, why don't you just deep fry it and serve it in bowls?

Ouch!

Well, for all I know, it may turn out to be a delicious recipe, and I wish you well with it. Do let us know how it turns out.

Steve C.

Too much of the same thing, Roy. Salmon is fatty, avocado is fatty, cream cheese is fatty, sausage is fatty. And the cooking technique jams everything together like a candy bar, so you don't get the play of distinct tastes and textures.

I'd rub the salmon with soy and oil and minced ginger - maybe crust it with chopped pistachios - and grill it. Use the avocado for a side salad, or guacamole. Save the cream cheese to shmear on a bagel the next day with leftover cold salmon.

Save the sausage, mushroom and onions for dinner tomorrow. Grill them up (alternately, caramelize the onions with a little balsmamic) and serve over pasta with a green salad. Or do a fritatta.

What you've got now is too much of too much. You're drowning the poor salmon in all that other stuff, burying it all in melted cream cheese.

Also, two avocados is way out of proportion to the other ingredients. The avocado is very rich, and just takes over, and with two of them that's all you would taste. I made a a sashimi salad with avocado Friday night, and used three-quarters of a pound of raw tuna in about 1/4" chunks, extra firm tofu chunks about the same size, a half an avacado chopped up, and a pre-packed seaweed salad; and mixed together wasabi mayonnaise, ponzu, some sharp Thai sauce, soy sauce and wasabi powder for the dressing; and there was plenty of avocado. More would have turned it into an avocado salad.

There were also problems with the meter, your syntax was a bit confusing, and some of the rhymes seemed forced ("avacado/salmon is an unusual slant - but works - but I had trouble with "cream cheese/sausage".)



[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited September 07, 2008).]

Hey Guys, Good Morning,

Well it is indeed poetry, Michael, and it's nice to see you guys can cook!

A couple of words in my defence:) I have never used avocado before. I was at an authentic northern Mexican restaurant last week and the avacado appetizer was really rich and buttery so mental note, lets try this. Also my wife loves the salmon well done and while I try not to kill it, it can dry on the smoker. Also her mom introduced me to sausage stuffing (with turkey) and I love that.

I agree though I do have a bit of a cholesterol extravaganza going here...hmmm. I was envisioning something rich that would stand up to the smoker for 3-4 hours without drying out. Ah heck I'm going for it but I will render and drain the sausage well and keep the cream cheese to a minimum. I got two lovely big organic filets, friggin expensive. It's raining, but these things are sent to try us!

Melt a little butter in lemon juice and baste the salmon steak while cooking on a grill.

Ha!! Us girls can cook, too.

I just threw two salmon filets in the oven - sans everything but pepper.

I'll thow on some wild rice and make a package of StoveTop sage stuffing and Dan'll eat it without looking and the cats will cry and rub our legs and when we're done, I'll toss the paper plates in the garbage can and ta!da! it's FOOTBALL!!!

Ha!! Us Girls Can Cook, Too.

two salmon filets in the oven
sans everything but pepper.
thow on some wild rice
a package of StoveTop
sage stuffing

the cats will cry and rub
our legs
when we're done
I'll toss the paper plates
ta!da!
it's FOOTBALL!!!

A little formatting, a little editing, tada!

It's Free Verse!

*grin*

Send it off - someone will publish it.... *wink*

Here's a salmon recipe I actually did publish - it was in Light Quarterly four or five years ago:

Preparing Gravlax

No need to spend a lot of time on frills.
The supermarket fish and Cuisinart
will do – grab all the stuff you need and start.
It doesn’t really matter if the dill’s
picked up some sand; just whirl it up with chunks
of sea salt, peppercorns and sugar; spread
the mix on slabs of salmon and imbed
it well: splash vodka, smartly smash two hunks
of fish together flesh to flesh, and bind
them tightly in Saran wrap. Then the trick
is let it fester three days with a brick
on top inside the fridge - and you will find
it satisfying, even though it’s light -
a little treat that’s simple, but has bite.


(Between the tuna sashimi and the gravlax, I seem to be on an uncooked fish binge. It's a matter of frugality. With the good scallops at $11.00 per pound or more, for example, experience shows that people will eat relatively less of that slightly icky ceviche that you made up by plopping the sliced scallops in lime juice for a few hours, and then adding the balance of the open jar of salsa that's been festering in the back of the fridge since Cinco de Mayo and the Plum Island Fajita Festival; and far more if you were to wrap the little buggers in good, pre-cooked bacon and grill or saute them.)




[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited September 07, 2008).]

Well I left out the cream cheese and substituted a couple of spoonfuls of Miracle Whip. (light) I chopped up the avocado, nice and ripe, and doused it in lemon juice and rind. Then I threw the onion, mushroom, sausage sautee in the food processor and pulsed that up. Tied the whole thing up and put it in a fish basket that won't close because it's too big http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/ubbhtml/smile.gif but it keeps it off the grill and will protect the skin. We'll soon see. I should be able to post a picture when I get some colour going.

Roy,
sounds yummy, but how well does avacado cook? I know it can be heated, as in guacamole in grilled sandwiches or slices of it in miso soup.

Me, I like the Newfoundland delicacy of pan-fried cod with scruncheons (cubes of deep-fried lard).

That's what I call useful poetry.

Has anyone ever done an anthology of cooking poems? There's a very fine one by Grevel Lindop entitled "Summer Pudding" and The Golden Gate has this good stanza on the pickling of olives:

The salt’s mixed as the water’s heated.
An egg’s released upon the brine.
It floats! The first stage is completed.
Phase two: In stratified design,
Bands of plump olives and thick slices
Of lemon, dusted well with spices,
Are laid inside each pickling jar.
Now into each packed reservoir
A sluice of cooling brine is pouring.
A seal of olive oil to spare
The olives from the ambient air –
And the jar’s set aside for storing.
The lid’s screwed tightly; sighs are heaved;
The label’s stuck: the task’s achieved.

Brian, When I visited The Rock I was down on Water Street (is it?) for lunch and I asked the girl what was good today? "Try the special," she replied. Cod fish in a cream sauce with chives and crispy french fries. I'll never forget it!

Greg, That's good. We may be on to something here, speaking of bakeoffs!

Here's an appetizer:

You clean some brussels sprouts
and rub their little snouts
in kosher salt and olive oil.
Then bake at four-five-oh
for half an hour or so
and serve with goat cheese as a foil.

Baked Salmon with Cream
a la tetrameter

Shove some parsley down its throat
and with the butter rub a coat
around a five pound fish.
Next, put it in a baking dish
and pour a cup of cream around
then bake ten minutes for each pound
about 350 Fahrenheit.
Peel and cube a cuke to bite
sized chunks, then go and juice a lime
and when the oven’s timer chimes
remove the salmon from the heat.
The juice and cukes you add toot suite,
baste well, remove the foil – STOP!
Reverse that or you’ll need a mop
- return it to the rack to bake
for 15 minutes, give or take
a minute. Skin the fish before
you serve it, take the sauce and pour
some over everybody’s serving.
Hot or cold this meal’s deserving
admiration for a spell.
Smaller cuts work just as well.

I forgot to add these little tricks
early on – around line six:
cover well with Reynold’s foil
then slide beneath the heating coil.



[This message has been edited by Jerry Glenn Hartwig (edited September 07, 2008).]

Undomesticated Whine

Somehow The Lord forgot 'bout me
when passing out love's recipe.
It's made my girl-life living hell -
I've never learned to cook too well.

I've ridden Harleys, they're a breeze
compared to making Mac and Cheese.
I've learned to dress up so exotic -
My cupboard's bare, but it's erotic.

I've ruined cornflakes, spoiled milk.
There must be someone of my ilk
who'll love me for myself, by jove,
and not afix me to his stove.

If I should capture some man's heart
it wont be thru his belly-part.
He'll never want me for my roast -
or even for my melba toast.

I'll dish fishsticks with dance and song,
with apron, heels and black-lace thong,
My servitude will be divine -
he'll learn to take me out to dine.

Roy,

The Californian in me is aghast. Cooked avocados? It's not done, for the simple reason that it doesn't taste good.

You can have avocados with sugar as a dessert Brazilian-style, made into guacamole, put into a number of dishes (I had mine folded into an omelet this morning) but in any cooked dish, the avocado is put in in such a way to protect it from cooking. I know a very good salmon, cream cheese and jack cheese sandwich that's broiled with the cooked salmon/cream cheese mixture protecting the alfalfa sprouts and avocado underneath, so the top is warm and the center is cool, and the jack is nicely broiled on top, but that's not going to happen with slow smoking.

The nice green sauce you probably had was likely a tomatillo sauce, which is cooked, but then had pureed avocados added as a finishing touch.

What is jack cheese? On a recent fishing trip to New Mexico it was hard to avoid it. I was thinking of imitating it with a fly pattern.

Bob

Kevin,

I wish you'd said something earlier because my avocado and sausage stuffed salmon is almost done.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/Roysie/746.jpg

Roy--

Well, I have to admit, the pictures look beautiful. Please tell us how the stuffing ended up tasting.

Bob--

Jack cheese, also known as Monterey Jack, is a white cheese common all along the west coast. It's slightly soft and very mild in flavor, and is used for enchiladas, California burgers (a bacon cheeseburger with avocado and this particular cheese, served on sourdough), and various other dishes.

Is it not found on the east coast, or does it have another name there?

You can also get cojack, which is a white and yellow speckled cheese which is half jack, half colby, and is good for nachos, and various jacks with hot peppers or dill already mixed in.

Roy - Looks good - and elegantly tied! (At least on the top - if the bottom is a maze of gnarly knots, you're in my class, if it's one long piece of string with elegant butcher's loops you're out of my class.)

I have an electric heat element smoker, which uses chunks of well soaked hickory or mesquite to generate the smoke, but don't play with it all that often. What did you use on this? And do you dry smoke, or do you have a pan of water in there for moisture?

[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited September 07, 2008).]

It really was good and everyone enjoyed it although I know it was overdone. I've learned to accept that fact of life rather than deal with the complaints, "it's raw!" And the microwave aftermath. C'est la vie. I didn't use too much avocado and it seemed okay to me anyway.

I use a large aluminum prep pan which I love. Each loop was tied individually. I'm not that good and had to keep the handling to a minimum to maintain the stuffing. I use a Traeger pellet dry smoker. The convenience and versatility is awesome! You should taste the brisket, butts and ribs I've done!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/Roysie/BBQ027.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1...raaPort139.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1...raaPort149.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/Roysie/BBQ023.jpg

Okay, you redeemed yourself with that beautiful brisket - but, really, what David said about the salmon - maybe a dusting of fresh dill when it comes underdone off the grill, tent it a few minutes, and serve with a dill, caper, sour cream sauce you made the night before.

Frank

I'm in the highlands of Scotland and have been fly-fishing for salmon with some success. As for cooking, I've been using a very simple method: poaching. (And I mean the cooking variety.) But any reasonable method works well with good fish.

That's what matters most--the quality of the fish. Here is what I look for.

Wild fish taste much better than farmed ones.

Freshly-caught fish are better eating than previously frozen ones or fish that have been improperly handled and stored.

Small to medium fish are better than large ones (especially with chinook).

Fish that are silver are much better than those that have begun to colour up for spawning.

In Scotland there is no choice of species--the salmon are all Atlantics, which are excellent. In Canada, we can choose from five types, which vary considerably in eating quality. My preferences, in descending order, are: coho, sockeye, chinook, pink, and chum.

John

Brisket and ribs are my true favourites, Frank. John, I envy you the fishing. Years ago my wife's aunt used to visit from Nova Scotia. She would often bring a large piece of Atlantic Salmon fresh from the pier. She and my mother in law would poach it and serve it with a white sauce with hard boiled eggs. The fragrance and delicacy were unforgettable.

Well, olives seem to be a motif here, so I thought I'd post the link to Alicia's, poem, "Olives," from The New Criterion.

Thanks for that, Jenn. I do believe it's as tasty as the salmon.

Roy - you have competition! This look-alike dish is from this Sunday's New York Times. Roast duck breast - actually, two duck breasts, stacked and tied together, not unlike your salmon dish (but no cream cheese!)

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...food.1-190.jpg

Damm! I can't get a link to the enlarged shot to work, but here's a link to the entire article:
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/20...d.1.ready.html


[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited September 08, 2008).]

That's just the image, Michael. Ah to have photographers like that.

p.s. my pictures are edible!

[This message has been edited by Roy Hamilton (edited September 08, 2008).]

Try this: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/magazine/07food-t-1.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=David%20Tanis&st=cse&oref=slo gin

I love duck and figs are an intriguing option. I want to go to China and have Peking Duck, where they serve 30,000 per day, and each one is numbered for crispy control.

Lest it pass unnoticed, John Beaton is now on record that he's over in Scotland, poaching salmon . . . .

As long as he keeps his hands off the Queen's deer...

In Ireland, when I complained that the salmon was broiled, not poached (as it said on the menu), the waiter told me, "It was poached last night."

Shameless O'Clawson