whole salmon - what to do with it?

BillB2002

I'm a newb when it comes to cutting up and cooking fish. I got this 3.3 lb wild caught sockeye salmon from costco a couple days ago for $5/lb:



Is there an easy way to debone it? Right now I'm thinking to just cut it lengthwise, leave the scales/skin on, and cook the two big fillets with bones in. Is that a mistake?

I figure I'll just put some olive oil and a salmon rub on them, then egg them at around 400, skin side down, till they're done. Sound reasonable?

cookn biker

Try this site.

http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/

Unknown

Sure you can fillet it. Sockeye are pretty delicate fish so what you can do is actually cut through the rib cage following the spine and then remove the rib bones afterward.

Sockeye is the best salmon to eat in my opinion and I've done it two ways on the egg.
1) Cedar planked: nothing but olive oil and raging river dizzy dust on it -- turned out excellent but I also had a fine fish that time.
2) mix some fresh garlic & ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil and marinate for an hour with skin on on an elevated grill. Turned out great. I then made 'skin chips' with the skin that came off - pretty tasty.

You have a great ingredient there - don't screw it up! (and don't over cook it!)

Planked with Raging river:

thailandjohn

Most of things I cook, I do the very simple way and let flavor of the meat be the main flavor...

I have cooked many whole salmon and my method is just load the cavity with thin sliced lemons and a little salt and pepper...cook indirect around 325 temp with a few alder chunks for smoke.

I place the whole cooked salmon on a platter....the skin peels off very easy and the meat will come clean from the bone by using a fork and pulling the meat in the same direction as the bones.....once the meat is off one side, I am able to then remove the entire bones in one piece

Very simple and very good.....just don't overcook

BillB2002

Thanks for all your help, everybody. I cut it up and got two pretty big fillets out of it. But boy do I need sharper knives!!

Thailandjohn, next time i get a whole salmon, I'll try that. I love the simplicity of not having to cut anything before grilling.

thailandjohn

What part of the country do you live?

BillB2002

bay area, near san francisco.

Unknown

Hi Bill,
I'm glad it turned out well. The Sockeye I made on the plank my friends said it was some of the best they have had in their lives. I believe them because we have a strict rule that if I make them something that sucks - they need to tell me.

Thanks for the tip - I'm down in Santa barbara so hopefully sockeye will be on sale at Costco here as well. I saw it at the grocery store filleted already a few weeks ago for $6.99/lb. I wish I had stocked up then - the closest it gets now it seems is $10 a lb. Still good but 6.99 was great.

Since you are in the area - some friends made my humbaldt squid for dinner last night. It was great. I think it can be a little tricky to make but I'm sure it would be a somewhat unique thing to make on the egg. I'm going to give it a shot in the next couple weeks.

thailandjohn

Me too......which Costco.....I live in Hayward

BillB2002

The richmond costco ... I live about 10 minutes away, I go once a week or so. I love it.

Tsuribaka

thanks cookn biker for cool site thirdeyebbq.good fish idea's for first time fish smoker