Salmon under three years of age are best for eating. They have pink fatty highly nourishing flesh that can be cooked fresh, smoked, or sometimes eaten raw. The salmon has a silvery blue back with small scattered black markings that turn orange when spawning. The sides and abdomen are golden. Pacific salmon die after their first spawning, whereas the Atlantic salmon does not die after its first spawning, but returns year after year to its breeding place to spawn again.
Salmon were among the most popular fish in the Middle Ages: they were cooked in stock, potted, braised, swerved in ragouts, pâtés, or soups, or salted. When salmon became rare, it came to be regarded as one of the luxury foods. A great deal of salmon is now imported into France and England from the Pacific (Canada) and the North Sea. In Russia, Germany and Scandinavia, salmon is used in many traditional dishes, such as Russian koulibiaca or swedish gravadlax (raw salmon marinated in pepper, dill, sugar and salt).
Nordic salmon, particularly the Greenland salmon (similar to French salmon), are usually eaten smoked. Fresh salmon from the Pacific (silver salmon) are also available, together with canned salmon, sold in segments with the skin still attached, which is mostly Canadian and includes the red salmon (considered to be the best), the sockeye and the chum.
Salmon is prepared whole, or cut into segments, steaks, or slices. The middle, which is the best part, is known in France as the mitan. Fresh salmon, whole or cut into steaks, is usually cooked in a court bouillon and served with a hot sauce, such as anchovy, butter, caper, prawn, lobster, mousseline, Nantua, ravigote, etc. Cold salmon is accompainied by various cold sauces: mayonnaise, tartar, green, rémoulade, Vincent, etc. Salmon can also be braised whole (stuffed or otherwise), or it can be cooked on a spit (whole or in segments). Salmon steaks are cooked in court bouillon, grilled (broiled), fried in butter, or braised, as are salmon fillets, escalopes and "cutlets" (trimmed steaks or shaped fish).
Smoked Salmon This is delicious served cold with lemon juice, fresh cream, or horseradish sauce, eaten with bread, toast, blinis, etc. Smoked salmon is also used in various hot and cold recipes: aspics, canapés, filled cornets, and scrambled eggs. The fish is smoked over a mixture of different types of wood (beech, birch, oak, ash and alder) and various aromatic essences (juniper, heather and sage).
