Eating Around: Smoked Salmon

"Delicate sweet sea flavor" by mail

IN these days of New Wave cooking, freshness is more than ever the prime consideration where food is concerned. Preserved and processed have become dirty words—as well they might be when applied to all those canned, frozen, and dehydrated products that are passed off as substitutes for fresh foods. Throughout the history of gastronomy, however, a few foods in their preserved forms have achieved the status of costly delicacies. Examples are mellow jams, pungent marmalades, and the whole range of smokeand air-cured meats, such as prosciutto, beef bresaola, and the silken goose breast dear to the hearts of German Feinschmecker. Foremost among posh preserved foods is smoked fish—eel, trout, sturgeon, whitefish, and, best of all, salmon.

Salmon has all it takes to be a class act among such comestibles. The fish is rare to begin with, and it is cherished for its subtle coral tones and incomparably delicate sweet sea flavor. It is fat enough to smoke well without becoming too dry. Produced in many European countries and in various parts of the United States, smoked salmon differs markedly from one region to another, its final characteristics determined by the type of fish, where and how it was caught, how it was processed, and how it was handled when it was being cured. In general, Atlantic salmon are considered superior to Pacific salmon because they are fatter and more succulent. Pacific salmon are larger, more plentiful, and slightly less expensive. Bruises on fresh fish not only mar the appearance of the smoked product but also limit its ability to keep, so the method used to catch the fish is very important. Netted fish will show more signs of struggle, for example, than those caught with a gaff, and the sportsman's line probably ensures the leastbruised fish of all. Flavor varies with the wood used for smoking and with the smoking method. Today the entire procedure can be controlled by computer, and oak and maple woods are often combined to provide a mild, sweet taste of smoke. In Scotland, Ireland, and Denmark, where the finest North Sea salmon are smoked, the fish are hung during the process, resulting in a dry, firm, and savory delicacy. Nova Scotia salmon, which is smoked on racks, is moister and a bit softer, and it usually has milder overtones of smoke flavor.

With all of the different types available, a salmon tasting should provide as much interest as the now fashionable tastings of bread, cheese, pasta, chocolate, and ice cream. The luxurious Scottish salmon, the more intense, drier Irish version, and fine Nova Scotia varieties are found in many fancy-food stores in most big cities. In recent years they have been joined by a wonderfully oily, very smoky Norwegian salmon that is cured in France. Seldom available in retail shops, but of equal interest, are some regional smoked salmons cured on both coasts of North America and procurable by mail.

The most unusual of these is salmon from the Pacific, cured in the style developed by Northwest Coast Indians. Salmon caught in and around Puget Sound are hot-smoked over alder wood, and the result is quite different from the cold-smoked products of Europe. Hotsmoked salmon looks as though it had been cooked or baked. There is none of the shiny translucence or the raw look of Scottish or Irish salmon, and the fish cannot be smoothly sliced. Rather, it is cut in wide strips or broken into chunks. The alder wood imparts a rich flavor, reminiscent of the scent of burning leaves, and the fish retains the distinct salmon taste. Northwest salmon can be served on buttered toast or thin pumpernickel, in the manner of conventional smoked salmon, but it is also good gently heated in the oven with a little melted butter, and it is a fine garnish for scrambled eggs. When served cold, it improves with a light sprinkling of olive oil, lemon juice, and black pepper. A most remarkable and exceptional smoked Atlantic salmon is now produced from fish that are farmraised off the coast of Maine. Because these fish are kept in sea cages, they are slightly fatter than their wild cousins and so remain even more supple when processed. And because they are raised, not caught, they escape the danger of being bruised.

Among the mail-order-boutique salmons, few are as elegantly subtle as the version offered by the Oyster Bar and Restaurant, in New York's Grand Central Terminal. Cured in a spiced brine, the salmon are cold-smoked over applewood, and the resultant texture is finegrained, with a pale blush color and a mild but distinctive smoke flavor.

When ordering salmon, shun the presliced kind, which deteriorates rapidly and becomes bland and flaccid. All of the sources below ship the fish by air via U. P. S., and it arrives one or two days after it is sent. Remove the fish from the box and place it in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving it. The Northwest salmon is available from Chief Seattle Seafood, 672 South Orcas, Seattle, Washington 98108 (800-426-0001). A one-and-a-half-pound side is $21.95 and may be charged to Visa or MasterCard.

The farmed salmon can be ordered from Ocean Products, Inc.,P.O. Box 263, Estes Head, Eastport, Maine 04631 (207853-6081). A two-and-a-halfto-three-pound side is $59.50 plus postage.

The salmon smoked with applewood can be ordered from the Oyster Bar, Grand Central Terminal, Forty-second Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, New York 10017 (212490-6650). A three-and-a-halfpound side is $65 plus postage and tax where necessary.

Mimi Sheraton