Beer-marinated salmon

Once again I am cooking salmon. Today I was at a restaurant for lunch and noticed beer battered fried fish.  I stay away from most fried foods, most of the time, but I began thinking about the use of beer as a marinade.

I don't drink beer very often.  Wine and spirits is more to my taste.  But on a rare occasion I have a beer; so rarely, though, my beer often spoils before I am able to finished off a six pack.  I had a couple of bottles of Lowenbrau in my fridge and decided to use on of them as a marinade.

Ingredients

1.  Salmon
2.  Bottle of Lowenbrau
3.  Honey
4.  Soy sauce
5.  Sriracha hot sauce
6.  Lemon juice
7.  Cole Slaw mix (the bagged shredded mix of cabbage, red cabbage and carrots, WITHOUT the dressing)

Method

I stirred ingredients 2-6 together to make a marinade and placed the salmon in it for several hours to prepare it for cooking.

I heated a large frying pan to medium heat and placed the cole slaw in the pan.  After it was hot, I placed the salmon on it skin-side-down, covered it, reduced the heart and cooked for ten minutes.  I turned the filet over, removed the skin added half the marinade, raised the heat the heat to medium high and cooked the fillet, uncovered for another ten minutes.

I removed the fillet and added the rest of the marinade.  I raised the heat to high to reduce the marinade. Once the marinade was reduced I spooned the slaw vegetables over the fillets and poured the sauce over both and served.

Verdict

The family enjoyed it and would eat it again.  I thought it was a too bit sweet.  I would make this again but I have learned a few things through this process.

The marinade was actually quite good before the fish was added to it.  It had a great balance of being not too sweet and spicy.  But cooking often changes the flavor profiles and certainly cooking something with such a significant flavor profile of salmon would change nearly anything.

The sriracha was surprisingly muted through cooking.  This was a bit of a discovery for me, much like when I once cooked a dish with horseradish.  Something quite spicy can, with heat and other ingredients, change its flavor.  Cooking is basically chemistry.  The beer also lost its dryness and I did add a bit more lemon juice when I was cooking down the sauce because tasting the results showed very little tanginess.

In the end it was the honey that retained its flavor most making the dish a bit too sweet for my taste.  I would make this again but with less honey, more sriracha and lemon juice.

Marinades are a challenge.  They do not always impart the flavors they do when you begin with them.  Using a marinade as the basis of a sauce will significantly change the flavors.

Orange mustard Vinaigrette Salmon Finished with a Braised Salad

So last night we went to a pot luck party and brought along a tossed salad.  We returned home with a healthy portion that was left over.  It was a good salad with lots of great ingredients like avocado and sun-dried tomato.  It was romaine lettuce based which makes a bit of difference in this experiment.

I conceived of a vinaigrette that would be used on the salmon and then used on the salad.  I also picked up something from some French cookbooks.  In the US we see lettuce entirely as a base for a salad and as a raw ingredient.  The French are not afraid to cook lettuce but they do so with care, being sure not to overcook it.  That was the secret to this experiment.

Ingredients

1.  Salmon fillet
2.  Fresh squeezed orange juice
3.  Spicy brown mustard
4.  garlic powder (I was out of fresh garlic which would have been better, of course)
5.  lemon juice
6.  olive oil
7.  leftover salad

Method

I squeezed the juice of the oranges into a bowl and whisked in the garlic powder, mustard, some salt and pepper.  I whisked in a small amount of olive oil to add body.

I spooned a few tablespoon of the sauce in a small pan and broiled the salmon, skin-side-up for five minutes and removed the skin.  I turned the fillet and broiled it for a few more minutes.

While I was broiling the second side I poured the rest of the sauce into a large frying pan and placed a generous amount of leftover salad and began heating it over low heat.

After the salmon was finished broiling I cut it into small squares.  It was still quite raw.  I tossed it into the pan with the salad and sauce and raised the heat and covered it.

I tossed the mixture occasionally, paying attention to make sure the salmon was cooked through and the salad was not overcooked.

Just as the pan was finishing I broke up a slice of whole wheat bread onto a plate and then spooned the finished salad and salmon mixture over the bread.

It was delicious.

Verdict

I will cook it again and my son was quite pleased with the results.