Six Days of Salmon

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Pink salmon in a bin

Salmon, especially king salmon, are the pigs of the aquatic world. Large, fatty, with significant differences in flavor from cut to cut, the salmon is, like pork, equally good fresh or cured.

And if there is a fish you can get all nose-to-tail on, it is the chinook. If you are lucky enough to come home with lots of salmon, you can dispense with the fillets (they can go straight into the freezer) and wallow for a week in the “nasty bits.” There really aren’t any truly nasty bits on a salmon, but what I’m talking about are the pieces many anglers toss into the river: heads, collars, bellies and bones.

These parts are quite possibly the best cuts on a salmon, as they are fattier and have a more interesting texture and flavor than straight-up fillets. The most surprising dish to many may be my salmon head soup. If you bleed your fish immediately after catching them, and then put them on ice — and remove the gills, which will ruin your soup — this is actually a very clean-tasting lovely soup.

salmon head soup recipe
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Note that there is no obvious head in your bowl. That’s the point: You pick off all the nice meat from the heat, especially the cheeks. So satisfying, even on a hot evening. Holly thinks this soup is almost buttery, with pearls of salmon fat dotting the surface of the broth like constellations. The cheek meat is transcendent, and strangely meaty; it tastes uncannily like the “oyster” in a chicken or pheasant.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

We also grill or roast the bones of salmon and pick off the meat for salmon salad or salmon cakes. Sometimes we won’t even cook the bones first. We use a spoon to remove all the meat from the carcass, chop it roughly and use it for salmon burgers or patties.

Salmon bellies and collars
Photo by Hank Shaw

That leaves the collars and bellies. There simply aren’t any better parts of a salmon than these, and there simply isn’t any better way to prepare them than grilling or smoking. Why?

  • You have skin, which is crispy, yet slightly gelatinous from the subcutaneous fat.
  • You have the meat itself, which is clean and umami-liciously decadent.
  • You have ALL THAT FAT. Salmon, like the rest of us, store most of their fat in their bellies. And this, friends, is a Mother Lode of those omega-3 fatty acids people are all talking about. I actually got a full-on glob of salmon fat in one bite, which, if you can imagine it, was both alarming and tasty. No need to take fish oil pills after this meal.
  • You also have collagen from the cartilage around the fins and bones. This partially melts under the heat of the grill and lubricates everything. I feel that my lips are more supple these days…
  • Finally, there are the fins. The crispy ends of the fins, dipped in whatever sauce you are serving, are nutty little crunchy tidbits that contrast so well with the luxuriant fat, collagen and meat that you’d think Nature herself had created it just for our pleasure. And maybe she did.

We usually get two nights of collar-belly foodgasms. Collars grilled and served Japanese style with sesame oil and a ponzu dipping sauce. A classic teriyaki of soy, mirin, sake and a little sugar, boiled down by half, is another excellent option.

Bellies are either done the same way or smoked to make salmon candy. Belly “candy” is a quantum leap better than salmon candy made from the fillet. Once again, it’s a fat thing.

japanese salmon collar
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

We’re always sorry to see those collars and bellies disappear. Now all we’re left with is all that pristine salmon fillet in our freezer. Poor us.

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Japanese Salmon Rice

A very simple, clean, Japanese salmon rice recipe that uses short- or medium-grain rice, sake, green onions, salmon and optional furikake rice seasoning.

Smoked Salmon Tacos

Smoked salmon tacos aren’t a thing in Mexico, but smoked marlin tacos are, and that’s what these are modeled after. Easy, quick and tasty.

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About Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet’s largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

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32 Comments

  1. I’m so glad I found your page!
    I just caught my ocean chinook two days ago, and I just couldn’t throw away the frame (the biologists term for the fish carcass after the fillets are removed). It has so much meat! I haven’t been able to do much cooking yet, making sushi tonight. But tomorrow, roasting the backbone, then soup with the bones!
    Already promised the head away, if I only had known!

  2. Hank,
    Just made a kokanee head soup with a 6+ pounder I caught up at Wallowa Lake this past week. Holy crap that soup is good! I only had the one fish, so I used the leftover skeleton and tail as well after filleting the fish. Added some chopped green onion to the final soup and again, holy crap is that soup good! Thanks for the good work.
    Matt

  3. Yum. I scored a salmon head and bones from my Japanese grocery and made soup. Later, I came across your recipe. Amazingly, I used most of the same ingredients as you! The only difference was that I put tofu and mochi in it instead of noodles. Delicious!

  4. Hank, or Boyfriend as you’re called in Holly’s Blog, thanks for a story about belly meat and heads, two of my favorites.

    I try not to hog the belly meat at salmon dinners, but lucky for me, many others don’t know the joy and benefits of this delicious cut of fish. I’ve been eating it for years and am always surprised by people who wonder why I go nuts for it.

    Heads are the same way. When I was a starving univ. student in N CA my neighbor had some friends down from the mts. for a “rock cod” trip. The came back with limits and were cleaning them in her yard, putting all the heads in a big washtub. They were amazed when I asked if I could have them and asked what I was going to do with them. Soup, I said, and proceded to show them how much meat was in a large rockfish cheek and around the collar. That soup fed me for a few days. Your story brought back memories. (My advisor called me the optimal forager, as I was always gathering something: mussels, fish, crab, huckleberries, chantrelles, etc)

    I found your blog and Holly’s while searching forums for CA hunting opportunities. I’m going to be down in the Clovis/Fresno area for 4 months or so and I’m looking for places to go.

    I may have to talk my wife into a trip to Sacto to go to Grange for dinner. Wish I had been able to get in on the duck dinner.

    Thanks for a wonderful blog.

  5. Hank, to say that this blog has inspired me would be a gross understatement. I have been hunting and fishing for years, not realizing the full potential of my game. Thanks for opening my eyes. A quick side note related to this post: I was in the local fish market (Narragansett, RI) and I noticed a whole salmon rack, including the head in a bag on the ice. I asked how much, and he told me to take it! Clearly, whoever filleted the fish didn’t care how close they got to the bones, because after removing the head and cooking it, I got 1 1/2 lbs. of meat. Yummy salmon cakes! And I made your soup recipe with the head. Two days of salmon meals, for free!

  6. Sandy: I might use mackerel — but only if it was absolutely perfectly fresh. Mackerel goes bad VERY fast. If you are in the deep South, use a redfish head instead.

  7. Growing up in an Asian household, it was always a common sight to see fish heads lolling about in the back of the fridge, ready to be incorporated into a spicy Korean stew or clear soup. In fact, most of the Asian grocery stores I visited had fish heads for sale right along side the more “desireable” cuts of meat. Shocked me to no end when I grew up and discovered that most people throw the heads, tails, entrails, and bones away.

    To this day, my Filipino step-mother’s favorite dish is fish eyeballs lightly dipped in a vinegar and soy sauce blend. I’ve never had salmon head before. Might have to give it a whirl (if I can ever find a whole salmon). I wonder if mackerel could be used as a quick subsitute for your miso soup as I come across whole specimens now and then.

  8. Awesome post and v. good reminder for all so-called salmon lovers: the action is in the “nasty bits.” I need to be reminded myself of this sometimes because it’s true that the deep red of a fillet is so enticing. Been meaning to make a salmon head soup for a while. Will try yours in a couple weeks when the pinks are cavorting in Puget Sound.

  9. No collars involved with the tongues served in Newfoundland…It’s the tongue and the flap of skin & meat underneath the tongue. The Newfie mother-n-law tells a story about when the kids around town used to go down to the wharfs when the cod fishermen would come back in and cut out the tongues from the cod frames. They’d walk around town with a sack of cod tongues, selling them door to door.

  10. Love salmon & beautiful pics. I bought some really good smoked-candied salmon at the Farmer’s Market.

  11. Carolina: Nope, never cooked cod “tongues,” which, as I understand, are not actually tongues, but rather collars.

    Sylvie: Yep, no salmon in the Rappahannock. I spent years fishing that river in Fredericksburg, and have put up lots and lots and lots of herring, as well as hickory shad. Caught lotsa stripers down by Westmoreland County.

  12. ahem! I have been informed by a fellow Rappahannock Co resident who also reads this blog that it’s not salmon that’s coming back up the Rappahannock river, but “Shad, Herring, Yellow Perch and Striped Bass (Rockfish). Not that they aren’t some tasty species, but they are no substitute for salmon. ” Not they aren’t. but I would not mind some herrings to pickle! because I ain’t going to get salmon like yours, Hank!

  13. Salmon for nose to tail: love it. Do salmon have nose or snout or … what? I won’t get river fresh salmon like that any time soon, but it’s fun to read about it and how the respectful way you are using it all. Ever since some of the dams have been removed on the Rappahannock (VA) river the salmons are now coming more upstream (and the eagles too), but I am too far up the mountain – still – for them…

  14. Thanks Hank. Just yesterday the mother in law fixed up some cod tongues and britches (roe) for dinner. Yum. You ever tried frying up fish tongues?!

    The subsistence fishery opens up in a about a week, so I hope to taste some fresh Newfie cod dishes.

    No luck on the Atlantics, yet.

  15. Jeff: Most reputable sushi places freeze their salmon before serving it as sushi — prevents seal worm, which is no fun. If they’ve never frozen it, that means you’re most likely eating farmed Atlantic salmon…

    ntsc: We’ve had this discussion before, and with unroasted meat I will go to a boil to get that froth, then drop the heat. Fish I never boil, so I’ with ya there.

    Carolina: Heard you just got married to a Newfie! Congrats, and enjoy eating all…that…codfish! Definitely give us a full report on the Atlantics, as I have not eaten a wild one in about a decade.

  16. It’s been three very long years since my last king salmon collar dinner. This post has driven me to purchase a salmon license during my stay in the Canadian Maritimes…I only hope Salmo salar tastes half as good as the Alaskan King’s I’ve eaten. Thanks for lighting the fire Hank!

  17. Amazing photos.

    I am of the opinion that when making stock (or soup) you do not want the liquid temperature to reach 190 F. I aim for 185.

    I also now do this when braising meat such as pot roast. I find that this temperature consistently brings moist meat, higher does not.

  18. Err… just read in Wikipedia that you’re not supposed to eat raw fish that’s been in brackish or fresh water. What a shame! That filet looks soo beautiful. Not to diminish the other preparations… the collar looks divine as well.

  19. The hard life you lead!! Salmon belly is a favorite of mine, I just love it. Love roasting out the bones, and picking off them.

    Great article mate, lovely photos from Holly