My culinary heritage: Dijon Salmon

As part of my culinary goals, I am revisiting my culinary heritage by re-creating and re-imagining my family recipes. This post is about one of those delicious creations!

Today’s recipe is another from my maternal grandfather’s collection: Salmon – Mustard Marinated (or, as I am going to call it: Dijon Salmon). My first attempt at this was a definite success, although I think I’ll make some changes moving forward.

This recipe was meant to by my Lenten “fish on a Friday” meal, but I had to work on Thursday which meant I missed the mobile fishmonger that comes by the house on Thursday mornings. On Friday, I planned to go to Waitrose to select some nice salmon filets, but I ran out of time so went to the Tesco next to my office instead. Only their very limited salmon offerings were not to my high standards. And so, I ended up going to a larger Tesco nearer home on Saturday to find suitable fish.

Sadly, the selection at that shop wasn’t much better. However, they had some wild caught Alaskan Sockeye which caught my eye (caught, eye… get it?). I wouldn’t normally buy Alaskan salmon in Scotland because of the carbon footprint, but the quality of the local stuff* was looking questionable so I had to opt for the good stuff.

The recipe calls for ¼ cup of white wine. As I am not generally a white wine drinker, I didn’t want a large bottle, so I opted for a small one which allowed me one glass along with dinner. I also used red onion, which wasn’t ideal, but I had a couple in the house already.

Rather than broiling (UK=grilling) the fish, I opted to bake it as I would for a simple salmon fillet. The problem with this, however, is that after soaking in the acidic marinade for three hours, the fish was already partially “cooked” or “denatured”**. That means my fish was over-cooked in the end. Next time, I will keep that in mind with the timing of the meal.

But part of the challenge to cook all the family recipes is so that I can learn and improve my culinary skills. So, this was a win!

This has also reminded me of Grandpa and the pipe-smoking purple fish on the riverbanks. But that’s a post for another day.

Salmon – Mustard Marinated
(Dijon Salmon)

6 (4 to 6 ounce each) salmon steaks
⅛ teaspoon each salt and pepper
2 cloves minced garlic
3 tablespoons each Dijon mustard and minced onion
¼ cup each vegetable oil, white wine and lemon juice

Method

Combine everything except salmon in a large shallow dish. Turn salmon in mustard mixture to coat. Marinate in refrigerator for 3 hours; turn after 1½ hours. Put salmon on a well-oiled rack or broiler. Brush with marinade and place 4 inches from heat. Broil, allowing 10 minutes of cooking time per inch of thickness or until salmon flakes when tested with a fork. Turn steaks halfway through cooking time and brush with marinade. The recipe can be halved.

My changes

• I cooked my salmon in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for nearly 20 minutes. This was far too long!
• Olive oil instead of vegetable oil

Future changes

• Broil/grill instead of baking
• Decrease oil and increase mustard
• Consider a bit of Coleman’s mustard powder
• Shorter marinating time

I really enjoyed this meal. I never would have thought to combine Dijon and salmon before and now I have a new flavour profile to add to my salmon recipe rotation. So, thanks, Grandpa!

* To be clear: Scottish salmon is wonderful, in general. This was just a poor-quality farmed option that isn’t suitable for someone who’s a bit of a fish snob.
** It’s the same idea as “cooking” ceviche.