Salmon integral to Scottish cuisine
So claims Paul Wedgwood, chef and owner of Wedgwood’s on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, who is well placed to wax lyrical about a fish that seldom strays from his menu, where it can feature in numerous forms.
“It’s such a versatile product,” he reflects, “and although it has its own distinct flavour profile it combines well with so many others – sweet, sour, savoury or earthy – and it can go with anything.
“A staple on our menu is seasame and soy-glazed salmon on a bed of braised pak choi, alongside salmon tartare with a lobster and black bean nori roll.”
Paul has been working in kitchens across Britain since the age of 12 and Scottish salmon has been a constant.
“There’s always Scottish salmon on the menu. It’s renowned throughout Scotland and there is a perception that it’s always going to taste fantastic".
Most recently Paul is exporting Scottish smoked salmon to Barbados, where his new business Relish now has three deli/restaurants.
Ian McAndrew, chef and owner of the Blackaddie Hotel, on the banks of the River Nith in Dumfries, echoes Paul’s views – both that salmon is very much expected by his diners and that it can be produced in a huge variety of often inventive guises for his guests.
Ian was the youngest British chef to ever obtain a coveted Michelin star, back in 1980, and he feels Scottish salmon is a great ingredient.
One of his favourite recipes, he explains, is: “Salmon mi cuit (French for almost cooked), which is cooked very, very lightly at a low temperature in a vacuum bag with only a tiny amount of olive oil and seasoning. 10 minutes at 40°C is long enough for a starter-sized portion and the end result has a texture which is fantastic and a real intensity in the flavour”.
Ian also cures his own salmon using a mixture of salt, sugar, black pepper, juniper berries, lemon juice and dill, sometimes adding a beetroot cure to create a lovely rich dark red surface on the fish.
“While working as a food consultant in the 1980s,” he recalls, “I was working with a smokehouse in Kent which had a lorry deliver salmon produced from the tidal waters off Benbecula – a site where the fish were having to constantly swim. It was a hell of a long way to go for their fish, but it made for some really super salmon.”
