A traditional baked haddock is my favorite when I need a crowd-pleasing seafood dish. However, when the public wants something different, it’s nice to know I can get quality salmon at a decent price. My local fish markets often sell high quality farmed and sometimes wild salmon. I recently gained two kilos Hidden fjord Faroe Island Salmon brand thanks to the excellent team of Cape Ann lobstermen.
It’s not exactly a secret that salmon and brown sugar are a perfect match. The oils contained in the salmon blend with the sugar crystals in an almost foolproof way. I never ate much salmon, until about 2019, but now salmon is everywhere. It’s the world’s favorite fish, so I tend to eat more of it than I’d prefer, for the sake of the website.
In its raw form, Faroese salmon is almost dripping with fat, with characteristic silky white lines. Even the fattest wild king doesn’t get to this level, which makes it difficult for me to compare high-quality farmed salmon with wild salmon.
Wild salmon and farmed salmon
This leads to the inevitable question about my opinion on wild versus farmed wildlife: I see wild capture more as wild game – a nice piece of venison or a wild boar steak. We ate a lot of venison growing up and I love it…but I don’t expect it to taste like a Kansas City ribeye. It has its own flavor and texture profile and, like most wild game, is much leaner than domestic animals.
Wild salmon can be expensive, and rightly so. Alaskan king salmon was selling for $30 a pound at Whole Foods when I wrote this. So far my experiences with cheaper wild species like pink salmon have been disappointing. I live on the East Coast of the United States, so I consider wild salmon a rare treat, best enjoyed in season if possible. If I lived on the West Coast, I would have better access to quality wild salmon and I would choose that. I personally disagree with salmon farming in areas where it competes with wild salmon fishing.
Farmed salmon is becoming more and more similar to domestic beef, including varying degrees of quality. Much of the farmed salmon out there is the equivalent of a generic supermarket steak. There is a lot of bad farmed fish out there and I avoid it if I’m not familiar with the brand. I would rather spend money on local, wild fish than cheap farmed salmon.
Because I like salmon from the Faroe Islands
Faroese salmon, particularly Hiddenjord and Bakkafrost, produce superior quality fish using high-quality feed, natural pigment sources, no antibiotics and no overcrowded sea pens. With the amount of marbling in their fish, the Faroe Islands are the aquatic equivalent of Wagyu beef, in terms of relative quality, not price. The beautiful fillets I bought recently were still less than half the price of Alaskan king salmon from Whole Foods.
We all expect to pay a little more for Angus, or local grass-fed beef, so it makes sense to do the same with farm-raised beef. For a few dollars more you will get a better product, better tasting and overall healthier. This is my favorite farmed salmon until I find a reason not to choose Faroese salmon.
Faroe Island salmon with brown sugar and maple syrup
Kitchen: SeafoodDifficulty: Easy
Thicker pieces of fish, center cuts, work better for this recipe. If the fillets are thin it is better to use less seasoning, so that you can still taste the salmon.
ingredients
-
1.5-2 lb high quality salmon, trimmed and deboned.
-
1/2 cup brown sugar
-
3-4 lemons peeled and cut into thin slices.
-
1 bunch fresh dill, sprigs and some chopped.
-
1 tablespoon. Dried herbs: Thyme, Sage
-
3 tbsp. Butter
-
2-3 tablespoons. Maple Syrup (Grade A Amber)
-
Salt and pepper
Notes
- Adding oranges to citrus fruits is a great tasting option. If you have seedless varieties you can serve the cooked slices together with the fish: even the rind will be tender and delicious.
- You can choose to remove the skin before cooking, but it should be easily removed after cooking.
Many chefs suggest brining salmon before cooking to prevent messy whites from coming out. I think this is more of a problem when there is a lot of gray matter on the fillets. Faroese salmon has very little gray matter, so I decided not to pickle it. and there wasn’t too much “white stuff”.
The verdict on Faroe Islands salmon
This didn’t come out good… it came out great! When you work with ingredients of this quality, it will probably come out good no matter what. The only thing that can go wrong is overcooking.
The massage was obviously gentle, but not cloying. The tasty thyme and sage enhance the flavor. Faroese salmon has an intense flavor, sweetened by all the fat, making the experience silky smooth.
This simple recipe has become very popular in my family and I think it will be in yours too. Try it with a piece of wild salmon, rainbow trout or arctic char for a slightly different flavor.
