Whole Poached Salmon Recipe

A whole Poached salmon recipe is perfect for feeding a crowd. Economical & easy to make ahead of time, Poached Salmon recipes are both Healthy, Low Carb & Low Fat.(so ticks all the boxes!)

Even if you haven’t done much cooking before this Whole Poached Salmon is a lot easier than it looks. Make it the centrepiece of your buffet table this party season and impress your friends and family.

You could also do as I did, when my hubby and I got married during a hot Summer we didn’t want hot food so opted for whole poached salmon as part of our Wedding Breakfast.

For this recipe, as it’s invariably for a special occasion it’s best to use wild Salmon if you can get it.

Ingredients - serves 16 - 20

• 8lb/3.75kg Whole Salmon (wild for preference)
• Water
• Salt

To Dress

• Watercress
• Crisp Lettuce leaves
• Lemon segments
• good quality Mayonnaise (or make your own)

Method

You may have noticed that this recipe doesn’t use a Court Bouillon to cook the salmon. That’s fine, it’s just a different way to cook it, there are many schools of thought and if you feel that you want to use a court bouillon, then go ahead.

In order to poach a whole salmon in 1 piece you will need a Fish Kettle.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to rush out and buy one, if there is a kitchen shop or friendly restaurant near you, it may be possible to hire one (I quite often used to pop over the road to the restaurant and borrow large enough pans to cook both Salmon and Lobster).

If that isn’t possible, just follow the instructions for Oven Poached Salmon
Clean & gut the fish, leaving the head, tail & scales on.

Measure cold water into the Fish Kettle until half full. Add 1 rounded tablespoon of sea salt per 1.2 litres (2 pints) of water. Cover and bring to the boil.

Take the lid off and immerse the whole salmon, (the water should just cover the fish) bring back to the boil, simmer for 2 minutes turn off the heat and, with the lid on, leave until the fish is completely cold.

Take the salmon out of the water and drain.

To Serve

Slide the fish onto a large, oval platter.
Just before serving take off the top skin by cutting around the back of the head behind the gills and peeling the skin until you reach the tail. Cut the skin straight across the base of the tail and remove.

Arrange the watercress or lettuce leaves around it with segments of lemon on top.

For further decoration you can do several things:-

Cut very thin slices of cucumber, half them and arrange along the Poached Salmon to represent scales.

Pipe Mayonnaise down the centre of the fish and garnish with small pieces of fennel or dill.

Personally, I like to leave it as it is and just serve the Poached salmon recipe with a bowl of homemade Mayonnaise or give my cheats Hollandaise made in a blender a go.