Tender, versatile salmon is the centerpiece of traditional dishes all over the world. From Swedish cured salmon with a bright honey-mustard sauce to Japanese-style skewers, yogurt-marinated filets from India, and more, here are 15 of our favorite preparations from around the globe.
Classic cured salmon is served with a bright mustard-honey sauce in this recipe adapted from Jake Tilson’s In At The Deep End. Flavored with pepper, cloves, and dill, the fish requires at least 5 days to cure, so be sure to plan ahead. Use the best-quality salmon you can find.
These salmon skewers are basted with a sweet sauce, then grilled over charcoal to caramelize the sauce and add a smoky flavor. Get the recipe for Salmon Yakitori »
Salmon has been a pillar of Russian cuisine for centuries. In lean times, all parts of the fish went into the soup, say Glenn R. Mack and Asele Surina in their book Food Culture in Russia and Central Asia. But in “more prosperous times [they] were strained out to make a clear broth”. Get the recipe for Ukha Soup»
JAPAN For thousands of years, Japanese cooks have used the fermented soybean paste called miso to preserve fish. Now that modern refrigeration is available, they turn to miso not for its preservative qualities but for the sweet and salty flavor it lends.
FRANCE Elegant and surprisingly easy to prepare, the salmon in this dish is immersed in a buttery, wine- and mussel-infused broth. (Nage is the French word for swim.)
SOUTH PACIFIC This beautiful appetizer was created at the former Ritz-Carlton Mauna Lani in Hawaii, where it was inspired by a local island kitchen and dressed up to create a “Ritzy” version of lomi-lomi salmon for the hotel’s upscale clientele.
In the Ireland of old, fish and shellfish, especially the latter, were so inexpensive that they were often considered the food of the poor. In the 18th century, posted notices advertised you could get a beer for twopence and salmon and lobster for nothing. Get the recipe for Smoked Salmon with Pickled Chanterelles »
This potato salad—flavored with crabmeat, salmon caviar, and garlic-laced mayonnaise—was created by Tom Hudgins when he lived in the Russian city of Vladivostok.
UNITED STATES You don’t need a smoker to lend a slightly spicy, faintly sweetish hint of the outdoors to fresh salmon. On board a friend’s boat in Alaskan waters, we improvised this method with strips from cedar logs. Back home, we substituted shakes of untreated aromatic cedar (sold by the bundle at lumberyards and hardware stores).
