Butter Poached Salmon


You know that old Beatles song, I get by with a little help from friends? Well I am a result of all of my friends. I don't just get by with a little help, most of what I do is the direct result of the people around me. It was my friend Rick Edwards who encouraged me to start this blog. My buddy Eric Passe has taught me most of what I know about duck and goose hunting. All of my friends have at sometime brought be some kind of wild game or fish or have save me specific parts so I could try something new. Most recently I had asked my group of facebook friends if anyone had a goose breast that I could get. Eric didn't have one but he checked with the rest of his family and found some goose breasts. My buddy Jeremy Vanlandingham called me and said why don't you come on down and we can butcher one of geese. Jeremy raises geese and was willing to let me kill one just so I could cook a recipe. I don't just get by with help from my friends I thrive because of the help from my friends.


This post is a prime example of those friends helping out. This salmon was caught in Alaska by my buddy Mike Keller and his wife Christine. Mike and Christine gave me a few packs of salmon and a bunch of Halibut and I have been making posts about all of it. My soul brother Shawn Bergeth who has been my biggest fan bought me the Sous Vide machine for my birthday this year. This whole post is the direct result of my friends. I have tried very hard to be appreciative and try to give back to all of them but I will never be able to give them all what they truly deserve, so let me just thank you to all of them for their support and generosity. I would love to list them all here but inevitably I would forget someone and that would make me feel stupid.  

This is a new thing for me, the sous vide precision cooker that Shawn bought me has been something I have wanted for a long time. For those unfamiliar the sous vide is a device that cooks meat, fish, eggs or vegetables by vacuum sealing them and then submerging it in a water bath that is set to a precise temperature. It is without a doubt the most accurate way to cook something and can be a time saver. I you wanted to cook a piece of venison to an exact 140 degrees you just set the temperature and place the meat in the water and leave it for a set amount of time. That's it, after it is cooked all you have to do is remove it form the bag and sear it in a pan for about 45 seconds on each side and it is done. Perfectly cooked and ready to go. 

For this salmon I wanted to cook it in butter and herbs so I sealed the butter and the salt, pepper, and thyme in the bag with the salmon. It was submerged in a water bath at 130 degrees for about 2 hours. after the 2 hours I removed it from the bag and seared it in a pan with some of the butter from the bag. I seared it for about 30 seconds on high heat and served it with a horseradish dill sauce. It was perfectly cooked and beyond tender. Thank you Shawn for the fancy new cooking tool and thank you to Mike and Christine for the delicious salmon.