Wild Alaska Salmon Burgers

by Kirsten Dixon

We’ve been saving scraps and trim from filleting whole sockeye salmon to make burgers for our staff dinners. When we make burgers, we can scrape enough flesh from the backbone carcass of the fish with a spoon to add an extra burger or two. We don’t waste a thing. Take a look at the photo included in this article to see how much meat can be salvaged from a discarded salmon carcass. It really is remarkable.

When we make salmon burgers, we puree part of the salmon meat and cube another part of it. This textural variation makes a nice firm burger without having to add any egg or bread filler into the patty. We just add in herbs, seasonings and spices to give our burgers a little zing, shape them, and grill or sauté them. I like red onions, either pickled or grilled, with salmon. We’ve been using smoked paprika from Spain as a nice complement to salmon burgers lately. The lime and cilantro add a refreshing summer touch. We’ve had a little habit lately of making our own root chips and other vegetable crisps to serve with burgers. We’ve been sprinkling dried sea lettuce over our chips as a kind of salty accent.

Wild Alaska Salmon Burgers

1 pound boneless, skinless Alaska sockeye salmon

2 tablespoons minced cilantro

2 tablespoons green onion, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced

Juice of half a lime

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1 pinch smoked paprika

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Dice half of the salmon into 1/8-inch cubes. Puree the other half in a food processor. Combine both the salmons together in a medium bowl. Combine together the cilantro, green onion, garlic, lime juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, and smoked paprika. Add this mixture into the salmon, stirring to gently combine. Season the salmon with salt and pepper.

Shape the salmon into 4 patties and chill until ready to grill or sauté.

Makes 4 burgers.

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photos: Tyrone Potgieter