On a languid summer day, smoked sockeye is one of my go-to proteins, a perfect no-cook addition to any easy meal or snack. I thoroughly appreciate how I can cut open a pack of ready-to-eat sockeye and piece together a healthy plate of food, with minimal time and effort.
I have a few “no-cook” recipes ideas below. But first, let’s talk smoked salmon: WAC offers two types of smoked salmon, Hot Smoked Sockeye and Cold Smoked Sockeye. They’re named “hot” or “cold” based on the temperature at which the sockeye was smoked — 180F and less than 85F, respectively.
Cold smoked salmon is the one that’s probably most familiar to you. It’s the type you’d expect to layer onto a bagel. Though, if you’ve never had cold smoked salmon made with wild-caught sockeye before, I’ll say that it’s nothing like you’ve ever had — it’s intensely salmon-y, an essential component of a better bagel.
For a fully no-cook meal made with Cold Smoked Sockeye Salmon: Try making Smoked Sockeye Toast with Avocado and Feta. This recipe is an upgrade to your run-of-the-mill slice of avocado toast. I’ve had this as breakfast, as an afternoon pick-me-up, or even a light dinner on a hot night when my appetite has been suppressed by the heat. It literally takes 5 minutes to make.
Are you familiar with Hot Smoked Sockeye Salmon? It’s smoked at relatively high temperatures, so it takes on a meaty bite, flakable and firm like a cooked fillet, but more concentrated in flavor. It packs tons of savory umami. And if you were at all confused by the word “hot,” I just want to reiterate that this describes the smoking process — it’s not spicy, though it is seasoned with a bit of black pepper to help enhance its smoky flavor. Hot smoked sockeye is an all-purpose protein to flake into all sorts of dishes: pastas, rice bowls, potato salads, scallion pancakes. You name it, you can hot-smoked-salmon it.
For a fully no-cook meal made with Hot Smoked Sockeye Salmon: Try making Hot Smoked Sockeye Flatbread with Herby Yogurt. You could enjoy this recipe as breakfast, lunch, dinner, or as an appetizer to share with friends. The yogurt sauce is the epitome of simple, only requiring light chopping and a quick turn of the spoon. Schmear it on toasted flatbread, then generously arrange pieces of Hot Smoked Sockeye onto your canvas. The WAC recipe team made this at yesterday’s Live Event. Catch the full recording here, if you want to see how simple it is to make.
For more recipe inspo, read all about the differences between Hot Smoked Sockeye and Cold Smoked Sockeye on the WAC blog.
Live Wild,
Monica
Pictured above: Hot Smoked Sockeye Salmon generously layered with yogurt, radishes and herbs onto a toasty flatbread.
