Canned Salmon

What the hell can you do with this stuff?


Last week I was cruising the warehouse store and came across a multi-pack of canned salmon. Salmon is one of the best things you can eat, right? Omega-3's and all that. I tossed it in my cart and brought it home.

Now I am faced with how to eat it. I usually keep some canned tuna around and have several ways to prepare it. None of which involve may-yo-naise, I'm not a fan. The salmon is obviously much stronger than the tuna so none of my concoctions are working. This includes the ones that are mainly hot sauce.

The one that I've found to be tasty is mixing it with BBQ sauce. I'm thinking maybe a hoisin or plumb sauce would work as well.

Anyone else tried the canned salmon?

I often use 1 can of salmon and 3 cans of tuna mixed with whatever goods you like to make a quick and easy fish salad. I don't like mayo much, but use some in the salad along with mustard, celery, bell pepper, jalapeno, salt and pepper.

I find the mix of the two fishes results in a much nicer consistency with more complex flavor.

Two things come to mind.

Salmon patties. Many recipes, but basically it boils down to this. Take some canned salmon and mix it with eggs, crackers (or oatmela), spices and whatever else (onions maybe). Form into patties and cook in a skillet until done. A variation of this is salmon loaf, which is made like regular meatloaf, except with salmon.

A simple party spread can be made with cream cheese (light or fat free, if you want it to be more healty), a little salt and pepper, some liquid smoke seasoning and the salmon. Blend it all together, add the liquid smoke to taste and spread on crackers, bagel crips, etc...

Red salmon is the good stuff, pink is sorta harsher and not as good. Generally you have to pick thru salmon to get the gross stuff out-the bigger bones, skin and gunk. One large can normal ready to eat soup size, and one half size can.

We do a sort of salmon loaf with lotsa green peppers and onions, egg and crackers for a body, spiced to suit. I use some garlic powder, salt and pepper.

In a sauce pan, we make a milk gravy and add in a bag (1 pound) of frozen peas, and salt and pepper, to serve on top of your salmon loaf.

Sorry, we don't use a recipe to do this.

I'm not a big salmon fan, so I try to cover the flavor up as much as possible when eating, even more so with canned. That being said I'm thinking like a eggs benedict except add a salmon hash into it. Fry up some diced potatoes with onion and peppers with salt and pepper and then mix in the salmon and serve over english muffins with eggs on top and a nice hollandaise sauce. Maybe an IPA on the side? Breakfast of champions. Definitely the salmon patties are a good one, classic childhood favorite, maybe it's barbaric but I loved 'em dipped in ketchup. Maybe a salmon hush puppy with corn meal and onions and spices, or some kind of a salmon dip?

McKBrew said:

Two things come to mind.

Salmon patties. Many recipes, but basically it boils down to this. Take some canned salmon and mix it with eggs, crackers (or oatmela), spices and whatever else (onions maybe). Form into patties and cook in a skillet until done.

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I do this with instant mashed potatoes (we call them fish cakes), I use enough instant taters to make the mix a nice consistency that sticks together (usually add in a few spices, whatever strikes your fancy). Make patty-like shapes, coat them in beaten egg, and then roll them in bread crumbs. Fry in a pan until cooked through and enjoy

McKBrew said:

Two things come to mind.

Salmon patties. Many recipes, but basically it boils down to this. Take some canned salmon and mix it with eggs, crackers (or oatmela), spices and whatever else (onions maybe). Form into patties and cook in a skillet until done. A variation of this is salmon loaf, which is made like regular meatloaf, except with salmon.

Click to expand...

QFT. My wife makes some killer salmon cakes...like crabcakes, but with canned salmon! A little secret: add chopped pecans to the mix. The crunch is awesome, and the flavors are complementary.

A simple party spread can be made with cream cheese (light or fat free, if you want it to be more healty), a little salt and pepper, some liquid smoke seasoning and the salmon. Blend it all together, add the liquid smoke to taste and spread on crackers, bagel crips, etc...

Click to expand...

IIWY, I'd not try this with canned salmon. Too damn fishy. I mean, I guess McK has tried it out, but I can't see doing much with canned salmon outside of salmon cakes.

Unless it's SMOKED canned salmon---which I just found the other day

Salmon burgers, they are awesome if you've never had them and I've only made them from canned salmon.

Evan! said:

QFT. My wife makes some killer salmon cakes...like crabcakes, but with canned salmon! A little secret: add chopped pecans to the mix. The crunch is awesome, and the flavors are complementary.



IIWY, I'd not try this with canned salmon. Too damn fishy. I mean, I guess McK has tried it out, but I can't see doing much with canned salmon outside of salmon cakes.

Unless it's SMOKED canned salmon---which I just found the other day

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Yeah, I probably should have clarified that pretty much every time I do this, it is with sport fished salmon that has been canned at home, vice the commercial product. Still, you can mask the flavor pretty damn well with some spices and seasonings and make a decent spread anyhow.

Thanks for the pecan idea Evan!, I think you might have just solved dinner for me tonight. (At least for the fish eaters in the house).

Salmon cakes are just simply awesome. It would have been my contribution to this thread had it not been mentioned numerous times already. :rockin:

I really hate to say it about such a wonderful & tasty fish like salmon, but the stuff in a can sucks IMHO. I love it raw, grilled, baked, poached, etc... But canning does something to it that just makes it unpalatable to me; the cat loves it tho. I think the best you can do is find a recipe that has enough other flavours to help mask the nastiness that whatever the canning process imparts to it; or feed it to your cat. Don't mean to dis anyone's fav fish in a can, It's just not something I'll eat unless I'm actualy starving in a cave during the zombie apocalypse. Even then I'd gag on the stuff. Regards, GF.

Yeah, the canned stuff is pretty strong. However, I think the patties/cakes approach is worth a try. Same with the hash.

Thanks for the ideas, gang!

The key to good tasting canned salmon is to remove the skin and the thin dark layer of meat (not much loss), this will greatly improve the taste. Some finely diced green peppers and onion in the patty mix makes it taste totally different. Also pick through for the bones and mash them well with a fork and add back to the mix, for the calcium.

I like the red salmon - don't care much for the pink. I like to cook some spiral pasta (about two cups dry), add a can of red salmon and some sliced green olives, sprinkle with white balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Serves two or three.

I can about half the salmon I harvest each year, about 60 pints worth. Mostly reds and silvers. I smoke all the salmon I can for an hour or two before canning to give it a good smoked flavor. My two favorite uses of canned salmon are a killer salmon chowder my wife makes and salmon salad sandwhichs (like tuna or chicken salad sandwhichs). Also use it in pasta salad, some casserole dishes, and such. One nice thing about canned salmon, it's much easier and cheaper shipping to relatives in the lower 48 than frozen salmon. Plus it saves room in the freezer for halibut!

Kershner_Ale said:

I can about half the salmon I harvest each year, about 60 pints worth. Mostly reds and silvers. I smoke all the salmon I can for an hour or two before canning to give it a good smoked flavor. My two favorite uses of canned salmon are a killer salmon chowder my wife makes and salmon salad sandwhichs (like tuna or chicken salad sandwhichs). Also use it in pasta salad, some casserole dishes, and such. One nice thing about canned salmon, it's much easier and cheaper shipping to relatives in the lower 48 than frozen salmon. Plus it saves room in the freezer for halibut!

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I envy folks in the Pacific NW because of all the fresh salmon they have access to. The pics of large coolers full of salmon filets makes me drool. I love the stuff.

My mom also used to make Salmon Croquettes (salmon cakes). I hated them at first and drenched them in ketchup but grew to like them. I'm cooking a tailpiece of fresh salmon tonight.

put it in a blender with some eggs, down it then lift some weights!

Sean From NH

SpanishCastleAle said:

I envy folks in the Pacific NW because of all the fresh salmon they have access to. The pics of large coolers full of salmon filets makes me drool. I love the stuff.

My mom also used to make Salmon Croquettes (salmon cakes). I hated them at first and drenched them in ketchup but grew to like them. I'm cooking a tailpiece of fresh salmon tonight.

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Pics like this....?

Yup! Beautiful!:rockin:

The only thing about canned salmon and tuna is that alot of the amino acids (omega 3 for instance) is destroyed in the industrial cooking process.