Farmed Salmon, Oh My!

It was approaching Saturday night, and we were craving a fish dinner. Oven-baked salmon was the fish dish that popped to mind, so off we went to Bryan's (THE fresh meat, poultry and fish grocer located in the Laurel Heights neighborhood) to pick up something fresh.

The fresh day boat scallops glistened, tempting me to abandon our salmon-eating plans, but then I spotted the fresh, farmed salmon. OK, it's not politically correct to eat farmed salmon, and as the Audubon Society warns against eating this particular fish, I probably should have thought twice about buying it. But mmm, it looked delicious and fresh. The woman waiting to place her order after me, however, wouldn't buy it, literally.

Woman (to Bryan's fish-counter man): "Excuse me, do you have any fresh, wild salmon?"

Fish-counter man: "We have fresh, farmed salmon."
W: "OK, but do you have any fresh salmon that isn't farmed?"

FCM: "The farmed salmon IS fresh."

W: "Yes, but do you have anything wild?"

Clearly, the fish-counter man has had enough of the SF do-gooders and their wild salmon-eating ways that he's prepared to give them a hard time when presented with questions like these. Hopefully I'm still in his good graces, as I kept my mouth shut and just bought the "offending" salmon without hesitation.

We later turned these nice slivers of fresh (but farmed) fish into a pepper-crusted, maple & soy-glazed baked salmon à la the Surreal Gourmet, (Off the Eaten Path, Ballantine Books, 2000), and served them alongside a homemade rice pilaf composed of jasmine white, carrots, zucchini, onions and chicken broth. What a tasty dinner!

The syrup tried to "brand" itself into the marinade by taking the shape of a distorted maple leaf when added to the soy sauce:

Pepper-crusted salmon ready for the oven:

Finished meal: