We love salmon. Especially grilled salmon. So one day when my brother-in-law served us a shrimp dish along with Asian Cole Slaw it got me thinking about just how good that slaw would taste as accompaniment to a similarly seasoned salmon burger. Just to illustrate how even a foodie like my alter ego, Chef Hacker, can be out of touch with food trends at any given moment, let me tell you that I was shocked to discover that the Asian Cole Slaw and Salmon Burger pairing was already a popular combination! Live and learn.
So I got to work researching salmon burgers. As usual this meant internet searches and cook book scanning. I found dozens of options from simple recipes that directed me to pan fry mixtures of canned salmon, eggs and breadcrumbs to complicated formulations with exotic ingredients that I’m sure would be used only in that one recipe and would then find their way to the bottom of my fridge or the back of my pantry next to the dried Wattleseed that I purchased for that Australian dish I made during the Nixon administration.
I have for a long time tried to avoid making dishes that require unusual spices or other seasonings that are unique to a single dish. It can be wasteful (see “Wattleseed” comment above), it discounts the Pizza Principal, and it often requires lengthy web searches and store visits to procure. Generally, the reward is not worth the effort. I find it much more interesting to try to create a dish with a similar taste profile using the seasonings I generally use in other recipes and so, often already have on hand.
So that is the approach I took for the recipe below. I cube the salmon using a knife but you could get similar results by pulsing it briefly in a food processor – just be careful since the small cube size you are looking to achieve can quickly turn into an unappetizing paste. If you err, do it on the side of being too large. This recipe is not very different from the dozens you find on the web but it is fun to make and very tasty. It works well if you pan fry it indoors but my preference is to grill it outdoors. Pair it with some slaw if you like! Give it a try and let us know what you think. Or, even better, hack it for yourself and let us know how you did it!
