Marguerita loves whole fillet salmon and follows this simple recipe every time: rinse the fillet and put it wet onto dry foil over a cookie sheet (or directly onto the cookie sheet, but the non-stick ones are not the best for this). The dry foil or tin/aluminum cookie sheet (NOT non-stick) will let the skin adhere to the foil or pan and that makes serving so much easier.

Using your hand, smear on olive oil or butter, sprinkle with whole raw onion rings and put into a HOT oven, under the broiler and let cook (remember to cock open the oven door!) for 10-15 minutes*. Once the fillet is cooked for the appropriate time, without removing it from the oven, shut the oven door, turn off the heat and leave the fish in the oven for the exact same amount of time that you cooked it for.

*Now, there’s a big difference between 10 and 15 minutes and the difference is determined by the thickest portion of the fish. I *do* remember how scared I was to ruin a salmon fillet by over cooking it, and I understand the fear. Never “over estimate” because the time spent just “sitting” in the oven after cooking will ensure that the fillet is cooked through without being overcooked. 10 minutes for a thin fillet (3/4″ or less in the thickest portion) and 15 minutes for a very thick fillet. Most of the time I use 13 minutes for an average fillet. It’s got to be a whopper to get the whole 15 minutes, and a very small fish or just a tail section to only have 10 minutes.

The Buchanan Family has been stripping fish and hanging it to dry/smoke for decades. They have a smokehouse and it takes 40 fish at a time and is a family event. First of all, everyone who can fish, does. It takes a lot of fisherman to catch 40 fish (and often we will do a batch with less) and it takes a lot more work to clean the fish, brine them, slice, tie strings on, hang and then monitor the woodstove. But oh is it worth it! Our favorite treat is the smoked strips of meat!
(more pics coming soon!)