Salmon Recipe Healthy and Inexpensive!

"The men were astonished at the numbers of salmon in the river, mostly dying after the spawn and therefore inedible. The water was so clear that, no matter how deep the river, the bottom was plainly visible."
From the Journals of Captain Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (October, 1805)

General Salmon Information

Salmon as a food source is widely known in the United States. Commercial fishing for salmon began almost as soon as the West Coast of the United States was settled by Europeans. The most recent touting of salmon as a health food has brought on heavy fishing of salmon as well as farming of salmon.

Salmon can vary from a delicate pale pink to almost ruby red. It is a salt water fish that spawns in fresh water. Salmon can be found in Scottish recipes (smoked lightly) to Indian recipes (hard smoked.)

The over fishing and harvesting of salmon has lead to placing some salmon on the endangered fishing list. Many salmon populations are near to being placed on the endangered fishing list. This has lead to stricter controls on fishing the salmon. Also, there are now many salmon farming businesses but that leads to discussions on how healthy the fish harvested from man made farms are.

Still, salmon is a premier food and is very good for you. Let’s all be responsible in our use of this natural food source.

There are five types of Pacific Ocean salmon to include; Sockeye or Red, Coho or Silver, Chinook or King, Pink or Humpback, and Chum or Dog.

The Pink or Humpback is used for canning. It is the smallest of the Pacific Salmon. It is the fish used in this recipe.

Salmon is also generally upwards of $15.00 a pound. However, most people over look the humble can of Alaskan Pink Salmon. This salmon is wild caught and canned. These cans weigh in at 14.75 ounces and run about $2.90 everyday and there are sales on the cans often. Do try to stock up when you can.

Canned salmon includes the healthy heart protective omega-3 fatty acids with no trans fats. It has no carbohydrates. It is also low in salt. Canned salmon is also a mild flavored salmon. The canned salmon is naturally high in protein, a good source of calcium, natural, wild caught and Dolphin safe. So, save a lot of money and still enjoy salmon. These salmon patties take every advantage of the mild taste and healthiness of the salmon.

If you are a carbohydrate counter you can control how many crackers/carbs you use and what kind of cracker. By chilling the patties you help them retain their shape while frying without using many more crackers.

These salmon patties were a staple when I was growing up. I have always enjoyed them and continue to make them and improve on them.

We ‘Harvest’ our own Salmon in Kotzebue Alaska

Here are some pictures of a salmon we harvested ourselves on a trip to Kotzebue Alaska. Kotzebue is some 20 miles above the Arctic Circle. My husband’s sister and brother-in-law lived and worked there for many years.

We ‘harvested’ the fish by walking down to the bay and purchasing it from a Native fisherman. The WHOLE fish only cost $3.00. The guy, husband, holding it is 6’4” which shows just how big the salmon was! My sister-in-law was very good at filleting it. Due to the size of the fish she had to fillet it on newspapers on her kitchen floor. Do note her cat, James Bond, admiring her skill at filleting the fish. I am sure the cat was only admiring her skill and not angling to snatch a piece of salmon.

It was good! Wish you were there, well not really because there wouldn’t have been enough for all of you. But I do wish you to have salmon this good too!

Enjoy the recipe above!