Burgers - Salmon

Just as good as a beef burger, and even easier (a little) to make -- we said that before, about the Mahi-Mahi burger, but it applies here with the salmon burger as well. In the old days, no one would think of making a fish burger of any kind, except maybe for a few afficiandos (pun intended), but in fact fish takes very well to the burger format.

Again, as previously noted, there's something satisfying about the burger format, particularly when the burger we have created is a substantial one. We get to hold something of weight in our hands, chomp into it, and get a great mix of flavors.

Admittedly, in this case, there is a certainly similarity between our final product here and the Grilled Salmon Sandwich we made earlier in our series. Yet there is difference between the two also. Here the salmon comes in pre-made burger form; it has that burger look and feel which is so special right from the start.

Burger - Mahi-Mahi is here and Burger - Beef is here. All of the burgers in this series are round, for what that is worth. I suppose you could make a square burger or a rectangular -- or even a triangular -- burger, but it just wouldn't be the same, would It?

These are frozen patties that have not been thawed before being taken straight from the freeze and put on a preheated grill. (You have preheated your grill, have you not?) Trader Joe's is a good place to buy them, though similar fare may be found in other stores. The meat here is a bit denser than it is with the piece of salmon filet we used for our grilled salmon sandwich. In addition to being in a different shape.

It is this denser texture, and of course the round format, that makes for the burger format. No doubt this salmon patty here is the result of smaller pieces of salmon having been pressed together to form burger patties. I don't think the salmon has been ground up and then reformed, though, the way beef is ground up and becomes hamburger. Maybe someone can enlighten us on this in the Comments, below.

Slap 'em on the grill, with a little EVOO, and let's get started. (For EVOO, click here).

Even not having been thawed, the salmon patties don't take very long on the grill. Four or five minutes a side. These have just been flipped. so It won't be long now. Of course, the convenience of just taking something out of the freezer and rapidly turning it into something really good to hold in the hand is a significant part of what we are doing here.

Look pretty good, don't they? Those attractive grill marks whet our appetite, it has to be admitted. We always want grill marks like those when we are grilling something, even fruits and vegetables.

Of course, we are not using a traditional hamburger bun here -- though we could. Instead, we are using grilled sourdough bread, two pieces cut from a baguette. With the Mahi Mahi burger we grilled one rather large slice of bread cut from a loaf, then cut it in half lengthwise to form the top and bottom of the bun. But here we are using a baguette, and one of the principal uses of the baguette worldwide must be to make sandwiches -- a burger in this case.

There are lots of choices for what to put on the bread with the salmon burgers. Here we have Dijon mustard on one half of the bread and mayo on the other, undoubtedly the combination I use most frequently when it comes, especially, to fish between bread. Also, tomato slices, and a few capers on the bread. We could grill the tomato slices here also, but this time we have opted for fresh -- a change from our usual practice. Do not omit the capers, if you have them. Capers are a bit salty and go so very well with tomatoes, but in fact in this case they also go so very well with the salmon itself.

Wow! This looks and smells so good!

Or, as the French would say, "Le Burger".

And what French man, French woman, Italian, Spaniard, Greek, German, Pole, Czech, Finn, Swede, American -- ad infinitum -- wouldn't love to bite into this?

A little bit unusually, we have two patties on this one burger here. Why?

We were hungry.

"Le Burger" is of course a French adaptation of an English word, but mayonnaise goes the other way -- in fact we English-speakers came to like this French sauce so much that we just swallowed the word whole, as it were.

Apparently the Spanish also have a claim to mayo (salsa mayonesa, from the 18th century), but it is clear that the French were the ones who propagated it in ways which result in its incredible popularity over a very wide area of the globe today. One astute observer is quoted as saying "It is highly probable that wherever olive oil existed, a simple preparation of oil and egg came about — particularly in the Mediterranean region, where aioli (oil and garlic) is made."

Mustard is stronger of taste and of a more ancient origin. Apparently Romans, no doubt including their soldiers who were out conquering the world, developed the mustards which have come down to us.

It should be noted that in combining mayo and mustard as we do for this burger (and for other sandwiches) has a precedent in that in the emulsification process of beating oil and egg yolk together to make may, mustard is sometimes added to aid that process and to add a sharper note of taste.

Real Meal. Unlike fancy food mags, where images are hyped and food itself is secondary, all pix shown here are from a real meal, prepared and eaten by me and my friends. No throwing anything away till perfection is achieved. This is the real deal --- a Real Meal.