My household had an embarrassment of riches this week. Not only was I planning on enjoying a beautiful piece of Wester Ross Smoked Salmon, but my dad, the Striper King, told me to come down to the lobster boat to pick up a load of steamer clams…yum!

Steamers and some of the finest salmon in the world? This must be how rich people eat…or at least how I’d eat if I were rich…

I’ve already talked about how I prepare my steamed clams so no need to cover that again. Let’s talk about that smoked salmon.

The Product and Packaging

I received this piece of heather honey, hot-smoked salmon as a sample from the nice people at the Wester Ross Salmon booth during SENA 2019. The salmon was tightly vacuum sealed and placed on a hard backing that could double as a makeshift cutting board.

The salmon itself is an all-natural, ocean-raised, artisan product containing only the fish, sea salt, heather honey, and brown sugar. The salmon is hot smoked with oak chips and it weighed in at a little over a half a pound. The rich color of the smoked fish was not from any added coloring, with fish and ingredients this good, you don’t need caramel coloring to make your salmon looked right.

Upon opening the package my nostrils were filled with the heady aroma of wood smoke and the salmon. The fish was not saturated in oil so I didn’t have to deal with a puddle after removing the salmon from the package.

Unfortunately my knife skills, and my knife, did not do this high-end piece of salmon justice. Even after watching several videos on how to do it right, I feel like I mangled the salmon into small pieces. Although it didn’t look as good in small pieces, it still tasted great and worked out better for what I had planned.

The Recipe: Scottish Smoked Salmon Cucumber Canapes

It’s not much of a recipe, but it came together quickly:

• Approx 1/4 lb of Wester Ross Scottish Smoked Salmon
• 1 Large cucumber sliced
• Cream cheese
• Sprigs of fresh dill

Once you have your salmon sliced thinly, spread some cream cheese on the cucumber slices, then some dill, finally top with your smoked salmon. A little freshly ground black pepper won’t hurt either.

The Verdict

This salmon was perfectly hot smoked, not dried out at all, retaining enough moisture that is almost melted in my mouth. I enjoyed the natural salmon flavor coming through, not covered up by too much smoke or sweetness. All the flavors were in balance and with that comes smoked fish nirvana.

I really like the combination of cucumber, cream cheese and dill with this salmon, but I keep thinking that I’d like to have it with eggs, like in a salmon and cream cheese omelette or scramble. Maybe in a smoked salmon benedict? It’s not lox, but it would certainly work in its place on an everything bagel, or some nice dark rye or pumpernickel toast.

In fact, later that night I had a craving and so I toasted myself a piece of Italian bread from Sclafani’s and topped it with the cream cheese, dill and salmon for a late night snack.

Thank you again Wester Ross for your generosity and I can’t wait to break out the piece of your salmon in my freezer. And of course thanks to dad, the steamed clams came out excellent as well…