Purchase and Preparation
To ensure you enjoy salmon at its freshest and its best
The words ‘Scottish Farmed Salmon’ on a label are your reassurance that the fish you are about to buy is rich in the health enhancing long chain Omega-3s and has been produced to the highest standards of welfare and environmental care.
Selecting Scottish Farmed Salmon
To ensure you’re buying the freshest whole salmon every time make sure:
- the salmon is silvery in colour, with bright eyes
- the gills are pale pink
- there little or no smell
- the flesh is cold and firm
To ensure you are buying the freshest smoked salmon every time make sure:
- it’s well within the sell-by date
- the flesh is orangey-red in colour
- it has a moist appearance
- the packaging is hygienic and sealed
How Much To Buy
Below are some helpful weights to guide you when you’re buying raw, unprepared salmon for cooking as a main course.
- 275-300g (9-10oz) per person
- 1.8kg (4lb) for 6 people
- 2.3kg (5lb) for 8
- 4kg (9lb) for 16 people
Once prepared and cooked, 50g (2oz) per person is sufficient if you’re serving salmon as a starter and 125-175g (4-6oz) will feed each person as a main course dish. Don’t forget that if a recipe requires flaked salmon a 175g (6oz) cooked salmon steak will produce about 100g (3oz) of fish once you’ve discarded skin and bones; and if you need chopped or strips of smoked salmon look out for smoked salmon pieces
Preparing Scottish Farmed Salmon
- Remove any scales by running a sharp knife diagonally along the skin
- Remove the head by cutting behind the gills and the fin at the front
- Cut the salmon along the belly and carefully remove the innards. Rinse in cold water
- To fillet, make an incision near the shoulder, cut towards the tail, keeping close to the bones. Then repeat the process on the other side, removing any small bones
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For a raw salmon…
- Remove the tail
- Firmly hold the salmon at the tail end and slide the knife under the skin towards the shoulder. (Put a little salt on the skin at the tail end to give you a better grip.)
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…and to skin a cooked salmon…
- Allow the salmon to cool in its juices for at least several hours or ideally overnight.
- Carefully lift it out onto a plate or serving dish and gently peel off the skin with a palette knife. If you wish, remove the brown creamy curd from the backbone and along the sides of the fish in the same manner.
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