Whole Poached Salmon 🐟 As children we spent many happy times on the Oykel river in Sutherland, fishing for wild salmon. My parents would be allocated a week’s fishing, according to a syndicate. The week you fish alters the salmon you catch and eat, with silver salmon in the Spring and reddish salmon later in the Summer. Mum would choose from the fish caught during the week, dividing them into fish she wanted to cook and fish she would send away to be smoked. It was always a guessing game to see if the smokehouse had returned the fish they had been sent, or had replaced it for a lesser specimen! Over time the wild salmon population has drastically declined with climate change. Restrictions to protect the native salmon are such that this meal may become a piece of history. You are now unlikely to be able to take your catch home, to protect reserves of breeding salmon. The largest salmon we ever caught was 17.5lbs, the record on the Oykel is 29 lbs. I hope this version will do my memories justice. Long may the salmon run their rivers. I’m using a traditional fish kettle to poach this centre cut of salmon, just as my Mum did. However her fish kettle was about double the size, so she would be able to poach the whole fish and feed a crowd. You need ~ fish kettle 4lbs salmon approx (2.5kg) 1 onion 1 fennel bulb 2 carrots 2 bay leaves 4 tbsp white wine vinegar 2 lemons sliced 25g fresh dill sea salt black pepper water to cover Place the salmon in a fish kettle, I asked my fishmonger to gut it for me. Fill the cavity with the lemon slices and dill. Add the onions, fennel, carrot and remaining lemon slices to the fish kettle, tucking them around the salmon. Add bay leaves, white wine vinegar and fill the kettle with cold water. Until the salmon is completely submerged. Finally add, a good pinch of sea salt and 5-6 black peppercorns. Place the fish kettle on the oven top, and over 2 heat sources, at either end. Bring up to a boil, lid on and then remove from the heat. Allow the salmon to completely cool in the residual heat, then remove from the kettle. Place on a large platter and remove the skin and brown meat. Dress to serve ✨