Presumably with European butter, garlic and rosemary - all of which is readily available in all 6 of the grocery stores within walking distance of my apartment in LA.
It's the fresh ingredients that make the difference my friend.
The fish, the veggies, the fresh garlic, whatever. That's what you are eating. You are not eating all the crap you put on it.
That's the point I'm trying to make. In America it's all about whatever nonsense we put on the dish. In France and much of Europe it's about the quality of the ingredients of the dish themselves, with minimal other stuff. Some olive oil, some butter. Here it's like the most complicated sauces slathered all over sub par main ingredients.
I'd much rather have some high quality (yet not expensive) pasta simply cooked with some olive oil and a bit of real parmesean cheese than a complicated sauce on low quality pasta.
Yes I’m sure in France they eat their fresh caught Alaskan Salmon plain with zero accouterments. (?!!)
French cooks would add fresh European style butter and fresh local garlic - both of which I can get at the farmers market. In France they’d use ail fumé d'Arleux - in California we’d use white Gilroy Garlic. Gilroy is 3 hours away, and the garlic comes straight here. Alaska is closer to California than to France, and we have cows here too.
My whole point is “how do you make wild salmon better: add some fresh ingredients”. The same they do in France. I’m not a fan of the dill seeds French fish plates usually have, tho I do add a little.
What are you talking about? French cuisine has plenty of sauces, and virtually no one eats cooked salmon with absolutely nothing else. French cuisine is pretty much at the bottom of the list of “not complicated” and “no toppings”, and good for them - plain food is not simply better. At LEAST a bit of lemon for goodness sake!
I have eaten simply cooked salmon in France many times, no sauce.
Its not that.
It's that the average French person has a more refined and demanding pallette than the average American.
The factory trawler caught frozen fish we purchase in huge quantities at Walmart and Costco is simply terrible compared to what you would find in the average French grocery store.
It's not like all the salmon in the world is the same. Go to a poisspnerie in France, you will find out what I'm talking about.
We're talking past each other. I'm sure I can't argue about the average french person and the average american person and I'm sure I don't want to. I was responding to "how can you make salmon better with french ingredients".
Just enough butter so you can melt the herbs de province and garlic into the butter and brush it evenly over the entire fish. Then a bit of salt and lemon and sprig of rosemary, bake in foil at 375. As you said, with salmon less is more. The butter isn’t so much for taste as for perfecting the outer appearance and ensuring the garlic and herbs are evenly distributed. Experiment with dill seeds!
Also - we’re talking about how French cuisine is better and you’re rejecting butter? The conversation can end there: French cuisine is better because they use butter! A tip: every bit of salmon you’ve ever had at a restaurant was cooked with butter. Try it!
