Expert Sommelier shares perfect wine pairings for your next Alaska Salmon feast
Hosting friends and family from Christmas through to New Year means creating a special experience at the dining table. And it sounds like serving seafood is just one of the ways British hosts are planning to ‘wow’ their guests.
Tesco’s 2023 Christmas report lists smoked salmon and prawn cocktail in the Top 10 Starters served on Christmas Day this year.
Why? Serving wild-caught smoked salmon is a simple, but brilliant way to focus on quality produce with big flavour.
Similarly, serving a side of oven-baked Alaska salmon can take half the time required to cook meat. Adding thoughtful, gourmet touches – such as a marinade, a beautiful fresh herb garnish or pairing a bottle of wine to the course will create a culinary experience to remember.
The right wine can ‘unlock’ and complement the flavours of salmon, as experienced earlier this year by industry professionals who were ASMI’s guests at a salmon tasting.
Attendees had the opportunity to try three of Alaska’s salmon species, paired with wines by sommelier, Kiki Evans of Unwinded Bars. Evan’s role was to match a bottle of wine with each dish – reflecting and playing with the unique tasting notes of the three Alaska salmon species.
2010 Master Chef winner, Dhruv Baker prepared Sockeye, King and Coho species. Demonstrating a variety of ways to express the unique flavours and textures of the wild-caught fish by curing, confiting and serving raw.
We’re pleased to share Evan’s pairings to each of the salmon species below, along with Baker’s menu as inspiration.
Sockeye salmon Bright pink, oily flesh – rich in flavour. Baker served: Lightly cured and cooked in a water bath, garnished with apple, pickled cucumber, watercress emulsion and nasturtium leaves.
Learn more about Sockeye salmon here.
| Accompanied by Holzer Gruner Veltliner, a herbaceous wine with green flavours. |
King salmon Full of flavour, firm fleshed and ideal for serving raw.
Baker served: Poké style – served raw with spring onions, sesame, furikake, smoked chilli flakes, soy, and sugar with seaweed salad on sushi rice. Learn more about King salmon here.
| Accompanied by an oaky white, such as Mon Viuex. Sauvignon Blanc.
|
Coho salmon Firm textured, this salmon is perfect for grilling.
Baker served: A ‘reuben’ with a hot smoked pepper crust, achari spiced mayonnaise, cold pickled cabbage, pickles and rye crumble.
| Accompanied by a light red wine, Cabaret Frank Cabernet Frac. |
