Yesterday I made salmon head soup. I finished the remainder for lunch today.
I really liked it. I was looking at some cooking videos using salmon head and skin scraps and trimmings along with the bones. It stuck in my head and when we went grocery shopping this past weekend I saw some at Times. They sell these trimmings at a pretty reasonable price.
Anyway, the soup also has some great nutritional benefits from all the oil and collagen from the salmon. This was one of the reasons I wanted to make it.
I also was worried that the soup would have fish scales from the skin scraps but the pkg. I bought didn't have any scales on the skin. The fish monger that broke down the fish did a great job of cleaning it well.
I washed and rinsed the trimmings under cold water several times to reduce the fishy smell. I made the dish with no bells or whistles, just a simple soup with the usual ginger, garlic, onions, and I used tomatoes and choy sum. Added no salt and just put some soy sauce and fish sauce in hopes of achieving an umami type of flavored soup.
The broth was light tasting with the subtle umami flavor of the fish with no overpowering salty or sweet dominance.
Even though it was just scraps, whatever salmon meat that clung to the skin and bones separated during the cooking process and was quite substantial for a soup dish. Delicious!
I plan to include this dish in my rotation whenever the ingredients are available.
