"We vote with our fork and with the dollars we spend. The choices we make shape the future of the food supply chain and sustainability." — Chef Bryan Szeliga

Below, Chef Bryan shares his secret to making Loch Duart Scottish Salmon SHINE

4.5 oz Piece of Loch Duart Salmon
1 T grape seed oil
1 T butter
tt kosher salt (tt is 'To Taste')

Temper Loch Duart Salmon to room temperature. Heat saute pan over medium high heat. Add grape seed oil. Season with salt and place in hot pan. Allow to cook until the Loch Duart Salmon has a good sear and will release from the pan on its own. Flip with a ?sh spatula and add the butter. Tilt the pan and glacage (baste) with the butter. Allow the butter to brown while basting. Immediately sprinkle a pinch of ?sh spice on top of the seared Loch Duart Salmon. Remove pan from heat and allow the salmon to rest in the pan with the brown butter for about 3 minutes until ready to serve. (The ?sh should be ?rm but have NO white (albumin) excreting from between the layers of ?esh). Before plating rest salmon on a cloth napkin for about 30 seconds to remove the brown butter and oil.

Fish Spice
Peel from 3 lemon
2 T fennel seed
1 T Sumac

Peel the lemons with a peeler and remove any of the white pith w/ a paring knife. Place on sheet tray lined w/ parchment paper and place in oven w/ just the pilot light for 3 to 4 hours until all the moisture is removed. Add dried lemon peels, fennel seed, and sumac into spice grinder and grind until ?ne.

Fennel Puree
2 ea onion (julian)
1 T grape seed oil
1/4 c butter
1 T heavy cream
2 ea bulb fennel (mandolin as thin as possible or julian)
1/2 C Pernod
tt Salt

Pre-heat rondeau over medium low heat and then add grape seed oil. Add the julian cut onions, salt, and sweat for about 10 to 15 minutes. The goal is to cook the onion as along as possible without getting color on the onions. Then add fennel and cook for another 5 minutes. Again avoid any caramelization (color). Deglaze with the Pernod and reduce for about 3 minutes. Add cream and reduce by half. Remove from heat and place in Vita-Mix, puree with butter until smooth. Then pass though a chinoise. Season with salt to taste.

d'Espelette Oil
1/2 C grape seed oil
2 T d'Espelette

Place grape seed oil in a small sauce pan and mix in d'Espelette. Steep on low heat for about 10 minutes. (once oil is hot you can steep on just the pilot ?am or use a defuser to prevent scorching). Allow oil to cool and strain though a coffee ?lter. Discard the d'Espelette and reserve just the oil.

Garnish
Salmon Roe (keta, dog, or chum)
Fennel fronds
Fennel Pollen

Chef Notes:
-I do not use pepper for this dish. I ?nd that pepper does not pair well with Sumac. Also, I never sear ?sh with pepper, I ?nd that since pepper has carbon the pepper just burns when searing rather then enhancing the ?avor

-Use Chum roe for this dish if possible. Chum creates the most prized roe of all Paci?c salmon.

-When I cook ?sh, it is a 'all about the ?sh'. I often use only a few ingredients when cooking ?sh. My goal is to enhance the ?sh not hide the ?sh. To me fennel pairs with salmon more then any other vegetable.

-I do not pre toast the fennel seeds for the ?sh spice mix. The spice mix will go on the Loch Duart Salmon when the ?sh is very hot and I will glacage with brown butter and will cook at that point. I believe toasting a head of time will allow for the fennel to prematurely release its ?avor and aroma.

• 5 billion hatchery salmon are released into the Pacific Ocean every year (while nowhere near that amount of farm raised salmon escape their pens) 
• 80% of Oregon 'wild' salmon are actually produced in hatcheries that are funded via the government through the Mitchell Act. 
• Over 32% of Alaska 'wild' salmon are of hatchery origin and if the Bristol Bay fishery is removed, over 42% of Alaska 'wild' salmon are of hatchery origin! 
• Only 1% of the salmon return to OR, WA, CA, ID compared to their historic numbers 
• 28 of the 35 fish listed on the Marine/Anadromous Fish Species Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) are salmon/steelhead 
• The Seattle-based Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association (PSVOA) will pay WDFW $157,825 per year to continue operating the hatchery (so they can harvest and sell 'wild' salmon)