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Making Lake Ontario Salmon Gourmet | Eating Wild
Dec 2, 2024
In this video, Chef Antonio "Smash" Meleca, host of the Eating Wild podcast, is joined by Chef Craig Baxter to show you how to turn the often-maligned Lake Ontario Salmon into a gourmet meal worth of your next dinner party! Listen to our Podcast, Outdoor Journal Radio: The Podcast ► Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3J0klPY ► Apple Music: https://apple.co/3CtzZkp ► Subscribe http://bit.ly/youtube-fishncanada Don't forget to leave a COMMENT and give us a LIKE if you enjoyed what you saw. SUBSCRIBE for new videos and episodes released weekly! CONNECT WITH US -------------------------------- ► WEBSITE http://fishncanada.com ► FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/FishnCanada/ ► INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/fishncanadaofficial/?hl=en ► TWITTER https://twitter.com/angeloviolafnc/ One of Canada's longest-running fishing shows, Fish'n Canada travels from coast to coast in search of trophy fishing opportunities. First started by brothers Angelo and Reno Viola in 1986, The Fish’n Canada Show has been on the air for over 30 years. Today, Angelo is joined by lifelong fishing buddy, Peter Bowman, and the pair continue to travel across Canada educating anglers using the experience they’ve gained over the years
View Video Transcript
0:00
this will be the easiest dish that
0:01
you're going to create and uh you will
0:03
blow people away with
0:06
[Music]
0:16
this welcome everybody to Gourmet
0:19
crafting catering headquarters I'm your
0:21
host Antonio smash Mala from the eating
0:23
wild podcast alongside this guy right
0:26
here I know you heard him on our podcast
0:29
Mr Chef Craig Baxter he's been working
0:31
with me for over 13 to 15 years I'd say
0:33
Craig Y and uh we've had you on the show
0:35
we've talked about your Journeys out in
0:37
New Zealand um working on Lord of the
0:39
Rings and all these crazy movies out
0:41
there but you've been here you've been
0:43
here 13 years with myself today we're
0:45
going to do some demonstrating of stuff
0:47
that we have locally stuff a lot of
0:49
questions that we've been getting from
0:50
fans especially about this Lake Ontario
0:52
salmon which I can't wait to talk to you
0:54
about we're going to incorporate our
0:55
eating wild spices we're going to
0:57
incorporate some crazy mushrooms talk
0:59
about the salmon first this fish is a
1:01
local local fish from Lake Ontario I'll
1:03
get into the sizing and stuff but I got
1:05
to ask you this pin bones when you were
1:06
removing the pin bones out of the fish
1:08
have you ever heard of somebody keeping
1:10
pin bones into the fish because at a
1:12
high temperature of heat they'll cook
1:14
out no I I I in my um career I've never
1:17
heard of that never no Scotland New
1:20
Zealand Canada I'm I'm not saying it's
1:22
not true but I've never come across
1:25
salmon where you could do that so you
1:28
removed all the pin Bones from this fish
1:29
here yeah yeah okay so just so everyone
1:31
knows we got this fish it was around 25
1:34
in now the M&R in Ontario they make it
1:38
very very clear that you if you are
1:40
going to harvest a fish out of Lake
1:41
Ontario over 30 in is a no no why
1:45
because of the high mercury levels right
1:47
they also say two fish per month is
1:51
enough if you are going to consume fish
1:53
from Lake onaral very important and this
1:55
is not stuff that we're making up here
1:57
this is coming from the M&R itself so
2:00
our fish here you took it apart you
2:02
filleted it um you removed all the pin
2:05
bones correct yep removed the pin bones
2:07
uh took the skin off so it's ready to go
2:10
and what are you planning on doing with
2:11
us today you want to make it easy for
2:12
the people watching right right so so I
2:15
think about my father and- law he's a
2:16
big hunter big big big fisherman so I'm
2:19
trying to think of dishes I mean he he
2:20
likes cooking but he's not great at it
2:23
right so I tried we we were trying to
2:25
thinking of a dish that can incorporate
2:26
all these beautiful uh local ingredients
2:29
but it simple for for for people to do
2:32
at
2:36
home with the fish we're going to Simply
2:39
uh um bake it in the oven we're going to
2:41
use some of your really nice eating wild
2:44
spices we're going to use these
2:45
beautiful mushrooms we're going to slice
2:48
them and we're going to make a nice Roto
2:50
Roto will complement that beautifully
2:52
Roto and salmon is a great combination
2:54
now let's be honest a lot of people when
2:55
they hear the word Roto they their
2:57
pants I say it's going to be a hard dish
3:00
you're going to make this easy right
3:02
it's it's it's a it's it's not difficult
3:04
it's people get scared off by it but we
3:07
will make it and we will show you it's
3:08
very easy and this dish I'm telling you
3:11
right now the dish that we're making
3:12
today would be amazing for a dinner
3:13
party awesome so I just want to talk
3:15
about the mushrooms quickly um these
3:17
mushrooms are absolutely them so we have
3:19
the king oysters which these things are
3:21
absolutely beautiful looking we got the
3:23
red and the yellow the red and the
3:24
yellow um they almost look pinkish e
3:26
they're beautiful um and then we have
3:28
the chantrell which I mean they're very
3:31
very common in Ontario you can almost
3:34
expensive exactly the main I mean Li the
3:37
Lion's Main and I can see why they call
3:38
lines me never this one I've never I
3:41
I've never come across before when um
3:43
the the produce Guy brought it in I was
3:45
like wow it's so cool these are the
3:46
chest nuts right here oh wow and then
3:49
um these are the sh guns the sh guns
3:52
which which the same family shitake same
3:54
same these are not locally forged these
3:56
are not locally forged we just added
3:58
them in there cuz they're nice let's
3:59
talk about your vegetables here cuz
4:00
you're going to complement it with a a
4:01
side vegetable dish as well so what
4:03
we're going to do is we're going to we
4:04
got this beautiful uh rainbow um Swiss
4:07
chart we're just going to basically cut
4:09
it and then we're going to um pan fry it
4:12
pan fry little bit of oil little bit of
4:13
butter so you imagine the colors here
4:15
folks like this is going to be you got
4:16
the rainbow chard you got the pink of
4:18
the salmon you're making that
4:19
vinegarette the reason too for a
4:21
vinegarette is because a lot of dishes
4:23
sometimes you have to balance your
4:25
dishes with fat and acid they they teach
4:27
you that during your culinary training
4:29
so so for instance Rosado is kind of
4:31
Rich um they call it fatty whatever Mash
4:35
if you're doing puree Mash so we're
4:36
going to balance it out with a bit of
4:38
acidity and a bit of sweetness in the
4:39
vinegarette so stay with us folks we're
4:41
going to get ready we're going to put
4:42
all this together and you're going to
4:43
see exactly how it's
4:46
[Music]
4:50
done so welcome back guys so we're going
4:52
to start with the process we're going to
4:54
start with the risotto we're going to
4:55
start with seasoning the fish we're
4:56
going to get the chart all prepped up
4:58
Craig I want you to do the honors and
4:59
you're going to pick one of our
5:01
beautiful seasonings that we have
5:03
created go through three of them key
5:05
lime and lemon pepper the one thing I do
5:07
want to highlight about this key lime
5:08
and lemon pepper seasoning is the actual
5:11
lime seasoning itself it was imported
5:13
from Spain this is what makes this
5:16
different than most lemon pepper
5:17
seasoning can you talk about seasoning
5:19
when you are seasoning the fish
5:21
obviously would you taste the seasoning
5:23
first before you season the fish so you
5:24
know what you're dealing with it's
5:26
almost like your Sal you should always
5:27
taste it you should always taste um I'll
5:29
get a little tasting screen here um
5:32
taste it up and just see you know see
5:34
what it's all about and I will tell you
5:36
this this should this should almost
5:38
punch you right in the face oh my God
5:39
that's so good be kind of liberal uh
5:41
there's nothing worse than underseasoned
5:43
fish so I'm think if we just quot a
5:44
little bit like that oh my God that that
5:46
is so good isn't it that's so good man
5:48
can I take one of them home or uh 30
5:51
bucks man okay so we'll do we'll do
5:53
around that I think that's going to be
5:54
good you did take the skin off of this
5:56
so this is perfect you can almost set it
5:59
for people at home just baking it in the
6:02
oven will will be perfect and we're
6:04
going to talk about temperature and
6:05
stuff before we get in the oven I got a
6:07
massive question for you and I get this
6:09
question all the time drives me nuts
6:11
Craig is how long do I need to marinate
6:13
a fish and I I know the answer to this I
6:15
want you to tell people because we go
6:17
through this with our jerk chicken all
6:18
the time the longer it sits the longer
6:20
it marinates I think the worse it is and
6:23
you tell me learned we've learned over
6:24
the years that uh marinating I think for
6:27
the fish on the on the day maybe three
6:29
or four three or four hours so we're
6:30
going to we're going to put we're just
6:31
going to lube it up we're just going to
6:33
lube it up with a little bit of oil okay
6:35
just um so it stays nice and moist in
6:37
the oven okay and uh that oh my God that
6:40
seasoning is so good yeah this tast my
6:43
it's going to be amazing so we're going
6:44
to set this aside because your risotto
6:46
is going to take a bit of time to cook
6:48
correct around 50 minutes yeah so we'll
6:49
set the salmon aside there let it let it
6:51
marinate so I know this looks like a ton
6:53
of mushrooms we obviously aren't going
6:55
to cook all of these mushrooms but we
6:57
are making what two plates worth Craig I
6:59
think two plays worth yet okay so we're
7:01
going to start we're going to
7:01
incorporate all these mushrooms so let
7:04
me ask you something I remember the
7:07
first time I've ever seen you stressed
7:08
out of your brains and you were making a
7:11
very very similar dish to what you were
7:13
prepping for today and that was a risoto
7:16
with salmon and that was for my uncle's
7:19
Emilio's wedding yeah and we were
7:21
working together we were we were
7:23
catering how many people was it it was
7:24
300 300 300 people and we had to make
7:26
the risoto was it was a wild mushroom
7:28
risoto yeah um and we did it with salmon
7:31
it was a 4 oz oh my God I think we even
7:33
did it with the vinegarette yes we did
7:35
and you told me that it was the most
7:37
nervous time you've ever had cooking
7:40
I've made I've made Roso all my life and
7:43
it was I've never been more nervous
7:44
never been more nervous in my entire
7:47
life than cooking the Roso for your
7:49
family and is that because 300 300
7:51
Italians with a with a with a with
7:53
opinions but luckily it was um luckily
7:55
it came out really really it came out
7:57
really good yeah I'm just going to use
7:58
this stuff I like I like the color there
8:00
oh yeah that's beautiful man so just a
8:02
rough Chop on your mushroom just a rough
8:04
chop yeah you don't want it to
8:06
disintegrate when you're cooking and you
8:07
want to see the mushroom too right I
8:09
could smell those mushroom my God these
8:11
smell so nice holy moly these ones we
8:13
don't even have to cut we don't even
8:15
have to uh chop wow they can just go
8:17
right in there got the chantells and the
8:19
god I don't think I've ever done a
8:21
result it with such amazing mushrooms
8:22
before look at that yeah man and I see
8:25
these all the time e I'm telling you I
8:27
see these all the time I have no I had
8:29
no IDE what the hell I've never I've
8:31
never come across this one before so
8:33
this is new for me this one so that's
8:34
enough mushrooms that's enough mushrooms
8:36
perfect we're going to set these
8:37
mushrooms aside set them aside there but
8:39
when you were in New Zealand you used
8:40
this stuff a lot and you were saying
8:42
that sometimes the root can be bitter
8:44
correct yeah in New Zealand we um we
8:47
didn't use the root per se but we are
8:49
going to today because it's so beautiful
8:51
look at the color it's so nice that I
8:53
think we shall incorporate some of the
8:54
root this seems like a lot but it does
8:57
will down quite a lot when you um when
8:59
you pan fry it right so you don't need
9:01
to
9:02
really cut it uh fine it can just be
9:07
nice and uh just almost like a rough
9:09
chop looks like an inch or two and uh
9:12
and this is going to wilt right down and
9:13
again this is that that was about a half
9:16
a head and this is probably going to
9:18
feed two people that's going to
9:19
incorporate with your res yeah you can
9:21
get this in the supermarket I I mean
9:22
I've seen it so this is beautiful and it
9:25
has a lot of nutritional value right and
9:27
it's a it's considered a superfood
9:28
correct yeah it's it's very good for you
9:30
we've already marinated the salmon we
9:32
got the charred prep now is there
9:34
anything else that you're going to
9:35
incorporate when we're cooking uh the
9:37
mushrooms let's just talk about the
9:39
process you're going to start off with a
9:40
base so yeah so so with Rosado I usually
9:43
start off with some chopped onions okay
9:46
um garlic y all these you can get from
9:48
farmers markets you they have amazing
9:51
garlic um onions garlic a little bit of
9:53
good wi uh white wine white wine okay um
9:56
it's very important to have like a
9:57
vegetable stock a good vegetable stock
9:59
or chicken stock now I'm glad you
10:01
brought that up can you use the roots
10:03
and can you use cuz I've seen you do it
10:04
with those shitake mushrooms we did a
10:06
shitake mushroom you you were pulling
10:08
all that and you were making a stock
10:09
that's right you could you could with
10:10
the off cuts of off mushrooms you can
10:12
make your own mushroom stock that would
10:14
be unbelievable so you have a stock
10:15
going already um you got your onions cut
10:18
and you got some white wine ready to go
10:19
so what we're going to do is we're going
10:20
to take a quick break here the next time
10:22
you guys see us we're going to be on the
10:23
stove it's going to be piping hot we're
10:25
going to show you exactly how to make
10:27
this dish
10:30
okay so we will start with the Roto
10:32
first okay because it is going to take
10:33
the longest to cook right so what we
10:36
will do I just got a small pan here I
10:38
used to when I live to my own in New
10:39
Zealand cook Roto for myself every night
10:41
so I'm kind of used to it now but this
10:43
is the like this is just how easy it is
10:45
so we just got a little bit of oil in
10:47
there just let it get hot we got some
10:49
onions here we just got a few onions in
10:52
there and they are just going to start
10:54
sizzling in a little
10:55
bit so while this is cooking off cig you
10:58
got to stock it it's already been on
11:00
correct right yeah I made I previously
11:02
made like a vegetable stock right here
11:04
okay it's always for this small amount
11:06
of Rado you don't really need to heat it
11:08
up but I i' I've I've had it on a on a
11:11
heat so it's warm already it's best to
11:12
add warm stock into your Rosado so we're
11:14
going to add a little bit of garlic and
11:17
this is the next step I know a lot of
11:18
people screw this up too they don't
11:20
actually fry their rice correct right
11:22
you man Sal the rice off until it
11:24
becomes translucent you can use I use
11:27
white wine
11:29
okay okay going to add them all in right
11:32
like that look at that that is
11:33
absolutely beautiful we're just going to
11:35
let that go for a minute and then we are
11:37
going to add some of the hot stock
11:39
you're adding little amounts of stock in
11:40
at a time until it reduces and then you
11:44
just keep adding little amounts Roso
11:47
should take around 15 minutes you have
11:49
to stay with your Roso because it
11:51
releases the starch out of the rice okay
11:53
and that's how you get your nice creamy
11:55
Roto and at what point do you
11:57
incorporate more stock when do you know
11:58
to put put more stock so you will know
12:00
when when when it when it starts to
12:02
reduce so much that it's I'm not going
12:03
to say starting to burn but but when
12:06
there's zero liquid in there you just
12:07
keep adding little bits at a time when
12:09
when when we're 5 minutes off the Roto
12:11
being done we'll we'll throw the salmon
12:13
in right cuz you want to give it some
12:14
time to rest right R even the Rosado you
12:17
can rest for 5 minutes or so once you've
12:19
Incorporated the cheese today we're
12:20
going to use Applewood smoked because
12:22
it's going to give the Rosado an amazing
12:24
flavor I'll go nice with the mushrooms
12:26
and uh let's talk about your vinegarette
12:28
man so how did you create this
12:29
vinegrette using the syrup uh so we so I
12:32
did it for a wedding one time uh because
12:34
you know Maple maple syrup and salmon
12:37
are always a good combination and um
12:40
it's like I remember we talked about
12:41
before the fat and the acid right so I
12:44
just thought it would be like a like un
12:47
clean eating like especially with film
12:49
you know what it's like with all the
12:50
actors that we cook for right uh they're
12:52
all in clean eating that I think that's
12:54
the way that people like to eat now and
12:56
you there's no cream heavy cream butter
12:59
sot those days are gone so how's
13:01
everything looking over there is it all
13:02
coming together it's coming together
13:04
very nicely soon we'll be um going to be
13:07
putting in the salmon one thing you do
13:09
is you add your cheese right at the end
13:12
Y and a lot of people make the mistake
13:13
of adding the cheese way too early and
13:15
it absolutely destroys it it looks like
13:18
it's splitting that's the that's the
13:19
only thing I could think of when I think
13:21
of people adding cheese too early to the
13:22
result and you really don't need it I
13:24
think if you get a really nice cheese
13:25
like what you got you have that
13:27
beautiful Applewood smoked cheese you at
13:29
it right at the end correct yeah exactly
13:31
yeah I used Apple wood so I love I love
13:33
smoked cheese anything smoked it just
13:35
the it just transforms the dish and the
13:38
cheese adding the cheese at the end will
13:40
give you that creamy texture of the
13:41
resoto this will be the easiest dish
13:43
that you're going to create and you will
13:45
blow people away with this you don't
13:47
have to use always salmon uh we are
13:50
highlighting Ontario salmon because of
13:53
the simple reason that there's so many
13:55
misconceptions about you know fish in
13:58
Ontario going online read what the M&R
14:00
has to say of it hence me saying you
14:02
know don't keep any of these fish over
14:04
30 in to harvest keep the smaller ones
14:08
don't consume too much of it those
14:09
mercury levels will be there um and
14:12
listen you can do this with any kind of
14:14
fish freshwater fish especially and the
14:17
same thing goes for these bones I know a
14:19
lot of people say when they're frying
14:21
fish at a high heat that you're
14:23
literally cooking through all those
14:24
bones technically yes but I'm going to
14:27
tell you spend the time to clean clean
14:29
that fish property we're going to do a
14:30
lot of these videos of us cleaning these
14:32
fish to create this dish with any
14:35
species of fish Craig is probably going
14:36
to be amazing no matter what species it
14:38
is yeah finishing the Roso off um it's
14:41
kind of creamy already with the starches
14:44
that have been released from the rice
14:46
and I am just going to add a little bit
14:47
of Applewood smoked which is one of my
14:49
favorite cheeses and that is going to be
14:53
stirred right into the radoo so we're
14:55
just going to S you off the Swiss chart
14:56
so you get your pan there and you were
14:58
saying you that pan pip and hot first
15:00
right yeah you want it hot you want it
15:02
to kind of Sizzle when you put the um
15:03
when you Swiss chart in we just going to
15:05
put it in there and it's okay that your
15:08
risotto is resting right yeah the
15:10
risotto can rest for 5 minutes or so
15:13
before you eat it right so this is it
15:15
this is it pretty much done wow we're
15:17
ready for planting
15:20
perfect you're going to pull that salmon
15:22
out it's been about 8 minutes yeah P the
15:25
salmon right out so sometimes even at
15:27
home you can just have a little look in
15:29
there oh wow it's still a little you see
15:31
it's still a little bit pink in the
15:33
middle there but it's you can tell it's
15:35
juicy we're going to Plate this together
15:37
right I want to know what what's your
15:38
base here so basically we'll do the old
15:40
risotto on the bottom I don't think I've
15:42
cooked risoto for film cruise with these
15:44
mushrooms
15:45
though we'd be out of business corra
15:48
okay and then we'll get the Swiss chart
15:50
see how it's still nice and vibrant
15:52
stuff wow look at that we'll just put
15:53
the swis chart here we're going to take
15:56
a nice bit of the salmon here yeah
16:01
we're going to set that right on top
16:03
like so like that and you can actually
16:05
see the lemon pepper the seasoning tell
16:09
you man get to get a little drizzle the
16:10
vinegar over the salmon
16:12
there maybe just a little bit around
16:15
plate just it looks all cool we got our
16:17
old trusty garnish the old edible flour
16:19
petal SP yeah you eat with your eyes
16:22
right right look at that these are these
16:24
are these are all edible and be honest
16:26
this beautiful
16:30
[Laughter]
16:33
what did I used to say to you every time
16:35
I used to try this yeah I was just
16:36
waiting for it you son of a son of
16:38
a that is freaking delicious you
16:41
show up to anyone's house with this dish
16:43
you pull that off all this stuff came
16:45
from Ontario it's a winter I going tell
16:48
you something one thing I would say
16:49
about this dish that nobody absolutely
16:52
nobody will ever be able to replicate
16:55
and I'm going to tell you right now is
16:57
the vibrant colors you eat with your
16:59
eyes the taste of the smoked cheese
17:01
those crazy crazy mushrooms I'm telling
17:04
you right now this is better than what
17:05
you get plating wise for people at home
17:08
if you have nice bowls you can plate it
17:09
in a bowl yeah the white really brings
17:11
all the colors you sometimes what you
17:12
use to Plate really bring it can enhance
17:15
the dish too well thanks for joining me
17:18
today Craig here at the eating Wild Well
17:20
it's not even the eating wild kitchen
17:21
it's our kitchen here at G it's just at
17:23
work it's just at work basically uh we
17:25
are going to post this we uh this recipe
17:28
on the fishing Canada website uh for all
17:30
you people that want to get your hands
17:32
dirty and recreate this Craig thanks for
17:34
taking the time let's go cook for
17:36
another thousand people let do it we're
17:37
out CIA
17:43
[Music]
#Cooking & Recipes
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