Recipe - Salmon Burgers

For awhile now I've been wanting to try my hand at making Salmon Burgers.  I love fish and seafood of all kinds, as does my whole family, so it seemed like a tasty change of pace from how I usually cook salmon.  I made these hearty burgers Saturday night for our start-fasting meal, and everyone enjoyed the combination of ingredients that made up the crispy patty on a toasted bun with tarter sauce, tomato, and lettuce.  I also made coleslaw and onion rings, but the Salmon Burgers seemed to be the hit of the evening.

Salmon isn't cheap, so since it's a favorite component of our diet, I watch for close-dated markdowns at Maceys, which occur quite frequently.  Look for small packages that have yellow stickers on like this:

See how this package started out at $7.25?  Maceys put two yellow $2.00 off stickers on it so that I actually paid $3.25.  That's all I want to pay for my salmon, so I keep my eye open for this whenever I'm in the store, and then I buy every package that has these stickers on and freeze them.  It definitely doesn't happen every day, which is why I buy a bunch at once.  Keep in mind, the smaller the package, the bigger the discount percentage--so choose the very smallest packages by weight that you can find. This is an Atlantic Salmon Fillet big enough to serve 2 to 4 people, depending on serving size (making it into burger patties stretches it even further), and is a delicious, healthful alternative to the chicken and beef that seems to comprise a large portion of the American diet. Salmon is a heart-healthy food that is an excellent source of vitamin B-12, vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, protein, phosphorus, and vitamin B-6.

Note:  For more information about the yellow stickers at Maceys, go HERE.

Salmon Burgers

1 1/2 lbs Salmon Fillets
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
2 Tbsp Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Prepared Horseradish
2 teas Lemon Juice
1/2 cup finely chopped Purple Onion
1/4 cup finely minced Cilantro
1 large Egg
1/4 teas Tabasco Sauce
1/4 cup Panko Crumbs
1 teas Salt
1/3 teas Black Pepper
Additional 1 cup of Panko

Tarter sauce, lettuce, sliced tomatoes, buns

-First, prepare your salmon fillet or fillets by removing the skin with a sharp knife.

Rinse the salmon under cold water to remove any remaining flecks of skin, pat dry with paper towels, and get ready to cut into small pieces.

Cube it up into about 1 inch squares.

Now mince up your cilantro (alternately, you could use parsley).  I like to use my food processor for this and chopping the purple onion, since I'm going to need it for chopping the salmon anyway and it's worth cleaning after if you're using it for several things.  If you don't have a food processor, of course you can just mince up the cilantro and onion by hand, and even chop up the salmon with a sharp knife.

Chop the purple onion quite small, but don't pulverize it.

Now when you do the salmon, just pulse it a few times. You want it to be a bit chunky.

You don't want to overdo it.

Into a small bowl, measure the mayo, mustard, horseradish, salt, pepper, lemon, and Tabasco.

Add this and all the remaining ingredients (use only 1/4 cup of the Panko) into the Salmon.

Mix well.  The mixture will be quite soft.

Divide into anywhere between 4 and 6 portions.  I had five people to feed, so I made 5.

Now place some of the Panko crumbs into a bowl.  By the way, if you have never purchased Panko (Japanese bread crumbs), here's what you're looking for at the store.  It's on the same aisle as things like Shake and Bake.

One at a time, flatten the divided portions of salmon mixture into the crumb bowl, coating both sides well.

It will still be hard to pick up without breaking, so you basically just scoop it back out of the bowl with your hand, drop it onto a foil or waxed paper lined cookie sheet, and finish forming the patty into a nice, evenly round of the right thickness.

Now cover with another sheet of waxed paper . . .

. . . and refrigerate for several hours.  At this point, you could also individually wrap them and freeze them to cook later, but I would still suggest refrigerating for awhile to make them easier to handle.

When the rest of your dinner is almost ready, fry the salmon burgers.  Technically you could also grill them, but it's not usually recommended because they are fragile and would probably break and fall through the grill.  Get some oil hot in a pan (or two pans like I needed) and fry them.

Turn them carefully with a big spatula, as they are still pretty fragile.

I would keep a quick-read thermometer handy, as you do not want to overcook them, and they are done when they reach 150 degrees in the center.  While they are cooking, toast buns (I just used my normal toaster), and spread with tarter sauce, mayo, or any other dressing you want.

We had ours with tomato and lettuce, but you could add anything you want, such as avocado slices.  Hope you like them.  We did!