Prize salmon - salmon cooking contest

Sunset, August, 1996 by Linda Lau Anusasanan

Sunset's Salmon Cook-off produced six winners who understand the flavors of the West. Get ready to eat well.

It's 2 o'clock on a saturday afternoon in the Sunset test kitchen. Normally it would be empty, but today three men take it over. A battery of pans covers the cooktops, spices flank the workspaces, and knives fly as the men prepare their entries for the Sunset Salmon Cook-off. It'll be at least two hours before judges taste their dishes, but these specialties require precision preparation. Tom Cain slices purple-, red-, and yellow-skinned potatoes on the mandoline he brought from home. Roger McDorman plucks tiny thyme leaves from woody branches. Richard Kronick meticulously slices salmon to fashion "rays" for his Salmon Rising Sun.

The three female contestants chat leisurely outside - it's much too early to start. Says Leslie Tiano to Anna Jurgeleit, "Because we have children, we cook fast." Stephanie Zemler, who introduces herself (and has entered the contest) as Stephanie Z., says easy and good best describes her food.

By 3:15 all six cooks crowd the kitchen. "I was almost embarrassed to tell my friends I was a finalist. It was the first recipe I ever wrote," admits Cain. Tiano and McDorman also confess that these are their first recipes on paper. Conversations swirl around food. "A melon baller works great to seed chilies - just scoop down the center." "Food, music, and sports. What else is there in life?" asks Ms. Z., as she passes out the schedule for her favorite soccer team. Glasses fill with more wine for the last creative surge as enticing smells infuse the kitchen. Smoke drifts from the back porch as salmon sears on the grill. Four o'clock arrives. Judging starts.

It's not an easy job. The contest started with almost 150 entries from 11 Western states and British Columbia. Entries featured salmon raw, smoked, broiled, baked, grilled, poached, and steamed - even cooked over an open fire in the traditional Makah way. And there was salmon sausage, salmon custard, salmon burgers, salmon-stuffed chile rellenos, salmon won tons, and salmon lasagna. These were winnowed by Sunset's food staff to 29 finalists (the staff aimed for 25, but there were ties). For five days, the testers cooked, tasted, and rated salmon nonstop, sampling all 29 recipes. Sunset invited the top six scorers to come and cook their entries for the judges.

Now finalists await the verdict of three food professionals, who rate their dishes for taste, use of salmon, and presentation. While judges mark ballots in the studio, contestants taste the leftovers in the kitchen. Raves greet every dish. "Thumbs-up. This is good stuff. They're all so different - how are they going to choose?" Results are announced after a dinner on the Sunset patio.

"I share this prize with you guys. All your recipes were as good as mine," says Kronick as he receives the first-place award for a steamed Japanese seafood custard. Kronick's statement is close to fact. One judge, Jay Harlow, says, "It was real tight. All the dishes were very good. They showed an understanding of salmon, what its flavors and textures can do."

Sunset food and entertaining editor Jerry Anne Di Vecchio agrees. "It was not an easy contest - the diversity of the entries was a judging challenge. All of you here are winners."

RELATED ARTICLE: And the winners are....

"How can anyone go wrong with salmon?" Writes Leslie Tiano, of La Jolla, California, one of six finalists at the Sunset Salmon Cook-off held at Sunset's Menlo Park headquarters. Indeed, the natural succulence of this fish makes it pretty forgiving. But the winners share a special talent: they know how to show off the naturally delicate, sweet nuttiness of this great Western fish.

FIRST PLACE

Salmon Rising Sun

Prep and cook time: About 1 hour and 45 minutes

Notes: To fully re-create Richard Kronick's presentation, shop at a Japanese market for the exotic ingredients. Kronick makes the "sun's rays" from seared salmon that is raw inside. To minimize the health risk from eating raw fish, use commercially frozen fish or high-quality fish available at a sushi bar. You may prefer to cook the fish, but it's more difficult to make neat slices.

Makes: 4 servings

1/3 cup each lemon juice and dark soy sauce 2 tablespoons rice vinegar 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon mirin 2 garlic cloves, finely minced 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger 4 small dried shiitake mushrooms 1 center-cut salmon fillet (1 1/2 lb.), skinned About 2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil Salt and pepper 1 1/2 cups chicken broth 1 teaspoon light soy sauce 3 large eggs 4 strips lemon peel, yellow part only (1/2 in. by 2 in.) 4 fresh shiso leaves 2 cups shredded daikon radish 1/2 cup red pickled ginger Asian red pepper sauce and cayenne Radish sprouts and chives in 2-inch lengths Finely diced lemon peel

1. Mix juice, dark soy, vinegar, 1 tablespoon mirin, garlic, and ginger. Cover and chill 3 tablespoons of mixture. Soak mushrooms in hot water until soft, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. With tweezers, pull out and discard any remaining bones in salmon. Rinse fillet; pat dry. Slice lengthwise into 4 equally wide strips. Cut each of the 2 outer strips (with thinner ends) into 4 equal-size chunks. Rub all salmon pieces with sesame oil; sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Coat salmon in remaining lemon-soy mixture; marinate in refrigerator 15 minutes.