Salmon is delicious to a lot of hungry creatures: humans, bears, eagles, dogs, cats and raccoons. Other predators at different stages of a salmon’s life include large ducks like goosanders and red-breasted mergansers, cormorants, gulls, fish, otters, seals and sharks. 

Salmon filets poached or baked in a flavorful sauce make an excellent contribution to a meal for a crowd. The dish does not take extensive preparation, cooks fairly quickly and makes a nice counterpoint to holiday hams and other meats.

I’ve taken this salmon dish to a few large events recently, and had requests for the recipe. The salmon was wild-caught sockeye, also known as red salmon; the beautiful color comes from the shrimp and zooplankton they eat. Although the original recipe called for a bourbon “glaze,” I do not add enough sugar to make a proper glaze, and prefer the more liquid sauce to keep the fish moist.