Smoked Salmon Benedict

The Pacific Northwest wrote its culinary identity on the backs of salmon. Long before European settlers arrived, Coast Salish peoples had perfected the art of smoking fish over alder wood, preserving the summer's abundance for winter months. Scandinavian immigrants recognized kinship with their own gravlax traditions. Chinese and Japanese fishermen brought different techniques to the same waters. This dish honors all of them.

Smoked salmon Benedict represents everything I love about regional American cooking. It takes a European classic and makes it unmistakably ours. The hollandaise gets brightened with fresh dill rather than tarragon. The Canadian bacon yields to translucent sheets of cold-smoked salmon. The result tastes like a foggy morning on Puget Sound, like something you'd eat watching fishing boats return to harbor.

The technique here demands your attention but rewards it generously. Hollandaise intimidates home cooks unnecessarily. It's an emulsion, nothing more. Keep your heat gentle, your whisking steady, and your butter additions gradual. The poached eggs require similar patience. Once you've mastered these two skills, you'll make this dish for every special occasion and several ordinary Sundays besides.

Seek out sustainably caught or farmed salmon. The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program can guide you. Wild salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest have dwindled to a fraction of their historical abundance. Choosing responsibly isn't just ethics; it's self-preservation. We protect what we want to keep eating.