Homemade Salmon Burgers

Homemade Salmon Burgers

No matter how skilled you are at filleting salmon, there is always meat left on the carcass that goes to waste.  This meat can easily be turned into many meals in the form of salmon patties.  I ended up with 20 patties, and that’s about ten meals – bonus food made from meat that most people just throw away.  Several friends have asked me how I make my own salmon burgers, so here’s the info.

Step 1

While you are filleting the salmon, place all the carcasses in a pot.  Then fill the pot with water enough to cover all the contents and cook until the water is hot, but not boiling, and the meat turns a lighter shade of pink.  You just want to cook the meat enough that it comes off the bones easily, but not too much that it becomes overcooked.  Since you’ll eventually be cooking these patties right before serving them, you want to expose the meat to minimal cooking at this stage.

Step 2

Remove the carcasses from the water and let them cool enough so that you can touch them without burning your hands.

Step 3

Remove any meat you can from the carcasses and try to avoid bones.  You’ll end up with a bowl full of small chunks of perfectly delicious salmon meat!

Step 4

In a food processor chop onions, garlic, and various spices of your choice.  Then add eggs to the food processor at the end of the chopping process (you don’t want to add them in the beginning because they will become frothy, you just want to mix them into the spice concoction).  Add salt and pepper.  You don’t have to use a food processor if you don’t have one, you can just chop everything by hand.  This year I made two different spice mixes, one basil and the other green Thai curry.

Step 5

Mix the flavor/egg mixture into the salmon meat until it is evenly distributed.

Step 6

Form the meat mixture into patties of any size.

Step 7

Vacuum pack the patties and place in your freezer.  If you don’t have a vacuum packer, just place them in plastic bags, but try to get rid of as much air as possible from the bags, because it will contribute to freezer burn.

Step 8

When you have a hankering for some salmon burgers, or just want a quick meal, cook your salmon patties on a grill, in a skillet, or in the oven.