This edible feast is predominantly about texture -- not that the artful arrangement isn't almost too perfect to disturb by consumption. This slow-cooked salmon recipe from stickygooeycreamychewy.com is salmon at its finest, attractively plated with lush, buttery layers melting, fragmenting, crumbling at the mere touch.

Tenderly cradled atop an aromatic layer of sliced oranges and onions, fennel and tarragon, the fish is baked at a low temperature for half an hour. Unlike the bland color and taste that can result from more traditional cooking methods, this unfussy recipe manages to preserve the vibrant tones of the salmon as well as its shape, while dishing up a luscious product. Plus, with the extra time slow cooking affords you, you can prepare your side or salad -- and even enjoy a glass of wine.


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The whole point of Red Lobster is to eat seafood without having to cook for yourself, but that hasn't stopped the restaurant's senior executive chef, Michael LaDuke, from sharing the chain's seafood grilling secrets with the Internet at large. In the video above, he heads for the grill to prepare Peppercorn-Crusted Salmon with Wasabi Soy glaze.

This is one super-easy -- and dare we say delicious-looking -- meal that's just perfect for a quick and sophisticated taste of the ocean. Grilled asparagus and red pepper are sliced and topped with the peppercorn-crusted fish, a little pickled ginger and a nice drizzle of that wasabi soy glaze.

Oh, if only dining out at Red Lobster were even half this delicious!

For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.

Technically a dinner, not a lunch, Sibi's elegant bento shows there's no reason dinner for one has to mean leaning over the sink with a bowl of Ramen. There's a luscious-looking piece of teriyaki salmon with sauteed bell peppers, shallots and onions, along with cream cheese-filled peppadews, a rectangle of Appenzeller cheese and ham mousse and furikake (Japanese rice seasoning) onigiri.

Gourmet's Barry Estabrook investigates VP candidate Governor Sarah Palin's dealings with Alaska's salmon industry. The following is an excerpt of his findings published on Gourmet.com.

At the very least, there was something fishy about Alaska Governor (and Vice Presidential hopeful) Sarah Palin's decision to speak out publicly against the state's Clean Water Initiative late last month. There may also be something blatantly illegal about her advocacy for defeating the ballot initiative, which ultimately failed to pass when 57 percent of Alaskans voted against it.

The law in Alaska forbids a governor from officially lobbying for or against a ballot initiative such as Ballot Measure 4. To get around the law, Palin exercised what she called "personal privilege" when she said to reporters, "Let me take my governor's hat off for just a minute here and tell you, personally, Prop 4-I vote no on that."

The story continues at Gourmet.com: Politics of the Plate: Salmongate

From Good Dishes from Tinned Food (1939), Ambrose Heath

I'm interrupting the semi-regularly scheduled Midnight Sausage series to share molded food images and recipes from my personal collection of early-to-mid 20th century cookbooks. There will be aspic. There will be mousse. There will be various gelatins. All will be semi-solid and of debatable degrees of edibility.

Please feel free to shimmy and shake your way to the comments section to share your very own magical, masticable molds of yore.

Previously - Jellied Veal Salad

There used to be this ridiculously cheap outdoor produce market nestled against a bubble tea shop that I would frequent. I would always come out of the place with bags of produce and fruit, and I would never have to spend more than $15. Sadly, the place is gone now, but I never forget it because I once picked up the most delicious box of blackberries there. They were juicy, sweet, and pretty much perfect. I have been thinking about that place a lot this summer, as I've been craving those tasty buggers for weeks.

And now I have the perfect excuse to buy them. Over at Steamy Kitchen, there's a so-very-delicious-sounding recipe for salmon with blackberry brandy sauce. Fish + blackberries + brandy = heaven! This is one of the greatest selection of favorite ingredients that I've seen in a while. Along with the above, there's dijon mustard, chili powder, and a nice helping of balsamic vinegar. How can you resist?

Now I just have to figure out when I'm going to make it, and what to pair it with.

Gourmet's Barry Estabrook investigated why this season's most sought-after catch is suddenly scarce. The following is an excerpt of his findings published on Gourmet.com.

Life is not good here. The fish are not running. And things are going from bad to worse. Due to the extremely low king return, fishing anything is entirely and wholly out of the question."

That dispatch was sent early this week from Jack Schultheis, operations director of Kwik'pak Fisheries, a processor of salmon caught out of the lower Yukon River in remote western Alaska, to Jon Rowley, who handles communications for the small, Eskimo-owned company. (Rowley is also a Gourmet contributing editor.)

In the last year or so, Yukon River kings have become the "new" Copper River salmon, the most sought-after catch-of-the-day at top-end seafood restaurants because of their unusually high oil content. For a while, it looked like everyone was winning. The salmon were moist, tasty, and healthful. Exports to the Lower 48 provided vital income (sometimes the only income) for struggling native Yup'ik fishing families that use earnings from the fishery to purchase gasoline (currently $7.60 a gallon up there) for necessary subsistence activities such as hunting moose and gathering berries. And, better yet, the stocks were sustainably managed.

Then disaster struck. So few king salmon returned to the Yukon River this month that fishery managers ordered drastic cuts to subsistence fishing. There will be no commercial harvest.

The story continues at Gourmet.com: Politics of the Plate: Tough Times for the King of Kings

• Spring and summer means more burgers. But they don't have to be boring.
• Restaurant reviews: The Four's, D.J.'s, and many more.
• Crunchy peanuts and homemade pretzels.
• Rose' is the Plonk of the Month.
• A list of organizations fighting to end world hunger.
• This week's recipes: Roasted Asparagus and Egg Pizzas on Grilled Dough, Caramelized Onion Pitas with Goat Cheese and Prosciutto, and Whole Salmon Fillet Baked in Foil.

I love the honesty that accompanies this image of a beautifully plated piece of salmon. Yakman admits that the veggies were frozen and that the pesto came from a jar, but is also careful to state that the fish is fresh from a local market. I like the combination of time saving convenience foods with the lovely piece of salmon. Sometimes that's just what you have to do to get dinner on the table.

Join the Slashfood Flickr group and submit your images to the pool to be considered for the Photo of the Day feature. We want to see your pics of gorgeous meals, beautiful ingredients and farmers market hauls.

• The Globe staff picks their favorite things of 2007.
• British director Peter Hewitt looks for tea in Boston.
• The confessions of a Starbucks regular.
• The best place to celebrate New Year's Eve? At home.
• Here are some elegant cocktails to serve on New Year's Eve.
• The best bubbly for New Year's Eve.
• The Taste Kitchen checks out salmon from Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Lascco, and other companies.
• This week's recipes: Sauteed Spinach, Roast Potatoes, Beef Tenderloin with Mushroom Port Sauce, and Scones.

I have a secret to share with you all. Most of the time, when I'm just cooking for myself (but want something more than just a bowl of cereal), I recreate the foods I grew up eating (there was a lot of salmon/chicken/turkey burgers paired with broccoli/string beans/zucchini in my childhoo). I don't branch out or try new recipes. I steam a veggie and quickly bake/broil/ saute a piece of protein and I call it a meal.

Last night was the perfect example. I had just enough cooking energy to defrost some frozen salmon (from Trader Joe's and of decidedly unknown age), bake it with a little butter and lemon and steam a head of broccoli. It wasn't ground breaking or exciting, but it was tasty and filling. When it was done, I sat down at the table, taking my first sustained computer break in at least four hours and ate. It was quiet, simple and really restorative. Oh, and yummy. Because what's the fun in eating if it doesn't taste good!

• Lox, no bagels.
• How to cook bluefish (check out the video too).
• Health food of the day: Poutine, which are french fries covered in cheese curd and gravy.
• An appreciation of the film Ratatouille, complete with several recipes.
• Check out the Globe's most recent Plonk of the Month.
• Some great foods to buy from local businesses, including scones and soda breads from The Keltic Krust, sweet breads and pastries from LollipopTree, and tapioca pudding from the Spice & Rice restaurant.
• This week's recipes: Huevos Rancheros, Sea Scallops with Asparagus and Sugar Snaps, and Trout Almost-Amandine.

• Eclectic summer recipes from Martha's Vineyard.
• Americans are wild about salmon.
• Not everybody puts lobster in a hot dog roll.
• New shops and restaurants are coming to North Cambridge.
• How to make a better hamburger.
• The bacon and ricotta flatbread at Noir sounds interesting.
• This week's recipes: Fresh Peas and Mint, Blueberry-Lemon Muffins, and Zucchini Soup.

We've all heard about eating fish to get more Omega-3's fatty acids in our diet. I was browsing through CNN.com and ran across an article on omega-3 in canned fish.

Of the types of canned fish discussed the focus was on tuna and salmon. Tuna varieties have varying amounts amounts of omega-3's. Albacore, also called "white meat tuna," has the most with a four-ounce serving packed in water having 1.06 grams. You get 0.5 grams from a four ounce serving of albacore packed in oil. I thought this was interesting that the water pack is better for you having more omega-3's. The article says, "Since omega-3s are oils, they don't disperse when the fish is packed in water, and draining the water allows most of these beneficial fatty acids to remain in the fish. But tuna packed in oil provides an environment where the fish's natural oils intermingle with the packing oil, so when the can is drained, some of the omega-3 oils are lost."

I didn't realize that canned salmon has even more omega-3's than tuna, with a four ounce serving having 2.2 grams. Unlike tuna, the omega-3 levels among salmon varieties are basically the same.

After watching an episode of Chef at Home, I've been experimenting with chef Michael Smith's recipe for salmon and potato cakes. The Food Network Canada website has his recipe here, but it looks like they've jumbled a few of the steps around or perhaps left a step out. Step two reads, "Meanwhile heat a sauté pan over medium-high heat and when it's hot, add oil." Step three: "Using a potato masher, mash them together." Obviously something is amiss. At any rate, if you have salmon leftovers (not to be confused with these guys), this is a good way to use them up. Let's assume we're starting from scratch, however. Smith suggests pan-frying a salmon fillet, which I did the first time I made this recipe. The second time, I broiled it, which I think is more convenient and I didn't notice too much of a difference in the taste of the final product. So, either pan-fry or broil a skinless 1 pound salmon fillet until it's just cooked through and flakes easily. When I broiled the salmon, this took between 15 and 20 minutes.