Cooking: Salmon Chowder

I shared my lunch of salmon chowder with a friend, and she ate all of it, gave it thumbs up and said send more of my leftovers her way.  And here's how I cooked it.

I laid out all ingredients I had on hand:  heavy whipping cream, a red potato, a Yukon gold potato, a fingerling, a stalk of green onion, uncured bacon, salmon "bones" or the fish head, spine, ribs, and tail of a filleted salmon which you can buy from the fishmonger and a salmon steak. 

I chopped 3 slices of bacon into 1/4 inch slices.

I peeled the skin off the salmon steak and cut it into 1" cubes.

Here are the "bones" for my fumet. 

I chopped half a white onion and decided to also chop a shallot.

Here are my boiled salmon bones which I simmered in water for 35 to 40 minutes.  I am about to remove the meat to put back into my chowder and discard the bones and skin.

Here's the broth which I skimmed and added a bit of salt to taste.

Here's all the meat I removed from the bones along with a little belly fat into the same bowl of cut-up salmon chunks.

Next I browned the bacon and reserved it for later.

I added a couple pats of butter in which to brown my aromatics.

I sautéed the onion and shallots probably for 10 minutes or so or until almost translucent.

In went in the diced potatoes and a bay leaf.

And then the fish stock and a bunch of fresh thyme tied together with butcher string.  I simmered the fish broth which I tasted and which I thought lacking.  And then I looked at the recipe for the New York Times smoky fish chowder and remembered that it needed smoked Hungarian hot paprika which I added with a rather heavy hand--a teaspoon rather than a quarter teaspoon.  

Once the broth tasted yummy and the potatoes tender, I added a quarter cup of heavy whipping cream, the bacon and the salmon.

Ready to serve.