Many years ago I attended a dinner party at the home of fellow culinary adventurers. For the main course they served a whole roasted salmon--stuffed with dill, lemon slices, garlic, and butter. I was awestruck. I had never prepared an entire fish, skin, bones, head, eyes, tail and all. Not only was it beautiful after the foil was removed and the steam cleared, but it melted in your mouth. I mean MELTED. I had never had salmon like that.
Since that time I have prepared many versions of this whole roasted salmon, both in my oven and on my grill, nearly always stuffing it with herbs--typically dill--and rubbing it with butter or olive oil and salt and pepper. It's a great way to impress a large party of dinner guests, and because you purchase such a large quantity of fish, the price is generally quite low. I typically (okay, always) get my whole wild salmon at Ver Brugge's in Rockridge. The fish is gutted, but everything else is intact and I highly recommend leaving it as is, the result is worth it.
Recently I decided put a new spin on my whole salmon. I cured the salmon with a salt-pepper-sugar mixture about 3 hours, then smoked it on the grill over indirect heat, and served it with a spicy yogurt sauce. Everyone, even Banti (my little helper seen above), ate it up. We did have quite a bit of leftover salmon though, so the next day I mixed the tender morsels with some fresh herbs, minced onion, egg yolk, and fresh bread crumbs and made salmon patties, served with the yogurt sauce of course.
Whole Smoked Salmon with Spicy Yogurt Sauce