Table Talk

Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup Salmon



Years ago, when our kids were super young, it occurred to me that we don't eat fish very much for dinner. Actually, Kathy never served fish. And, since fish is healthy, I thought it would be good for the kids to develop a taste for it at an early age.

So, one day, I bought a salmon filet at Costco and cooked it up. When I prepared it, I put loads of butter on it. I mean...I put LOADS of butter on it. I cut the butter into pats and covered every square inch of the salmon with it. Then, I seasoned it heavily with Lawry's Salt and a little pepper.

With the amount of butter that I put on this salmon, I realized that it might be not be the healthiest meal. But, since it was their first time eating fish, I wanted the kids to like it. I figured that, later, once they developed a taste for it, we could back off the butter.

I served the salmon with rice, green beans cooked in the pressure cooker, and slices of fresh cucumber and tomato. And, it was a HUGE HIT!! Everyone LOVED it!!

Since then, that dish has become a family favorite. My nieces & nephews (some of whom have moved in and lived with us for a couple years) and their parents have tried to duplicate it but they say that theirs doesn't taste as good as mine.

My sister called me one day and said that her daughter Rissi (who lived with us for two years in High School) was craving "Uncle Dan's salmon" so she made it for her but Rissi said that hers didn't taste as good as Uncle Dan's. My sister said "what's the secret?"

I had to laugh because there are literally three ingredients. I said "the trick is...ya gotta go heavy on the butter and salt."

As surprising as this may sound, my nieces and nephews raved about it so much that I have developed a reputation in the family for making the best salmon around! 😂

So, last week, my brother-in-law, Jeff Capozzoli, was excited to tell me that he thinks he made a salmon dish even yummier than mine!

He cooked up some salmon with Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup that he got from Costco and he said it was amazing! We were intrigued. So, I bought some and Kathy made it for dinner on Sunday. She served it with rice and a brussel sprout dish that she cooked in more of this Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup.

The kids loved it SO MUCH that they ate almost all of it before Kathy could get some! It was so yummy and all that Kathy got was this tiny piece of salmon and a few pieces of brussel sprouts. She was ROBBED! So, she bought more salmon and brussel sprouts so she could make it again this week.

To our surprise, our son Jackson called us yesterday and said "Kenzie and I loved that salmon and brussel sprouts so much that we went to Costco today and bought the ingredients so we could have it again! Can you show us how to make it?"

So, they came over and Kathy cooked it again for dinner last night. Yum!!

I'm kicking myself because I didn't get a good glamour shot of the finished dish. But, here is a photo that we snapped when we were preparing it...


Click here to download the Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup Salmon recipe to Cook'n.

The next time Kathy makes it, I'll shoot a photo of the Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup Brussel Sprouts recipe that Kathy made and publish it in a future newsletter.

In the meantime, since we're on the subject, the BYU Cougars won their last game against UCF in which they were picked to lose! Yay! They're are undefeated with an 8 and 0 record and are ranked #9 in the nation. Woohoo!! Go Cougs!!!

The next game is this Saturday, November 9 against the University of Utah. The Runnin' Utes and the BYU Cougars are bitter rivals. This is the Holy War! And, unfortunately, over the past 10 years, BYU has lost 9 out of the last 10 games to those no good, downright dirty, nasty Utes. Ugh. 😩

So, despite our undefeated record this season, this game could go either way. Let's go Cougs! Keep it up!! 🙏🙏🙏

Also, did I mention that I taught Kalani everything that he knows? 😉







    Dan Oaks
    Founder of DVO Enterprises
    Creator of Cook'n
    Father of 5. Husband of 1.
    Monthly Newsletter Contributor since 2024
    Email the author! dan@dvo.com







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