Smoked Salmon Wrap

Smoking fish is one of the oldest food preservation techniques in human history, predating written records. Archaeological evidence of fish-smoking facilities — stone platforms over fire pits near water — has been found in sites across northern Europe, Scandinavia and the Pacific Northwest dating to at least 12,000 years ago. Before salt, before refrigeration, smoke was the primary way to preserve the catch of a good fishing season through the months when fish was scarce.

Cold-smoked salmon — the silky, barely-cooked variety that appears on modern menus — is a relatively recent refinement. Traditional smoking used high temperatures that fully cooked the fish; cold-smoking, developed in Scandinavian commercial fisheries through the 19th and 20th centuries, exposes the fish to smoke at temperatures below 30°C for many hours, curing and flavouring the fish without significantly cooking it. The result is translucent, moist and deeply flavoured.

Smashed avocado, onions, spinach and capers complete this wrap — the capers being small flower buds of the Capparis spinosa plant, preserved in vinegar or salt, with a piquancy that cuts through the richness of both the salmon and the avocado. The flavour combination — fatty fish, creamy avocado, sharp capers — is a classic that works.