Smoked salmon at Christmas

A Christmas gift for friends, different every year, better every time, until perfection is achieved: having reached excellence, Claudio Cerati's smoked salmon becomes Upstream and moves from the Christmas tables of a few to those of many.  

High quality standards and low production outputs boost its value; although there are reservations about consuming salmon in the run-up to the holidays, Upstream is an exclusive product worth indulging in, especially at Christmas. 

Soft texture, delicacy, lightness, are amongst the qualities that, passing from the side to the heart fillet can be perceived in the different cuts in which our smoked salmon expresses its natural goodness. 

They are available in our online catalogue and in the best delicatessens in Italy. 

We are talking about a salmon selected and created by Claudio Cerati exactly as he wished, in order to make it unique and incomparable. The merit of this particular feature is the Non intensive Control System, a method which leads to a qualitatively superior result and which has no reason to be compared to large-scale distribution products.

The Non Intensive Control System is clear: our salmon live in the cold, clean waters of the North Atlantic, free to move in their natural environment, large and controlled spaces. They follow a balanced diet, healthy growth, without fat accumulation and, above all, without the intake of any GMOs or antibiotics. Fishing is done with sophisticated systems that do not cause suffering to the fish: the salmon, having reached the ideal size, is taken alive to a collection tank inside the processing plant, through a process that completely eliminates stress and tension. An important factor also in terms of the quality of the meat, which leaves no room for doubts and false interpretations: the quality of Upstream salmon is recognizable by its intense colour, in which the white streaks of fat are barely perceptible, and in its soft but compact consistency that equals muscular and healthy meat.  

With only 8% fat, our smoked salmon is unique in terms of lightness, elegant and with a fresh and homogeneous taste; it is an excellence to bring to the table at Christmas, in an exclusive and quite precious way.

Quality Preparations 

Let's get familiar with all the flavors of Upstream smoked salmon in our flagship product, the side. Several cuts can be made from the side, each to be prepared and served appropriately. We discuss this in the Upstream Tasting article: how to serve and eat smoked salmon.

Precious suggestions for occasions such as Christmas also come from our book Evolutions and variations of the divine salmon. Before getting to know some of them, we suggest the simplest and most natural way to let yourself be enveloped by Upstream's delicacy: let's taste the heart  fillet, a cut obtained from the back of the salmon. Soft and sweet, and with hints of fresh butter, the heart fillet  is perfect to be enjoyed as it is, accompanied by a glass of good wine or a craft beer.  

For a Christmas in style, the heart fillet is also available in Gold Edition, different versions of an exclusive package whose star is the firm and exquisite meat obtained from a special selection of salmon. To make it more precious, it comes with 23 carat edible gold. 

And now let's move on to the recipes.

With the Classic Salmon we focus on a preparation which is a must for special occasions, pennette alla vodka (vodka penne).

The Classic is the back cut of the fish, with a strong flavour and the most intense smoked aroma, a range of notes and nuances that does not cover the natural qualities of the meat but, on the contrary,  enhances it. The recipe is created personally by Claudio Cerati, a new preparation which revisits  tradition and, through excellent ingredients, gives new form to this dish.

Let our imagination run wild with the fillet, a selection of sea and sweetness obtained from the central part of our salmon.

For the fillet, we prefer combinations that leave room to the natural goodness of this cut, as in the one created by chefs Maurizio and Geva Massetti, Upstream smoked salmon fillet and julienne vegetable misticanza, to be accompanied by a glass of Grillo di Sicilia doc or Sauvignon Blanc del Collio doc.

These and other gourmet preparations are included in our book, a celebration of Italian art in the kitchen, a collection of inspirations to bring Upstream smoked salmon to the table in the way it deserves, especially at Christmas.