I like salmon surrounded by rice and rolled with nori, some yum yum sauce on top.

Other than squeezings of fresh lemon, I prefer my salmon unsauced. But then it gets slathered with wasabi mayo and fresh herbs before roasting, so needs very little additional attention.

Growing up, my mom always made egg sauce to serve with baked or poached salmon....a simple béchamel with diced hard boiled eggs and fresh chives.

And the salmon always served with rice.

We always have Hollandaise sauce with salmon and fresh asparagus and rice.

Garlic butter with a squirt of lemon juice.

Just fresh lemon and dill can be nice.

This marinade/sauce for grilled salmon (from Ina G.) is a favorite. Very simple and tasty. This is for about 3 pounds of salmon. Easy to cut back depending on how many you're serving. Ina's recipe says to reserve half of the marinade for serving. However, I tend to use all of it for marinating and just serve with lemon wedges.

2 T. Dijon mustard

3 T. soy sauce

6 T. olive oil

1/2 tsp. minced garlic

Roasted asparagus and new potatoes are nice sides.

The only sauce I've ever made for salmon was cucumber, dill & sour cream sauce to go with a baked whole salmon side.

If I am grilling salmon, I typically serve it with tartar sauce on the side. I make tartar sauce with mayo, chopped dill pickles (never anything remotely sweet), green onions, cayenne, fresh dill, and lemon juice. Pickle juice can be substituted for the lemon juice, and hot sauce can be substituted for cayenne. If you prefer, you can use black pepper.

I sometimes make a Brazilian style sauce, called Molho Tártaro:

• 1/3 cup minced pickled carrot (can substitute grated fresh carrot)
  3-6 pimento stuffed olives, chopped
  1 tbsp capers, chopped (optional)
  1/3 cup minced onion
  1 tbsp Dijon mustard
  juice of one lime
  1 cup mayonnaise

If I am making more of a teriyaki style salmon, then I make a teriyaki style sauce to go with it, which included soy sauce, ginger, garlic. lemon or lime juice, olive oil, and chili paste (optional). This is also what I use for a marinade for the fish. I thicken the sauce (not the marinade) with potato starch and heat it for a few seconds in the microwave.

When I eat salmon, I always have the sauce (if any) on the side and eat most of the salmon without sauce and just lemon juice instead. When I season salmon for grilling, I just use a tiny bit of salt, white pepper, and dill. I use a neutral oil, such as grape seed or avocado oil for grilling.

Just wanted to add I'm not a big fish fan but do enjoy grilled salmon.

I like a lemon beurre blanc with salmon. Truth be told, I’d eat bark if it had lemon beurre blanc on it!

I also like my salmon "straight", but I'm also partial to having it grilled with a light maple glaze.

Islay, I've never cooked a cucumber outside of pickling them, that's interesting to me.

Annie

Salmon is rich so I wouldn't want, personally, a beurre blanc, mayo or hollandaise sauce with it. Soy/lime is nice.

This is a lovely way to serve salmon. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/salmon-coulibiac

A salmon and leek quiche is nice too.

Like Gardengal, here in the PNW we can get such extraordinary wild salmon, that I never adorn it at all. It has such a lovely, delicate flavor if it's fresh, that I wouldn't want to cover that up at all. But I might try some of these yummy sauce suggestions on another kind of fish - maybe halibut.

Thanks for all of your recipes and suggestions. Like many of you, I like salmon unsauced, but sometimes cook for a person who likes salmon, but has had extensive oral cancer surgery and needs sauces to facilitate swallowing.

I'm really intrigued (like Annie) by your cucumber recipe, Islay, and look forward to trying the many sauces and dishes others have shared. I appreciate the time all of you have taken to answer my question. Thank You. Liz

I usually bake salmon on a bed of veggies with a hefty glug of white wine so it makes its own juice. But I also often do a half and half mayo and plain greek yoghurt mixture with some capers thrown in it. And fresh dill if I have some. Just a tablespoonful per person.

Liz, floral's suggestion sounds good. I was also wondering about checking some sheet pan salmon combinations. Some look pretty good.

I think it depends on what kind of salmon it is and how it is prepared. Farm raised salmon is much fattier than some wild caught and sockeye. Grilled salmon brings the fat to the surface of farm-raised and I would not want a sauce with that. I usually do Greek seasoning or some teriyaki thing. Certain wild caught salmon are rather low in fat comparably and a sauce is good with that. Just my 2 cents

Also leaving the skin on adds a lot more fat but I do like crispy salmon skin

Another rather retro idea - my Mum used to poach a whole fish, skin it then cover it with "scales" made from cucumber, then glazed and served cold with mayo. Fun.....

Islay, my Mom used to do the same thing! Sliced of stuffed olive for the eye.