To make salt salmon at home: Take 1 fresh, raw salmon fillet, cut into 3-inch slabs. Coat the salmon well with Hawaiian salt. Place fish into 1-gallon zip-closure plastic bag or sterilized glass jar. After two days, drain off liquid and add more salt. Continue, replacing salt and draining for seven to 10 days to cure salmon; it will develop a denser texture as the salt draws the moisture out of the fish. Rinse well before use.

If using store bought salmon, soak in cold water overnight and drain well.

Remove bones, skin and cartilage. Lay salmon on cutting board and scrape with spoon into small pieces. Add salmon to tomatoes. Adjust to taste by adding more tomatoes, if too salty. Add ice and chill well. Just before serving, add diced Maui Kula onion.

Serves 12.

Though the herbs in this recipe are optional, they add a great deal to the flavor of this fresh salad. Vary the oil or acid for variety.

MAUI KULA ONION ARMENIAN SALAD

For the salad:

For the dressing:

Combine vegetables, feta cheese and herbs, then toss with dressing. Chill well.

Serves 6.

This recipe for an easy, sweet-sour onion "marmalade" is from hungrybrowser.com, where a character named "Uncle Phaedrus" calls himself a "finder of lost recipes." (Phaedrus was the title character in a dialog written by Plato; he is a searcher and questioner.) It complements grilled meats and fish; or use it atop garlic toasts for an appetizer.

SWEET ONION MARMALADE

Heat butter over medium heat in medium heavy saucepan. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.

Sprinkle with sugar and continue slowly cooking (you may need to turn heat down if onions begin to brown too quickly or burn) until onions are very soft and browned — 8 to 10 minutes.

Add vinegar, wine, raisins and simmer until almost all of the liquids have evaporated and the onion mixture is glistening and syrupy — about 5 minutes.

Yields 2/3 cup.

For this salmon dish, chef Russell Siu uses two techniques a home cook can master: creating an attractive glaze by coating a fish fillet with a little sugar and make an Asian-style beurre blanc (butter sauce). The key to the latter is to have the butter chilled until the last minute and to keep the heat on the sauce ingredients low as the butter is whisked in; this creates a cream-textured, silky sauce, but too much heat will cause the butterfat and milk solids to pull apart and the sauce will "break." (Still tastes good, but looks nasty.)

PAN-SEARED LACQUERED SALMON WITH PICKLED MAUI ONIONS AND YUZU BUTTER SAUCE

For the pickled Maui onions:

For the sauce:

For the salmon:

Garnish, if desired: microgreens or minced green onions

In advance, make pickled onions: Combine rice vinegar and sugar in a non-reactive pot. Bring to a boil. Taste and correct sugar balance. Remove from stove and add onions. Steep until mixture cools. Add salt if needed.

Make sauce: In a saucepan, combine rice vinegar, white wine, ginger, green onions, garlic and shallots and reduce, simmering, by half. Add heavy cream and yuzu and reduce until cream slightly thickens. Turn heat to very low. Slice chilled butter into pieces and lightly whisk into warm mixture, incorporating fully but not allowing the sauce to "break" by overheating it. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm in a double boiler until needed.

Prepare salmon: Season sal-mon with salt and pepper. Rub bone side of fillet with soy sauce. Press soy sauce side of fillet onto sugar. Heat pan over medium heat and add oil. Place salmon (soy-sugar side down) in pan and saute until sugar caramelizes to a nice sheen. Turn over and saute to preferred doneness.

Place 2 ounces sauce on each plate, place 2 pieces salmon atop sauce and garnish with pickled Maui onions. Microgreens or minced green onions may be used for garnish.

Makes 4 servings.