When it comes to salmon, larger, fattier filets from bigger Yukon and Copper River salmon are good portioned and grilled.  Smaller filets can be kept whole, trimmed, and then cured—a process that is sure to thrill the bagel and bialy lover in all of you. Once you have a cured piece of salmon in your house, it can be sliced and served in the morning with scrambled eggs and crème fraîche, as a sandwich stalwart, in a salad, as part of a warm-weather "cold" dinner, or out on a buffet for friends to nosh on.

The preparation time is minimal, but the curing takes about three days.