Trader Joe's Mojito Salmon

Though I can tolerate many kinds of fish, salmon is the only one (besides tuna) that I will actively choose. I also know that it's one of Nina's favorites. (She's not quite a strict vegetarian. Sort of a lacto-ovo-pisco-vegetarian.) So when I spotted this in the TJ's freezers, it was pretty much an instantaneous decision to bring it home.

I wasn't sure what about this concoction merited being called "mojito," and I'm still not. It sure has nothing to do with the rum-based cocktail. I'm guessing that it's based on "mojo sauce," though even if that's right, I don't know why they use what I think is a diminutive form of the word. (Or maybe I'm completely off-base. My Portuguese and Spanish are both weak.)

This is one of the most expensive items I've ever bought at TJ's--$7.99. But that buys two very generous servings. Neither of us was able to finish our portion. (My cat, Lucy, was happy to eat the rest--the fish alone, not the spicy other stuff--handed out as small chunks over the next several days. This was a surprise, since she usually turns her nose up at anything fishy.)

I hope you like your salmon served spicy, because this is. They are not fooling around with that chunky sauce that comes with it.

The salmon itself was OK, but not great. I hope Nina will comment on that in more detail, because she has approximately 12,439 times as much experience with salmon as I do. Approximately.

Will I buy it again? 

It was an interesting thing to try, but not good enough to lure me back for seconds.

Nina's View

To start off, let me thank my sweetie for catering to my tastes. It was very thoughtful of him.

I had taste-tested this in the TJ's store and it seemed promising. But I basically never buy fish in a store (except for the odd can of tuna, or for super special festive meals), and generally only eat it in restaurants, so it was never going to make my shopping list.

Alas. It did not live up to its promise.

Firstly, It was dry and tough. Perhaps our version was a bit overcooked, but I'm not sure that it was.

Secondly, it was a tad gamey in flavor (something I've noticed with some but not all "wild-caught" salmon. Fresh fish shouldn't taste fishy, and this did.

Thirdly, the salsa just didn't come together, with flavor or texture, in an appealing way.

I disliked it enough that I didn't finish it (nothing to do with portion size). I'm glad that Lucy got the benefit of the remainder.