You know those ‘invention tests’ on MasterChef? Where they are faced with a wall of food and have to concoct something out of magic ingredients? Well I love challenges like that. Stick a piece of meat or veg in front of me and the ol’ brain gets going.

But smoked salmon is one of those ingredients that stops me stone dead in my tracks. As soon as I see it I want to say, “well just eat it as is, surely?”

“But what about…”

“Nope, just woof it down out of the pack, that’ll do fine Gregg.”

So when Forman & Field asked if I wanted to try some of their London Cure smoked salmon I fell over in my hurry to say yes.

I had some for lunch; it’s delicious. The genius of their smoking process is to treat it gently. The light, peaty perfume allows the flavour of excellent fish to shine right through. Even on my cruddy photo, look at the grain on it – clean and firm, because it hasn’t been cured to slimy, pulverising fishdeath.

There was mention in their original email of involving the ingredient in a recipe, but as I’ve mentioned, I have creativity-blindness when it comes to ingredients like this, especially when it’s of such high-quality. If you’re looking for real smoked salmon recipes, I recommend their dedicated section, or their blog, where they highlight salmon recipes from around the blogosphere.

Hence I really can’t call this a recipe; it’s smoked salmon with cream cheese served on Ryvita crackers, with a dash of lemon over the top (Forman actively recommend against it on the packet, but I love the combo too much not to).

I’ll certainly be ordering some in the future, and if you want to pamper yourself I suggest you do the same.