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Burns Night part 2:curing my own salmon

January 26, 2010 6 Comments Filed Under: Uncategorized

Delivery

The cure

After 12 hours…

Drying and hooking…

The smoking shed

On the rack…

Cured in Kilburn, smoked in Camden…

Canapes for Burns night…

The food writer Tim Hayward messaged me on Twitter to offer me the facility of his smoking shed in his Camden back garden. I love smoked salmon, in fact most smoked foods, but didn’t know what it entailed.

“What do I do?” I asked Tim.

“Cure it, then bring it over for smoking overnight. I’ll vacuum pack it in the morning. Leave it for a week to fully absorb the flavours before serving” said Tim.

  • I ordered a whole salmon, split into two filets.
  • Mix up 3 cups of sel grise and 3 cups of sugar (which I had previously used to candy orange, lemon and lime peel, which still retained some citrus fruit flavours).
  • Cover the bottom of a dish long enough to lay out the salmon, with half the sugar/salt mixture.
  • Chop all the fresh herbs I had in the food processor (mostly tarragon, some basil, dill, thyme, and parsley).
  • Spread half the herb mix on the salt/sugar mix in the dish.
  • Lay the filets, skin side down on the salt/sugar mix.
  • Cover the top of the filets with the herb mix and salt/sugar mix.
  • Place another dish on top, weighing it down with cans.
  • Leave in the fridge for 12 hours,
  • After 12 hours, take off the weighted dish,
  • Scrape away the salt/sugar/herb mix to one side and drain off some off the liquid
  • Turn over the filets (you will notice they are stiff now) and cover the exposed side with the reserved herb/sugar/salt mix.
  • Replace the weighted dish and leave for another 12 hours.
  • After a 24 hour cure (although I left mine for 48 hours so I guess it doesn’t matter if you do it a bit longer), remove the filets and wash off the mixture.
  • Pat dry with a non fluffy tea towel.
  • Drive to Tim Hayward’s house

Tim has a little shed in his back garden with a little smoking machine attached. You put ‘tablets’ of compressed oak chippings in the machine which are heated up, the smoked from which is pumped into the shed.

The salmon filets were hung up on hooks but as soon as we had shut the door, there was a thud.
The filets had fallen off the hooks.
“Did you scale it?” asked Tim, perplexed.
“Yes”
I shouldn’t have done that. For smoking you leave the filets unscaled. Tim then niftily constructed a Heath Robinson device from a rack and some lengths of wire upon which we could lay the filets.
A week later Tim dropped off the smoked salmon labelled ‘MsMarmitelover’s Home Cure’.
For Burns night, I served it in little slices upon whisky infused cream cheese and tatty scones.
Normally potato scones are larger and cut in four. I made mini ones with oak smoked flour which served to highlight the oaky aroma.
I must say, and many people agreed, it was the best smoked salmon I have ever eaten.
‘Tatty’ scones
Boil a kilo of floury (Maris Piper) potatoes
When cooked, pass through a ricer
Mix in 250g of salted butter
2 teaspoons of Maldon salt
1 teaspoon of baking soda
250g of oaked smoked flour (or ordinary)
  • Knead the mixture together then
  • Roll out onto a floured board about a centimeter thick
  • Cut out little rounds with an egg cup
  • Cook on a cast iron or thick bottomed frying pan on the simmering plate of the Aga or a low heat
  • Rub a little butter on the warm pan
  • Cook the scones until the texture stiffens, puffs a little and it colours each side to a light golden brown.
If serving later, lay them out on tin foil making an envelope and keep them in a low oven.
Serve with the whisky cream cheese, smoked salmon, a sprig of dill, a little lemon and black pepper.

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Previous Post: « Burns Night part 1
Next Post: Burns Night part 3: whisky, cheese and address to a haggis »

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Comments

  1. James

    January 26, 2010 at 6:54 pm

    1000 leagues from supermarket stuff. Like smoked gravadlax. Was thinking whisky might be good in the cure too. Maybe you could serve it with whisky cream cheese…. icecream? Our local trout farm will take anything you give them & put it in their smoke house – may give it a go now! Tater scones look nice. Good with sweet potato too – maybe a thanksgiving one that. How was the haggis?

    Reply
  2. LexEat!

    January 26, 2010 at 11:08 pm

    Wow what a mammoth effort! I have a great picture in my head of you and Tim standing outside the smoker and hearing the thud of the fillets dropping!

    Reply
  3. bakelady59

    January 27, 2010 at 10:07 am

    They look delicious. I like the branding 'msmarmitelover Home Cure'

    Reply
  4. The Curious Cat

    January 27, 2010 at 4:33 pm

    i'm rather jealous now…pretty cool making your own smoked salmon!! xxx

    Reply
  5. Anonymous

    January 30, 2010 at 5:25 pm

    Very good idea to smoke the gravadlax! Is it difficult to do at home? What are haggis? Im from argentina, and look the nice pictures, but don't understand what the haggis are made of. greetings, Dolores

    Reply
  6. theundergroundrestaurant

    January 30, 2010 at 5:30 pm

    Dolores…normally haggis is a traditional Scottish dish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggis
    made of sheeps organs and oatmeal and stuffed into a sheeps stomach.
    I made a vegetarian one. Well actually I bought a vegetarian one with oatmeal and vegetables …to be honest I didn't taste it!

    Reply

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MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

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Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
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The taste of the tonka bean is linked strongly to its scent. "Scents," I should say, as the tonka bean has many at once. I register the aromas of vanilla, cherry, almond, and something spicy—a bit like cinnamon. When served cold—say, in tonka bean ice cream—the taste is like a vanilla caramel with dark honey. When warm, perhaps shaved over scallops, it moves toward spiced vanilla. Additionally, the aroma of the tonka bean shavings (it's almost always shaved) is so affecting that it seems like an actual taste in the way that opium, which has no taste in the traditional sense, "tastes" like its rich, flowery smoke.  Here is the recipe: 

Tonka bean galette des rois

Serves 8
Ingredients
* 140 g caster sugar
* 125 g salted butter, softened
* 100 g ground almonds
* 2 eggs, medium
* 1 tonka bean, grated
* 2 packs ready made butter puff pastry on a roll
* 1 yolk for brushing the pastry
Instructions
* Preheat your oven to 200c.

* Blend the butter with the sugar then add the almonds. Make sure it’s well mixed. Add in the 2 eggs one at a time, then add the tonka bean.

* If using a block: divide the puff pastry into two and roll out to 5mm thick. 
* Make two circles about 15 cm’s each in diameter. Lay one circle on a silicone mat/parchment paper on a baking tray and fill with the almond cream leaving a 3 cm border around the edge. 
* Paint the border with the egg yolk. Then lay the other circle on top, sealing the edges with a fork. 
* You could then carve designs into the top. Make a little slit in the middle to let steam escape then brush the top with the egg yolk
Mapo tofu is probably my favourite Sichuan dish. T Mapo tofu is probably my favourite Sichuan dish. This is a vegan version. ***

Ingredients:
- 400 g box of soft tofu not silken
- 5 soaked dried shiitake mushrooms, diced, keep water
- 1 red bell pepper, finely sliced
- 400 g fresh shiitake mushroom, sliced thinly
- 400 ml vegetable stock
- 1 thumb fresh ginger, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 4 tbsps groundnut or vegetable oil
- 3 tbsp fermented bean paste
- 1 or 2 small red chillies, minced or a spoonful of Chinese chilli paste
- 1 tsp heaped sichuan peppercorns, finely ground
- 2 tbsps soy or tamari sauce
- 2 tbsp cornflour in 3 tbsps water, mixed into a slurry
- 4 spring onions, finely sliced
- large pinch fresh coriander leaves

Prepare the tofu by cutting it into one inch cubes and soaking it in hot but not boiling salted water. Drain after 15 minutes.
Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms, covering them in boiling water. Leave until soft, then dice the mushrooms. Retain the mushroom soaking water and add to the vegetable stock water.
Prepare the other ingredients so they are ready to stir-fry: red bell pepper, fresh mushrooms, ginger, garlic.

Using a wok or deep frying pan, add the oil and heat to frying temperature. Add the bell peppers,fry for a couple of minutes, then add fermented bean paste, chilli paste or chillies, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sichuan pepper.
Add the mushroom/vegetable broth and simmer on high for a couple of minutes.
Carefully add the cubes of tofu, taking care not to break them too much.
Add the cornflour slurry, stirring for a couple of minutes.
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