Have you ever tried curing your own salmon? It's surprisingly easy. I always thought that it involved magic sorcery or skills that I didn't possess but it's actually so much simpler than one might think. And beetroot curing gives the bright orange salmon a striking purple edge to it!
I decided to make use of a wild salmon fillet that I bought from Oceana Traders in Avalon. It was a wild Canadian salmon fillet snap frozen and bright orange in colour. If you compare wild vs farmed salmon the first thing that strikes you is the colour-wild salmon is bright orange while farmed is paler almost milky orange. Salmon is actually naturally white but the orange comes from the krill and the feed that wild salmon eat.
The other difference is that wild salmon is leaner than farmed salmon because the fish is free swimming. Farmed salmon has white streaks of fat while wild salmon has no streaks at all. I'd love to use wild salmon all the time but it is harder to find and more expensive (we don't have wild salmon in Australia, only farmed) so it needs to be imported from countries like Canada.
To cure salmon all you need to do is to coat it in a mix of beetroot, ginger, salt, sugar and any spices that you like. I had really built it up in my head to be a big task but once it was done in all of 10 minutes, I was a bit "Oh is that it?". Then I decided to make a cake afterwards with the extra time I had.
Along with curing we've recently tried our hand at other new things. It was Nina's birthday recently and she wanted to try archery. I was glad that she picked an activity that I could actually do that didn't require me to sweat.
Early one Saturday morning we made our way to the archery range. Nina and Garth had a bit of a competition going with each other. Their relationship is really based on a healthy sense of competition. Mr NQN was also very good at it.
As for me, I managed to shoot a lot of arrows off into the distance. Most of them didn't make it onto the board and I'd constantly have to take the walk of shame out to the field. I was a bit grumpy and muttering to myself and the instructor was trying to be very helpful although I didn't know how to answer him when he asked, "So what are you aiming for?". And then I started to get hungry because it was brunch time.
Over the 1.5 hours I did improve, even getting an arrow (once, a fluke no doubt) in the yellow centre but not the bullseye. And with that and my stomach growling I mentally gave up and concentrated on my next task at hand: eating, a sport I am proficient at.
So tell me Dear Reader, which sport are you good at? Do you ever build up a recipe or task in your head only to find it simple? And do you compete with your other half?
Beetroot Cured Salmon With Horseradish Ginger Cream
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Preparation time: 10 minutes plus 1-2 days curing time
Cooking time: 0 minutes
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
1 teaspoon juniper berries
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
Fillet salmon (around 800g, I used wild salmon), if you are using fresh, freeze overnight beforehand and then thaw when ready to cure
2 medium sized roasted beetroots (about 350g/12.4ozs total)
1 inch ginger, peeled
2/3 cup rock salt
2/3 cup sugar
Horseradish Ginger Cream
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon pickled Japanese ginger
1 teaspoon horseradish cream (or to taste)
Note: if you are using wild vs farmed salmon, wild is leaner and much less fatty and takes a bit less time to cure than farmed. This would be done in 1.5 days with wild salmon, 2 days with farmed.
Step 1 - Toast the caraway seeds, peppercorns, juniper berries and fenugreek and then process to a fine powder in a spice grinder. Place the beetroot and ginger with this mix along in a food processor and blitz. Add the salt and sugar and make a press.
Step 2 - Lay out a large sheet of cling film on a tray and place some of the beetroot mix under the fillet skin side down. Place the rest of the cure mix on top of the salmon. Wrap tightly and then weigh down with cans. Drain the liquid from the salmon once a day and it should be done within 1-2 days.
Lox is never cooked; instead, it's made by curing a salmon belly fillet in salty brine, traditionally for three months. This technique gives lox its signature salty flavor. Lox is part of the famous lox bagel breakfast sandwich, although many times, smoked salmon is used instead.
Some recipes use as much as 750g/1.5lb salt + sugar to 1 kg / 2 lb of salmon. Some recipes use as little as 175g/6oz of salt + sugar. Then curing times range from 12 hours to 3 days.
However, in general, properly prepared and handled raw salmon is considered safe to eat. The smoking and curing processes used in preparing cold-smoked salmon further contribute to the reduction of risks of bacteria and parasites being present, resulting in a safe - and delectable - product.
This is done to facilitate the removal of moisture from the fish, which is crucial to the curing aspect, and this can take up to 20 hours or more. For this reason, the salmon is not technically cooked, although it is cured in a way that makes it ready-to-eat.
If the salmon smells fishy, sour or ammonia-like, then it's gone bad. Appearance: Fresh salmon fillets should be bright pink or orange with no discoloration, darkening or drying around the edges. If you notice any dull or gray coloring, dark spots or filmy white residue, then it's a sign that the salmon has spoiled.
Once or twice in my cured fish career, I have left salmon sitting too long in the juices that flow out after it's salted. If you wait much longer than about 12 hours before draining, the juices start to reabsorb, and the result is pretty puckery, especially below the waterline.
By the time you've reached 24 hours, you can certainly enjoy your cured fish — but you can also opt to cure for 36, 48, or 72 total hours. The longer you cure the fish, the more time the fish will have to absorb the salt-sugar mixture.
For a delicate and subtle flavor, try cold-smoked salmon. It goes well with mild cheeses like goat cheese or brie. If you prefer a stronger, more robust flavor, opt for hot-smoked salmon that pairs wonderfully with sharper cheeses like cheddar or gouda.
Lox — or “belly lox,” which is the actual name for it — is salmon that has been cured in salt. (Like gravlax, which is cured in sugar and salt, there's no smoking involved.)
Salting, or salt curing, is one of the oldest methods of fish preservation used by the Romans to produce the famous salt cod, or bacalao. Salted fish has endured because it can be stored for long periods of time and does not necessarily require refrigerated storage.
1 pink salt is used to cure all meats that require cooking, brining, smoking, or canning. This includes poultry, fish, ham, bacon, luncheon meats, corned beef, pates, and other products. It is 93.75 percent table salt and 6.25 percent sodium nitrite.
Place the fish into a large bowl and pour boiling water over the fish. The water should cover the fish. Cover the bowl and let the saltfish soak overnight. The following morning, drain off the salty water.
Cold-smoked salmon is best enjoyed cold and fresh. In other words, don't cook it or bake it. Top bagels and cream cheese with thin slices of cold-smoked salmon and capers. Use it in homemade sushi rolls, on crackers, or on blinis.
The straight answer. Yes. Raw salmon is a popular ingredient in many dishes all over the world — sushi, for example, is notable for its raw salmon offerings like sashimi. If you're ever in the Nordic regions of the world, you can enjoy a hearty raw salmon, salt, sugar, and dill appetizer called gravlax.
Cured fish is fish which has been cured by subjecting it to fermentation, pickling, smoking, or some combination of these before it is eaten. These food preservation processes can include adding salt, nitrates, nitrite or sugar, can involve smoking and flavoring the fish, and may include cooking it.
Introduction: My name is Terence Hammes MD, I am a inexpensive, energetic, jolly, faithful, cheerful, proud, rich person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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