05 January 2009

The Sick Salmon

New year, new resolutions! I haven't had my annual reflection/resolution-making session with Fel yet, but am hoping to get down to it soon. Sounds like my first resolution should be to stop procrastinating.

Random: I am simply in LOVE with this Little-Red-Riding-Hood-Stamp-Set I got as a gift. From my ultimate favourite stationery shop - Wood Would, I fell in love with it the moment I tore apart the gift-wrapper.



Since I was somewhat busy during the entire festive season, I decided not to overload myself by organising a dinner party among a group of close friends, although I must admit I was incredibly tempted to do so. I did however manage to make some adorable gift tags with the new stamp set for my colleagues - to go with some small gifts of course. AND of course, I managed to cure some salmon as well.

And as promised in my previous entry, here's a simple base recipe for curing salmon.




CURED SALMON
Recipe from CHOW

INGREDIENTS
3 cups kosher salt
3 cups granulated sugar
4 tablespoons lightly crushed white peppercorns
1 (1- to 2-pound) piece of salmon fillet, skin on (scales removed), pin bones removed
1 bunch dill (including stems), coarsely chopped
1 bunch Italian parsley (including stems), coarsely chopped
Zest of 1 medium lemon


METHOD
1. Place salt, sugar, and peppercorns in a medium bowl and mix until evenly combined. Rub about 1/4 cup of the mixture onto both sides of the salmon.
2. Mix together dill, parsley, and lemon zest in a separate bowl until evenly combined. Place half the herb mixture in the bottom of a 13-by-9-inch glass baking dish or other wide, shallow, nonreactive container, then spread 1/2 of the remaining sugar-salt mixture over the herbs. Place the salmon on this, and top with the remainder of the sugar-salt mixture and the herbs.
3. Weight the salmon by nesting another glass dish or heavy pan in the first baking dish or container. Place 3 to 4 pounds of weight on top of that (large cans work well) and put the dish in the refrigerator.
4. After 10 to 12 hours, remove the dish from the refrigerator and drain off any liquid. Scrape the layer of salt and herbs off the top of the salmon and flip the fish over. Repack the salt and herbs over the top, replace the weights, and store in the fridge for an additional 12 hours. (Mess alert!)

5. When the salmon is finished curing, remove it from the pan, rinse under cold water, and pat dry. Slice and serve!

3 comments:

maureen said...

hi! just to check - does the salmon have to be sashimi grade or will the normal variety suffice? - thanks!

Daffy said...

Hi Maureen, I'm glad you're trying to cure your own salmon!

Just to be safe, I used sashimi grade salmon. One can never be too careful for such matters. You wouldn't want your family/guests to get food poisoning.

p.s. If you stay in Singapore, you can get very reasonably priced sashimi grade salmon (in whole pieces) from Fassler's factory in Woodlands.

David Koh said...

Hey Daffy just cured my own salmon last week, it was great! No more buying gravlax!