Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Beetroot Cured Salmon

I thought this months Paper Chef ingredients would be a good choice to use as I play around with some cured salmon dishes.


beetroot cured salmon© by Haalo





Beetroot Cured Salmon

1 piece of salmon tail (around 250g)
1 grated raw beetroot (I juiced the beetroot and used the left over pulp - it's a much finer texture and helps in leaching out the colour)
25 grams salt
25 grams sugar
½ lime, finely zested
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon vanilla vodka
2 tablespoons finely chopped fennel (or dill)


I choose the tail because you are pretty much guaranteed that there won't be bones, but always do a double check by running your finger down the centre of the fillet. If you find any, just remove them.

In a bowl mix the beetroot pulp (or shredded beetroot) with the salt, sugar, lime zest, fennel (or dill), vanilla extract & vodka until well amalgamated.

beetroot cured salmon© by haalo

Put the fillet on a large piece of clingfilm and place this in a container just larger than the fillet (you want a snug fit). Press the curing mixture over the top of the salmon, making sure it's totally covered. Wrap the excess clingfilm over the salmon to seal.

beetroot cured salmon© by haalo

Place a flat object over the salmon fillet then weigh down (I use cans). Place in the fridge to cure for 24 hours.

Next day, remove salmon from container and scrap off the beetroot cure. Wash with cold water then pat dry on paper towels.

12 comments

  1. Very interesting and innovative. Does it affect the taste of the salmon at all?

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  2. Hi MM

    There's a taste and texture difference when you cure salmon. To start off it's more firmer, it's easier to handle. As for the taste, the beetroot does alter the taste when compared with more traditionally cured salmon. There's what I can only describe as an earthiness that beetroot brings to the fish. It had a nice touch of sweetness and the colour was just unbelievable. Sometimes cured salmon gets overwhelmed with dill, this was a cleaner result. The curing mixture worked in harmony with the salmon's own flavours and you were able to taste a bit of all the ingredients - they all effect different different areas of your palette. They all had their own purpose. Salmon's a beautiful fish just as it is, fantastic raw, it's hard to really do anything bad with it.

    Hope this helps,

    Haalo

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  3. Yes it does! Thanks so much for such a clear and concise description. I'd like to try this one day. By the way, I love your site!

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  4. Thanks so much for the comments - it's much appreciated.

    Haalo

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  5. This looks stunning. But I'm amazed that the beetroot taste doesn't overpower the salmon.

    -Elizabeth

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  6. Hi Elizabeth

    The beetroots main influence is in colouring the salmon, it is an amazing iridescent purple, but if you look at the slices you'll see the colour effect only goes down a few millimeters, so that limits it's ability to overpower the salmon. The curing alters the salmons texture, and the flavours harmonise with the salmons pre-existing taste. This one was only cured for 24 hours, naturally enough, if you left the cure on longer you'd get a more intense flavour.
    In the past I've followed more traditional methods and the salmon taste is always there, it's just complimented by the cure.
    On a side note, this is also a good way of easing people into the notion of eating raw fish.

    Haalo

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  7. Haalo - I love beetroot, and have been seeing few beetroot-cured salmon recipes which I hope to try soon. This one looks fabulous!!

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  8. Thanks Pille - this was a lot of fun to do and the colour shift from the beetroot is just gorgeous.

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  9. That looks great I might make this when I get home,do you think some chevre could work with it? As well beetroot and goats cheese always just dance so well together

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  10. Thanks Matt - chevre should work, maybe some sort of adaptation of the spoon style would look good

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  11. This is just what I have been looking for - fabulous. I am going to do this for a party this week and slince and serve it on some mini homemade buckwheat blinis. But I wondered why the vanilla....? I am not a massive fan of vanilla except in a few desserts. Can you taste it? What do you think it adds?

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  12. Felicity - the choice of ingredients had to do with a challenge this dish was created for. If you don't like vanilla, you don't need to add it!

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