Sugar cured Tasmanian salmon 2 ways & home made sushi

[kingie chaser]

Hi all, I know of one other well documented thread on here from flatheadluke regarding sushi which is great & so I wont go into that to much other than to say that everyone should give it a go at some point in their life, sure you can go down the road & buy it(well city dwellers anyway) but to me its just part of learning of another culture's way of life.

So I went to the market yesterday with another chef mate & I dont normally buy fish but felt like some salmon so bought a whole fish.

 

Being the only person in my household I then think how can I utilize this fish now & for the next month or 2??

 

I start by breaking the fish down into the fillets, one fillet gets cut into 6 x 150gr portions, vacuum sealed & frozen for different meals to come.

Some off cuts are kept for the sushi.

 

The other fillet on this occasion is getting cured & because I want it smaller than usual as its just for me I break it into shoulder cut & belly cut pieces by slicing through the centre bone line of the fillet lengthways.

I made 2 different curing mixes, with this the basic salt/sugar ratio being the main thing, something like fine sea salt(dont use table salt!) or fine rock salt(the cheapest option & its fine to use), so 100gr salt to 200gr brown sugar.

One mix was by adding pounded Schezuan pepper, star anise & Sake, the other was with grated fresh beetroot.

Both were cured in vaccum sealed bags in the fridge for 16 hours, if I left the fillet intact I would probably be inclined to leave it for 24hrs. 

Of course this method is pretty close to something like a gravlax where salt, sugar & herbs like dill, chervil & parsley might be used along with some vodka.

 

This one whole fish will last me a couple of months, pulling out piece by from the freezer & doing different things with each, today was just one course 

 

On top of the shari & in the sushi is the raw salmon, the pieces at the front are the cured.

 

Will post up the various ways I will use both the cured & raw salmon.  

 

Also did a couple of pieces of sushi with prawn & of course a few shots of Sake with lunch cant hurt 

 

 

 

    

Edited June 18, 2020 by kingie chaser

[Blackfish]

That looks fantastic KC. 

[noelm]

I will be there soon.......

[PaddyT]

ive done gravlax a few times and its a hit here in my house- varied the cure times , usually find 36 hours seems to give a really good result but as you probably know the shelf life is only about a week or so -have you tried freezing it after curing?

[kingie chaser]

12 hours ago, PaddyT said:

ive done gravlax a few times and its a hit here in my house- varied the cure times , usually find 36 hours seems to give a really good result but as you probably know the shelf life is only about a week or so -have you tried freezing it after curing?

All curing depends on a few factors like thickness of the product & the density/% of the salt in the cure mix.

If you up the salt it's a shorter cure, the longer it's in the cure the more moisture it pulls out & probably the longer it will last but it will be much firmer on the chew so it's all about what texture moisture content you like.

The shelf life of pretty much anything cured is extended far beyond anything fresh but yes there are many factors involved.

If you look at use by dates on things like smoked salmon which is brined & smoked it's a shelf life of 12+ months if kept in airtight  packaging & at the right temp.

Both cures & cured/cold smoked products freeze very well because of the reduction of water in the cells, although on thawing it's would best to use it quickly once out of the vacuum sealed bag.

Edited June 18, 2020 by kingie chaser

[PaddyT]

makes sense-im curing some kingfish overnight tonight with the same mix i use for salmon- will let you know how it turns out.

[kingie chaser]

1 hour ago, PaddyT said:

makes sense-im curing some kingfish overnight tonight with the same mix i use for salmon- will let you know how it turns out.

Cool, will be interesting to see what you come up with Paddy.

 

The thing about Salmon is there is a much higher fat content than kingfish, & that has a difference on the process.

While the same mix with still work I would be more concerned about the time in cure fore the kingfish.

 

I usually do a kingfish or white flesh fish cure about 1/2 the time of salmon or ocean trout.

 

Most times for kingfish its about 6-8 hours only.

 

Again its all trial & error with your salt/sugar % & the thickness if the fish.

 

Edited June 20, 2020 by kingie chaser

[Blackfish]

Do either of you fellows live at Coogee

[PaddyT]

fair enough-ive taken the fillet out of the cure after about 18 hours and am letting it dry off in the fridge (uncovered), ive got another fillet im going to hot smoke still sitting in sugar/salt and five spice, the collars are marinating in chilli and bbq sauce and the other fillets ive skinned for frying in panko (should have a bit of duck fat in the fridge for that)- the cured fillet is the mystery at this stage. Cure was 3/4 cup of salt, 3/4 cup brown sugar, dill , orange rind, the juice of 1/2 an orange and vodka to make it into a slurry.

[Berleyguts]

😋 😋 😋 

[zmk1962]

I swear my mouth instantly watered when I got to the picture KC !!!! 

Hats off to you mate top shelf stuff.  Just love it.

I'm now waiting eagerly to see how Paddy's kingie turns out ...  I can see my self catching a kingie and doing this.  

Cheers and Thanks 

Zoran

Edited June 21, 2020 by zmk1962

[PaddyT]

Just some comments on last nights dinner-the cured kingfish was probably a bit over cured (as you suggested it might be KC)- i would probably change the salt /sugar ratio to about 1/2 cup salt and 1 cup sugar and reduce the cure time to about 12 hours- ive found that even 36 hours is fine with salmon but again as you suggested the lower oil content of kingfish needs to be considered. The dill/orange flavour was excellent. The fish i brined for a hot smoke with 1/2 cup of salt and 1 cup of brown sugar and the 5 spice was actually delicious before smoking but again could of done with less time-it was really good after the smoking but because of the long cure time was a bit dry in the thinner parts of the fillets. I also BBQ'd the collars after marinating overnight in sirracha chili sauce and smoky bbq sauce- these were great-best part of the fish. I have about a kilo of fillet left for crumbing tonight.

[kingie chaser]

1 hour ago, PaddyT said:

Just some comments on last nights dinner-the cured kingfish was probably a bit over cured (as you suggested it might be KC)- i would probably change the salt /sugar ratio to about 1/2 cup salt and 1 cup sugar and reduce the cure time to about 12 hours- ive found that even 36 hours is fine with salmon but again as you suggested the lower oil content of kingfish needs to be considered. The dill/orange flavour was excellent. The fish i brined for a hot smoke with 1/2 cup of salt and 1 cup of brown sugar and the 5 spice was actually delicious before smoking but again could of done with less time-it was really good after the smoking but because of the long cure time was a bit dry in the thinner parts of the fillets. I also BBQ'd the collars after marinating overnight in sirracha chili sauce and smoky bbq sauce- these were great-best part of the fish. I have about a kilo of fillet left for crumbing tonight.

Hi Paddy, what type of salt did you use for the curing & brining?

I find the type of salt also makes a difference to the end result.

For the cured fillets I use either a fine ish rock salt(because its cheap😜) or if Im at work a flakes sea salt which is best but its expensive(its ok when I dont have to pay for it), I never use table salt.

When I brine for hot smoking, same thing with the salt but I do a liquid cure which would be in this ratio-

250gr brown sugar

250gr fine rock salt

2.5ltrs water

This would be for 2 fillets & I would leave it in this for 24hrs.

I know in is hard to monitor in the smaller S/S portable smokers but I try to keep it internally at a constant temperature & also try not to let the fish get over 65*C as it will tend to be over cooked & dry

At work I have the luxury of using a large combi oven & able to control the temp spot on & also use the internal temp probe in the fish to.

Still even if you just have a small portable style smoker you can monitor the temp of the product with a cheap food thermometer, like this one I use for the same thing.

Personally I would rather work on the temperature of the fish over the heat inside. 

I know there are so many ways to do things & each to their own on what works for each person, its is subjective to your own tastes. 

Edited June 22, 2020 by kingie chaser

[PaddyT]

cheers for the advice-i do have a good meat thermometer but didnt use it- why do you find table salt a problem?

[kingie chaser]

16 hours ago, PaddyT said:

cheers for the advice-i do have a good meat thermometer but didnt use it- why do you find table salt a problem?

Maybe next time use the thermomiter & take the fish out at 65*c & see what you think.

 

As for the salt, its just a preference, I find table salt contains things like anti caking agents that affect the taste 

Manufacturers may include additives in table salt to prevent clumping. These additives are called anticaking agents and may include:

• potassium ferrocyanide
• calcium silicate
• silicon dioxide
• yellow prussiate of soda
• iron ammonium citrate

So essentially flaked salt or rock salt is more pure & imo you just end up with a better tasting end product.

 

I do have table salt in my cupboard but the only thing I use it for is when adding it to water to boil pasta etc.

Otherwise on my actual food when finishing I will use some kind of flaked salt, Murray river pink salt, Malden sea salt etc, even a cheap Saxa pure rock salt used in a mill tastes much better that table salt.

 

I also measure in weight, not say cups, 1 cup of table salt will weight more than 1 cup of rock salt due to the shape.

 

When I did this curing I just used Saxa pure rock salt & ground it up a bit finer in my pestle & mortor. 

 

Edited June 22, 2020 by kingie chaser