Sous Vide Alaska Salmon | Recipe by sousvidetools.com

Alaska salmon cooked Sous Vide with aubergine, kumquat and Greek yoghurt

COOK TIME: 1 hour
PREP TIME: 1 hour
DIFFICULTY: Medium
SERVES: 4

Ingredients

Alaska salmon

4 Alaska Salmon fillets, each weighing 150g
vegetable oil

Kumquat gel

12 kumquats, halved, seeds removed
60g of water
140g of sugar
Ultratex

Aubergine

6 baby aubergines
plain flour
sunflower oil, for deep frying
sea salt
1 sprig of rosemary
olive oil

Greek yoghurt

100ml of Greek yoghurt
1 lime, zested, half of the juice squeezed
100ml of kumquat juice, reduced to 50ml

To serve

micro cress

Equipment

Sous Vide Water Bath
Vacuum Sealer Bags
Vacuum Sealer
Blender
Steam oven or Steamer

Method

Start by preparing the kumquat gel. To do this, place some water in a pan and heat. Once boiling, gently submerge the kumquats into the water for approximately 30 seconds. Drain, then repeat the process two more times. This should hopefully eliminate any pesticides while at the same time removing the bitterness from the fruit
Next, heat the60g of water and combine with the sugar to make a syrup before adding the kumquats. Simmer until the fruit is soft yet still retaining its shape (approximately 20 minutes)
Transfer the kumquats to a blender and blitz with a small amount of the sugar syrup
Finally, weigh the kumquat mixture. Add ultralex (5% of the mixture’s weight) before blitzing once again until smooth. Transfer the gel to a squeezy bottle and set aside
For the aubergines you will need to preheat the steam oven to 100% steam
Take four of the baby aubergines and use the sharp tip of a knife to prick them. This is done to prevent them from shrivelling during cooking. Transfer the aubergines to cooking pouches along with the rosemary and a small splash of olive oil. Vacuum seal
Place the pouches into either the steam oven or the steamer and steam for 12-15 minutes. Once cooked take out the pouch and set aside. When ready to serve, cut the aubergines in half and sprinkle with salt to season
To prepare the two remaining aubergines you will need to preheat either a deep fat fryer or a deep pan of oil until it reaches a temperature of 170°C
Slice the aubergines into thin slices, using a mandolin if possible. Lightly dust each piece with flour then shake off any excess. Submerge in the deep fat fryer or pan of oil and cook until golden. Transfer to kitchen towel and pat dry. Season with salt
To prepare the salmon you will need to fill and preheat the water bath to 54°C
To begin, make sure the salmon fillets have been scaled and pin-boned. Transfer to a cooking pouch and vacuum seal
Submerge into the water bath and sous vide for 9 minutes
Once cooked, take the fillets out of the pouches and place on kitchen towel. Pat dry
Heat vegetable oil in frying pan over a high heat. Cook the salmon fillets skin-side down in the hot oil for up to 60 seconds or until the skin is slightly crispy. Remove from the pan and keep warm until ready to serve
To arrange the dish, take the reduced kumquat juice and combine with the juice and zest of the lime and the yoghurt. Smear a small quantity across each of the plates. Take the salmon fillets and slice into pieces (the fish should still be pink inside). Arrange the pieces on the plates
To finish the dish, arrange both the aubergine crisps and baked aubergine on the plate along with the kumquat gel and micro salad. Serve and enjoy!

Back to Recipes

Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

...