Mackerel with seaweed cracker | Recipe by sousvidetools.com

Mackerel with seaweed cracker

COOK TIME: 1 hour
DIFFICULTY: Difficult
SERVES: 4

Ingredients

1 mackerel
30g of salt
30g of sugar
4 pinches of coriander seeds
2 limes, zested
transglutaminase for dusting

Seaweed cracker

90g of scallops
58g of tapioca starch
30ml of water
1/2 sheet of nori seaweed
1 dash of salt

Garlic and lemon purée

75g of garlic cloves, peeled
75ml of lemon juice

Egg yolk purée

120g of egg yolk
1 pinch of salt

To plate

1/4 cucumber
extra virgin olive oil
buckler sorrel
1 handful of chive flower
1 pinch of Sea salt

Equipment

Method

This delicious recipe by chef Adam Stokes has been recreated for our website with kind permission from Great British Chefs

Method

Begin by preparing the mackerel. De-head and fillet the fish before removing all of the bones. To do this, slice along the pin bones in one action
Make a marinade of sugar, salt, coriander seeds and lime zest and use this to marinade the two fillets (flesh side down – do not get any marinade on the fish skin). Cover then leave to chill in the refrigerator for one hour
Once chilled, take the fillets out of the fridge and wash thoroughly. Dust the flesh sides with the transglutaminase before rolling both fillets, flesh side together into a cylindrical shape. Wrap the fish in cling film then blanch for 45 seconds in boiling water. Once blanched, plunge into ice cold water immediately before placing in the refrigerator
To make the seaweed cracker, make a paste by blitzing all of the ingredients together in a food processor. Place the paste into a vacuum pouch but do not seal. Flatten the pouch with a rolling pin so that the sheet is a few millimetres thick then place in the freezer. Once frozen, cut into rectangles before placing into a dehydrator at 57°C for four hours or until dry
Fill and pre-heat your Sous Vide to 90°C to begin preparation for the garlic and lemon puree. Use a cooking pouch to vacuum seal the garlic and lemon juice then submerge into the Sous Vide for one hour. Once cooked, open the pouch and blend. Season with salt then pass the puree. Leave to chill in the refrigerator
Fill and pre-heat your Sous Vide to 65°C to begin preparation for the egg yolk puree. Use a cooking pouch to vacuum seal the egg yolks then submerge into the Sous Vide for 50 minutes. Once cooked, place the mixture into a piping bag – this will prevent a skin forming. Leave at room temperature until serving
Finally, prepare the cucumber. Cut the flesh into cubes then use sea salt to season. Line a tray with cling film, place the seasoned cucumber on top then freeze for one hour to break down the cucumber cells. Rinse then leave to refrigerate
To assemble the dish pipe small rounds of the egg yolk puree onto the plate. Lay the mackerel on top followed by the seaweed cracker. Arrange the cucumber, buckler leaf sorrel and chive flowers around the mackerel, using the photo as a guide. Lastly drizzle in between the mackerel and garnish with olive oil

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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...

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