Sous Vide Smoked Salmon | Recipe by sousvidetools.com

Sous Vide Marinated Smoked Salmon with Dill and Cucumber

COOK TIME: 2 hours
PREP TIME: 2 Hours
DIFFICULTY: Medium
SERVES: 8

Ingredients

Marinated smoked salmon

1kg side of salmon
300g of salt
300g of sugar
3 lemons, zest only
1 tbsp of dill seeds
1 tbsp of fennel powder
olive oil

Pickled vegetables

1 apple
1 cucumber
2 tbsp of Chardonnay vinegar
salt
1 tbsp of sorrel, sliced julienne
olive oil

Yoghurt dressing

100g of yoghurt
10g of fresh horseradish, finely grated
20ml of lemon juice

8 Slices of dark rye bread – to serve
Chopped dill – to serve

Equipment

EQUIPMENT

Method

Recipe courtesy of chef Agnar Sverrisson from www.greatbritishchefs.com

METHOD

To cure the salmon, mix together the salt, sugar, lemon zest, dill seeds and fennel powder. Spread half the mixture over the bottom of a tray and lay the salmon on top. Sprinkle the remaining marinade over the fish and rub it in with your hands to ensure an even coating. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
For the pickled vegetables, chop the apple and the cucumber into 5mm cubes, making sure that you keep the apple cubes separate from the cucumber ones. Seal the apple in one vacuum bag with half the Chardonnay vinegar and a pinch of salt and the cucumber in another vacuum bag with the remaining vinegar and a pinch of salt. Set aside to pickle until required.
Take the salmon out of the fridge. Rinse the fish in plenty of cold water to remove the marinade, then pat dry with kitchen paper and divide into individual portions (70g per portion). Arrange the portions in a deep tray, then tightly cover the tray with cling film.
In the centre of the tray, pierce the cling film with a sharp point to make a small hole. Pipe smoke into the tray through the hole for 30 seconds, then set the smoke-filled tray aside for 5 minutes to infuse.
Preheat the water bath to a temperature of 45⁰C.
Remove the cling film covering the tray and seal the salmon portions in individual vacuum bags, adding a drizzle of olive oil to each one. Place the bags in the water bath and leave to cook for 30 minutes.
To make the yoghurt dressing, place the yoghurt in a small bowl and gradually mix in the horseradish and lemon juice, adding more or less depending on your personal taste.
Unseal the vacuum bags containing the salmon and remove the fish. Lightly scorch one side of each portion using a blowtorch.
Empty the vacuum bags containing the pickled apple and cucumber into a single bowl, add the sorrel and olive oil and mix well.
To serve, smear some yoghurt dressing over the base of each place and spoon over the pickled vegetables, disturbing them around the plate. Position a slice of rye bread in the centre of the plate and balance a portion of salmon on top. Dust the fish with dulse powder and chopped dill, then finish the dish with a garnish of wood sorrel, dill leaves and dulse.

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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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