Ouzo-Cured Salmon
Jul 27th, 2012 | By Peter Minakis | Category: Appetizer, Charcuturie, Curing, Featured, Fish, Herbs, How To, Meze, Oranges, Ouzo, Recipes
When I speak to friends who attended the Thalassa Supper Club I got varying opinions on who liked what the most. One of the dishes I was very pleased with is an Ouzo-cured salmon I served as part of a trio of appetizers to begin the evening.
You need a fresh as can be salmon, wild-caught if possible and if you’re using farmed salmon I would urge you to freeze it (then thaw) before curing (kills any parasites). In this case the salmon is cured or “cooked” in a combo of sugar, salt, lots of dill or fennel and liquor.
The curing method has its origins in Sweden and the end result is called Gravlax. I love fish, love salmon, love smoked salmon and Gravlax. It was a no-brainer for me to want to play around with this approach to salmon and apply some Greek flavours like Ouzo.
Gravlax literally means “buried salmon” and the name refers to the traditional method of preparation for this food: fresh salmon was heavy salted and buried in dry sand to ferment and cure. Most Gravlax recipes involve sandwiching two fillets together with the dill and salt mixture being in the middle. I cured just one fillet and the result still was excellent.
Here, I’m taking a nontraditional Greek ingredient, a foreign cooking method and applying Greek flavours to it. Ouzo perfumes the aroma of the salmon, sea salt reunites with the flesh of the fish, fennel fronds heightens the flavour of the salmon.
Curing a salmon was remarkably easy. The key to this dish is using only the freshest of fish and trusting that your final result will turn out fine and that your going to slide a piece of salmon in your mouth and savour it’s oily, rich flavour.
Ouzo-Cured Salmon
(ingredient listing per pound of salmon)
1 lb. fresh salmon fillet, pin-bones removed
2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
2 Tbsp. sugar 2 tsp. cracked black pepper
1 tsp. Boukovo (red chile flakes)
zest of 1/2 orange or 1 lemon
1 good shot of Ouzo
enough fennel fronds or dill to cover the fish
plastic cling-wrap
a heavy weight (cans of tomato /apple juice)
- Although you’ve bought a fillet of salmon, inspect the salmon visually and with your fingers to see if any pin bones were missed by your fish monger. If you find any, you can used needle-nose pliers to remove them.
- Place the salmon on a large piece of plastic wrap (about three to four times the length of the fillet) with the skin side down, pink flesh facing up.
- Put the salt, sugar, and black pepper, zest, chili flakes into a bowl and mix until evenly distributed. Reserve. Pour the shot of Ouzo over the fillet.
- Spoon the mixture onto the exposed salmon flesh, making sure to cover as much of the exposed areas as possible. Place the fennel or dill on top of the salmon. If the dill is too long to fit on top of the fillet, then snap off the stems or fold the dill over. If you have 2 fillets, place the second one flesh side down on top of the dill (making a sandwich of the fillets).
- Wrap the salmon up well and taut with the plastic wrap and place in a vessel. The container is there to catch the juices that will seep out of the salmon during the curing process.
- Place a heavy weight on top of the salmon and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, maximum 4 days (the longer, the better the flavour).
- Unwrap the salmon, remove the fennel or dill and and rinse off the salt mixture and then pat dry with paper towels.
- Use a sharp knife to thinly slice your salmon. Serve it as an open-faced sandwich, as an appetizer or a first course. For the Thalassa Supper Club I served the salmon on cucumber slices, some Greek yogurt with chopped capers, the salmon and topped with a pickled shaved fennel.
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© 2012, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.
It looks wonderful Peter, and I’m so happy to hear your parents liked it. It’s the ultimate compliment. Your ouzo-cured salmon turned out beautifully! (Although I have made this frequently with fresh, never-frozen salmon and never had a problem, keeping in mind that I use wild-caught, sea-run fish.)
This looks good Peter and I can imagine all those beautiful flavors. I have to try this but I am not sure I can find fillets. The salmon is cut into slices.
I can make this with the raki I have instead of the ouzo….I must utilize what I already have.
All I can say is YUM.
What a nice idea – it had never occurred to me to use ouzo in concert with fresh fennel for salmon. It makes so much sense!
I have never tried gravlax, Peter – your beautiful dish made me even more curious about it!
Oh Yeah! Yum!
Very handsome! Hope you partook in a little Ouzo while preparing!
Now, this sounds interesting! I’m bookmarking it, but it sounds kind of scary.
Laurie, all my thanks go to you for this dish (and the fresh salmon I found).
Ivy, I know you usually find salmon steaks rather than fillets in Greece but a good fish monger will fillet it for a customer’s request.
Jenn, YUM, YUM!
Heather, I used dill, not fennel.
Pat and Pam, don’t be shy…it really was easy.
Deb, I had a shot of Ouzo with 1 ice cube.
Dear Peter,
I enjoy reading your recipes.I haven’t tried them yet but I swear I will.Life is so hectic down here!Anyway thank you so much for your lovely photos.
Looks like a handsome dish to me, fab presentation. I love anything to do with smoked/cured fish :- Yum!
You are so quick, you have already tried making the Gravlax! It is near the top of my to try list. Yours looks really good. The Ouzo is a great idea.
Caramba, Peter! This salmon looks wonderful!!! Yesterday I bought some dill because I saw a recipe similar to yours with dill and salmon, I might do it soon too! Although it will be hard to improve yours!!!!
Hi Peter,
Im not one for raw fish, but can i still use the methods and grill the fish?
Hope to hear from you soon
Kind regards
Poppy
Poppy, grilling the fish after curing it in this manner probably wouldn’t work. Instead, grill the salmon and incoporate some the flavours in a sauce.
A great idea! That cured salmon must taste interesting.
Cheers,
Rosa
Scrumptious mouthfulls Peter, using Ouzo is a very clever idea! Great for the summer days, it is in for my Olympics BBQ spread tomorrow:)
Φοβερός ο τρόπος που ετοίμασες τον σολομό και προέκυψε καταπληκτικός μεζές!
Φιλάκια Peter:))
Love everything about this Peter from the moment I saw it pop up on pinterest. Ouzo + salmon sound perfect together. Especially like how you placed the pickled fennel on top of the appetizer.
Besides seeing your dish on pinterest, I was thinking of you as our cooking Group is doing a makeover of mezes today. Very creative, you might enjoy the line-up!
LL
Hi Peter, I gave a link to this lovely recipe at my post below, for an Olympic feast, hope you enjoy it!
http://ozlemsturkishtable.com/2012/07/olympics-london-2012-indeed-inspires-a-generation-and-mens-cycling-road-race-by-our-street/
Ooooooo ahmazing things with ouzo! Brilliant!
See now that is a combination that sounds intriguing. I wouldn’t automatically think that it would work well together but you’ve got me curious enough to give it a go!
Καλημέρα Peter με τα ωραία σου.
Όλες οι συνταγές σου με ταξιδεύουν στον τόπο μας που τόσο πολύ αγαπώ!!!!!!!
Ελα να με βρεις στην καινούργια μου σελίδα..
Θα χαρώ πολύ!!!!
Alexandra
http://www.magyreuontas.blogspot.gr
I first tried making gravlax last Christmas and am now hooked. Your addition of Ouzo sounds great.
Here I use Pacific salmon and the recipe I came across doesn’t press the fish. I’ve recently come across a couple of salmon recipes where the fish isn’t even cured but is served raw with a dressing/fast marinade. I’ll definately be freezing the fish for this first.
Happy Cooking and Eating,
Michelle in Wellington, NZ
I’m going to use farmed salmon so I definitely have to freeze them then thaw.