Home-cured salmon

We've been getting into the habit of visiting the fish market (which is permanent) here in Auckland in the weekend. Though we're often looking for different kinds of fish, we always take a peek at the salmon tails too - if you get there early enough, you might get a pretty big tail for a good price. We make sashimi out of it ourselves (yuum!! Finally a more satisfying portion than the five slices you get in the restaurant), or prepare the salmon teriyaki-style, or even tempura. Last week however, I wanted to try something new.

I wanted to try to cure the salmon at home (as in the salting-sugaring process). So we bought two tails (yep, one for sashimi and tempura), and cured one of them (to cure sounds a bit odd..preserve? Hm.). I found a random recipe on the internet, and didn't compare enough, because this recipe had way much more salt than all the other recipes.. ah well this is what we did:

Home-cured salmon
1 salmon tail (skinned)
2/3 cup salt
1/3 cup sugar (I used brown sugar)
0.5 tablespoon cayenne
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
2 tablespoons crushed black peppercorns

- Combine all of the spices, and sugar and salt into a large bowl.
- Cover a plate with plastic wrap, and pour half of the spices on top. Place the salmon on top of the spices, skin side down, and cover with the rest of the spice mixture.
- Wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 48-72 hours. Every 12 hours, flip and redistribute the spices with your fingers. You’ll notice that it’ll be extremely wet–that’s okay. The brine is pulling the moisture out of the salmon.
- The salmon will feel firm when fully cured. Unwrap, and throw out the brine. Rinse the salmon under cold water, and pat dry with a paper towel. Use a very sharp knife to thinly slice against the grain.

When I finally looked at more recipes and saw that they used 50-50 sugar & salt, I tried adding more sugar, but I don't think it worked ('cos the result was still quite salty). Anyway! After 60+ hours of turning the salmon every 12 hours, we tried our first piece, on a bun with some fresh avocado.



..We didn't know what to expect, but it was yum! :D It was quite salty as I mentioned, but supertasty, too! The meat was of an orange-pink colour, like the smoked salmon you see in the supermarket (but darker). The meat was firm, but not dry. I think it tasted gorgeous, and that it would be very good salmon to use in dishes, like pasta dishes (though not in my case of course! ;) No pasta for me thanks). So, yeah, good experiment, but next time less salt, and some fresh dill (Swedish styles - gravad lax)!