When I think of cured fish, I typically think of lox or something Scandanavian. With loads of dried shiitake and kombu in the pantry, however, I wanted to flavor a cured fish, ideally mackerel or trout, with flavors including these ingredients typically included in dashi making.
When I visited the market to pick up the fish, the trout did not look good and the mackerel was already cut. There was a filet of salmon that appeared to have good amounts of fat that would make the transition slightly more literal than I had hoped. I picked it up and settled on salmon cured with with kombu.
Cribbing from a basic gravlax recipe, I adapted the recipe to include the items noted above as well as a few dashes of sake. I ground the dried mushrooms as well as the kombu and add them to the cure.
After spending three days curing under weight and being rinsed, the salmon was cured. It was firm and a deeper shade of pink. The aroma was similar to a concentrated version of dashi. The kombu/shiitake cure suited the fish very well. As much as I dislike the overuse of the term “umami”, it fits the flavors here too well, in this case, to ignore it as the primary flavor descriptor.
The flavors, and salinity, are stronger than in the gravlax I have made. When served alone, the flavors are assertive, but when served over a quickly-prepared frittata with peas and spinach, the cured salmon only shined more.
This little experiment in varying flavors in a cure will open doors for me, not just for curing fish, but adjusting more traditional cures to suit desires, but also to be able to improvise using what is in the pantry and not let those limitations keeps progress at bay.
Kombu Cured Salmon
- 1 piece of kombu, ground
- 3 dried shiitake mushrooms, ground
- 1⁄3 cup kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1-lb. skin-on salmon filet
- 2 oz. sake
Step one: Combine ground kombu and mushrooms with salt and sugar. Combine with sake to form paste.
Step two: Cover both sides of salmon filet with paste. Seal in a plastic bag and compress under a weighted plate for 3 days, turning daily.
Step three: Rinse filet thoroughly, pat dry and pat dry again.
Yum!!! Must try. Love cured fish.
I do gravlax fairly frequently but haven’t done anything like this. Sounds delicious.
Forgive my ignorance, as I’m a newbie to this particular blog. What does being cured do for the salmon’s preservation qualities in this case? I’m getting pretty excited to try curing some of the local livestock, and hoping to end up with hams I can hang from the ceiling of a cool downstairs room, meats that will keep all winter long wrapped up and left on a shelf, etc.
While I am not a food scientist, it is my understanding that by salting the meat, you are making the cured meat more inhospitable to bacteria. For hams, not only are the legs cured in salt, but usually curing salt, which keeps botulism at bay, and then smoked which is another way to preserve the meat.
I always thought that as well Mark, but in re-reading my copy of Charcuterie by Ruhlman, he mentions that smoke is all about flavor and has no impact on preservation. It seems like smoke’s actual purpose (beyond flavor) was keeping insects and pests off the curing meat until it could reduce in moisture during the most vulnerable high moisture period. This would align with how smokehouses are used to hang and store meat for long periods of time.
Of course, that being said, smoke is delicious and a worthwhile pursuit!