Paper Palate

December was the season for salmon recipes in UK food magazines – it seemed everyone had to have at least a couple. One of the more interesting was served up in Delicious: Jill Dupleix’s Beetroot-cured Salmon. Here are my test results for her recipe.

Beetroot-cured Salmon
Serves 6 as a starter or makes 12 Canapés
Takes 15 minutes to make, plus 36 – 48 hours’ curing

600g salmon fillet, skin on
40g fresh dill, roughly chopped
250g raw beetroot (about 2 large beetroot), peeled and grated (wear rubber gloves to do this)
75g sea salt
75g caster sugar
½ tsp peppercorns, crushed
2 Tb vodka

1. Use tweezers to pick out any small bones left in the salmon. To make the curing mixture, combine the dill, beetroot, sea salt, sugar, crushed peppercorns and vodka in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
2. Put a little of the curing mixture in a porcelain or glass baking or gratin dish and arrange the salmon on top, skin-side down. Cover the salmon with the rest of the curing mixture. Cover with cling film and chill for 24 hours.
3. Gently turn the fish over, spoon the juices over the top, cover, and chill for a further 12 – 24 hours.
4. Remove the fish, rinse well to reduce the saltiness, then pat dry. Using a very sharp knife, slice finely on an extreme diagonal, using the full length of the blade. It will keep in the fridge for up to 7 days.

I was pleased to find this recipe worked exactly as advertised - as Jill Dupleix says, it results in a very pretty dish, the salmon turning a bright ruby colour around the edges.

I didn’t use a single 600g fillet for the test cooking, but rather two fillets of about 230g each, as I wanted to test the taste results for different varieties of salmon. One fillet was wild Alaskan salmon, the other, farmed Scottish salmon.

I also couldn’t get fresh dill, so had to make do with using one teaspoon of dried dill leaf. The flavour would naturally be slightly different but I believe the essential ‘dilliness’ of taste remained the same. I used Finlandia Vodka, which is a nicely floral brand.

The recipe requires a little forethought, but the ease of preparation more than makes up for any inconvenience. It was simple to follow and accomplish, and my housemates and I tried the salmon a day after it was finished.

The wild Alaskan salmon, which has a much stronger flavour au natural, absorbed much more curing mixture and tasted distinctly of beetroot. I thought it was too salty and there was an ‘iron’ tang I wasn’t fond of, and Tanya agreed. Mark, who dislikes beetroot, abstained from eating that one. The farmed Scottish salmon had a less strong, but much smoother taste to it and the contrast of the paler flesh and ruby red was more striking. All three of us liked it. All in all, this was a very enjoyable dish.

In future, I’d stick to the farmed Scottish salmon for the beetroot-curing – the initially blander fish returns a greater reward taste-wise. Personally I also think 100g of meat for each person is too much for an entrée. I’d go for 75g, especially if you’re serving several courses. It might sound stingy, but for a big formal meal that’s definitely enough - or your guests will never make it to dessert.

Cost: £6.33 ($11.18) 220g Wild Alaskan salmon £2.80, 240g Scottish farmed salmon £2.20, Dried Dill Leaf £0.15, Maldon Sea Salt £0.30, caster sugar £0.15, Peppercorns £0.16, Vodka £0.57
Given its success with the taste testers and that it would have fed 5 – 6, I definitely rate this as a cost effective entrée. I’d also be happy to use it for canapés.