Cured Wild BC Coho Salmon
Make your own delicious cured wild coho salmon at home with this easy 4 ingredient recipe from Chef Dai Fukasaku. A great addition to your morning cream cheese bagels, afternoon salads or date night charcuterie boards.
Ingredients
2 fillets of wild BC coho salmon (sockeye salmon would also work well)
2.5 cups of sea salt
1 and ⅓ cups of brown sugar
⅓ cup of whole peppercorns
Directions
Remove any bones, trim and fins. You can use tweezers to remove the pin bones, if any.
Roughly crush up the whole peppercorn with a mortar and pestle. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you could place the peppercorns on a cutting board and crush them underneath a large pot or pan.
Mix together the salt, brown sugar and crushed peppercorn.
Place coho skin side down on a large tray and then cover the salmon with the seasoning mix. Any leftover seasoning could be stored in a sealed container in the cupboard until the next use.
Cover the tray with saran wrap. Tilt the tray slightly by placing something underneath the tray near the head side of the fillet (a folded tea towel or small plate will work). This is so that any water coming off the salmon fillet during the curing process will pool away from the fillet and leave the salmon dry.
Let the tray sit in the fridge for 24-48 hours. The longer the salmon is left, the drier it will be at the end of the curing process. If you like a softer texture, 24 hours is enough. But if you prefer it drier, wait the full 48 hours. Once the time is up, remove the seasoning by lightly rinsing the fillet with cold water. Pat dry.
Portion the fillet by cutting horizontally so that each piece is 2 inches across.
Keep in the fridge the amount that you will consume in 3 days and vacuum pack the rest of the portions individually. They can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Enjoy!
Recipe by: Dai Fukasaku
Video and photos by Chelsey Ellis