Sous Vide Salmon Ideas?

so I have my sister in law coming over tomorrow night for dinner, I don't like to cook for people though I obviously like to cook. I want to do some salmon that I can get fresh from a local fish market, heres the question. Am I better buying it today and marinating it vaccum sealed until tomorrow, or should I buy it fresh tomorrow, brine and then marinate all tomorrow? Also any meal ideas? I woud like to sous vide and then sear, side ideas are welcomed too

btw she goes to france for work maybe once a month I think so she knows how to eat and good food, I can get by some second rate stuff

She is not an elitist but if I break out some crappy fish I am gonna feel bad

oh I also have some anchovy butter left over from last weekend (its still good right?) maybe bake a bread also? any recomendations with that would be awesome too

time isn't as important with fish as perceived,
moisture is a problem, i'd buy it today, pull out the pin bones with tweezers, pat it dry and store it on a plate in your fridge skin side up, uncovered. get the skin super dry. get a cast iron ripping hot, season it, sear the skin for a minute and put the whole thing in the oven at 400 for a few minutes (cake tester helpful here) until it's about medium.
serve it skin side up over some tasty veg or whatever and the obligatory lemon squeeze or wedge. to me, that's the best.

thanks man, well, we had salmon I made last week in the sous vide for the first time last week it was def the best fish I ever had so I was wanting to stay that rout

my experience with sous vide fish is limited, i'm a cave man cook...
i'm sure it'll be great!

I find that salmon benefits from a light short brine. As above I would buy 2day, ensure pin bones are out, do any required trimming and then brine for remainder of day. Before you hit the sack remove from brine, rinse and lay out on sheet pan with rack (or other way to keep fish out of it's own juices). Leave overnight in fridge, flesh side up. BBQ guys call this step forming a pellicle.

I like SV for salmon, bath then sear. Could go straight to the skillet/grill. The recipe at Chef Steps has become my go to. http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-salmon--2

A pretty standard "light" brine is 1 G water, 1/2 C salt, 1/4 sugar + flavorings and aromatics and stuff. Citrus peel would do well, citrus juice not so much. Hope you knock her socks off.

should I cover the fish while in the fridge overnight? I would think maybe just some saran wrap

Maybe if your fridge is full of Kimchi

last time I seared in my debuyer pan wondering if I should just use straight cast iron this time

Kind of OT but I like the following to go with salmon (don't remember where this came from): grill pan: 1/2" slices of onion, one or two jalapeno peppers cut in half, seeds removed, small tomatoes cut in half; all grilled. Do a fine chop of the pepper, less so on the remainder. Add lime and salt. Serve on top.

I am always running out of ideas for salmon. This is one of the keepers.

My favorite way to cook them is, after patting them dry, salt theming both side, then leave uncover overnight in the fridge.

Next day, broil them for 9-10 minutes with skin up. Serve with some old mustard.

no worries on cross contamination leaving uncovered it fridge?

Nah.

ok so hows this sound

grab up some salmon today, brine from this afternoon to later tonight in salt, sugar and lemon zest, pat dry, salt both sides, leave in fridge overnight uncovered, in the morning vacum seal with a little more zest and a small amount of olive oil, I like well done so 125 for 45 minutes or so, pul out pan sear

maybe with some kind of spring vegtable and some rice with sunflower seeds?

"salt both sides"

I would lose the salt here. At that point you would be pulling moisture out of fish and starting to cure it. Otherwise sounds good.

The point of curing it pre sous vide is to prevent albumen secretion.

yes, which I was able to reduce my first try although it was not totally gone, going to leave for the fishmarket in a minute

heres a no knead pbj I just finished off for my little girls before leaving

I don't typically brine salmon. Does it really need and what does it do? I guess I could just try it.
Sethie

I grabbed the wild caught, about 4 of these, they just went into the brine

daveb said:

I find that salmon benefits from a light short brine. As above I would buy 2day, ensure pin bones are out, do any required trimming and then brine for remainder of day. Before you hit the sack remove from brine, rinse and lay out on sheet pan with rack (or other way to keep fish out of it's own juices). Leave overnight in fridge, flesh side up. BBQ guys call this step forming a pellicle.

I like SV for salmon, bath then sear. Could go straight to the skillet/grill. The recipe at Chef Steps has become my go to. http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-salmon--2

A pretty standard "light" brine is 1 G water, 1/2 C salt, 1/4 sugar + flavorings and aromatics and stuff. Citrus peel would do well, citrus juice not so much. Hope you knock her socks off.

Click to expand...

Could not agree more. This Guy Dave really gets it. He's also saved me hours of responding to threads cause usually I could not have said it better myself. This forum is a much richer place with his presence. He cracks me up too. Hope to have a beer with you someday Dave, maybe two.

Hey daveb - whats your normal timing for the fish in the brine? Also do you find it impacts the skin crispness or is it not an issue with the overnight dry, skin thinness and super hot pan? Thx TjA

Mucho is making me blush. And ascribing creds that I neither have nor deserve. I like to cook. I'm single. Do the math.:groucho:

I don't think timing is very critical in the brine. Couple hours, no less than 2, no more than 6. More critical is that the fish overnight, uncovered, flesh up, in the fridge. The pellicle forming will keep the fat in the fish instead of forming slime on the surface. If smoking its said that it will help the fish retain smoke flavor but that's a different thread.

I've not found bining to adversely affect the skin after you've done the overnight part.

Read somewhere else that "A chef's hat has 100 folds. Each fold represents a different way to cook an egg." No idea if it's true or an urban legend but thought it was apropos.

I would suggest a different recipe. I would sprinkle some sea salt on the salmon and spread on top of it a few green onions very thinly cut. Put the salmon on the fridge for a couple of hours and get it out about half an hour before cooking it. preheat the oven to 450 for 25 minutes before serving. 15 minutes before serving turn on the broil and place the salmon on a baking tray or gratin pan capable of standing broil temperature with a bit of neutral oil in the surface below the fish. Put the fish half height to the top and cook for ~9 minutes. Get the fish out and pour some ponzu sauce and a bit of fresh green onion and serve. An alternative to ponzu could be to mix a couple of table spoons of honey and lemon with a bit of fresh finely grated ginger and spread over the fish before putting it in the fridge and same technique for cooking.

after about a 6 hour brine and overnight in the fridge uncovered, here are the pieces before getting vacuum sealed with lemon zest, olive oil, salt peper, very very little of all.

I am not big on salmon anymore, but since I tried this and started doing it's AWESOME

Beetroot Cured Salmon: I don't have the actual measurments on me at the moment, but its Beet Juice, Lime Juice, Orange Zest, Lemon Zest, Cumin Seeds, Coriander seeds, Salt, Sugar, and some good vodka preferably Grey Goose

cure for around 24hrs or until the Beet juice permeates the flesh making it purple in color, the Vodka helps this process move a long much faster.

salmon tasted good, texture ok, way fatty, dissapointing, but I made mashed peas and roasted veg along with the italian bread I made, no food left on plates, so I guess it was ok

Use the belly to make candy, see Dylan greys free recipes on Amazon prime