Pickled Salmon

 

I'm trying to discover new ways to incorporate more fish into my diet.  You're supposed to have 2-3 portions per week.  I tend to have one per month unless I make an effort.

One idea I had was to have some kind of fish at breakfast instead of turkey sausage.  I googled "breakfast fish recipes", which brought up mostly Asian and Scandinavian ideas.  Those are both healthy cuisines.  I settled on the idea of pickled fish, a Scandinavian option.  When I go on a cruise, I tend to do this one of the mornings, just as a personal thing.  But when I went to get a jar of LASCCo pickled herring, the label had a surprising amount of sugar in it.  Ok, new plan: buy fish and get out the erythritol.  You have to use actual sugar in canning recipes, but refrigerator pickles can use alternate sweeteners.

The recipe I'm adapting is for pickled herring.  I don't know if you can even buy herring at a basic supermarket in California.  I went for frozen salmon portions because I have experience with curing it, and changed the seasonings to make them appropriate.

This recipe doesn't have to be exclusively for breakfast.  That's just one of the things I used it for.  I usually have the Lasco for afternoon snack.  Papa Smurf rarely had lunch, but when he did, it was often something like this or peanut butter and crackers.

There are two ways of pickling fish, raw and poached.  I'm doing the poached version, where you pour the vinegar and spices just off the boil and it barely cooks the fish through.  You can also wait for the liquid to cool and do a raw version.  The recipe site included a link to the U of Minnesota's page on preserving fish, if you have safety questions.

Water
1/4 C pickling or kosher salt
12 oz salmon filet, skin-on
1 C vinegar (I used a mix of white wine and distilled)
3 Tb sugar
1 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp peppercorns
*4 juniper berries
*1 bay leaf
*1 tsp dill weed
1 lemon, thinly sliced
*1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

1.  In a small, non-reactive saucepan, heat 3 C water and the salt until the salt thoroughly dissolves.  Allow to cool to room temperature.  Pour over salmon in a small container until submerged.  Refrigerate 8 to 24 hours, to brine.

2.  In the small saucepan, combine vinegar, 1/2 C water, sugar, and all spices except the dill.  Bring to a low boil for several minutes.  If doing the poached version, maintain a low boil while you fill the jars.  For raw, allow to cool to room temperature.

3.  Thoroughly wash two wide-mouth pint jars, or a glass quart jar with a fairly wide mouth.  It's just going to be easier to get the pieces out later.  Don't use metal, as it will react with the vinegar.  Plastic will pick up flavor and odors.  Glass or ceramic is best for this, and glass is prettier.

4.  Drain the salmon and cut into one-ounce pieces.  This is meant for small servings.  You should be able to feel that the texture of the fish is slightly denser than raw.  Add dill to the bottom of the jar.  Then alternate adding fish, lemon, and onion until all are used up.

5.  Carefully pour hot (or cooled) pickling mixture into the jars, including the spices.  The cold fish should cool off the mixture enough to prevent the jar from cracking.  Shake or debubble the jar.  By now, you can see the color of the fish change as it cooks.  Cap and refrigerate at least a day before using.  The fish will get soft, flaky, and fall apart slightly as you remove it from the jar.  Maybe use a spoon.  Use within 2-3 weeks.

Makes 12 1-ounce servings

Difficulty rating  :)