Beetroot cured salmon

Despite what people think, gravadlax is very easy to make, it just requires thinking about a couple of days before you actually need it. Another thing I like about this recipe is that it’s very seasonal and looks impressive, especially if you are making it for a party. It is something that will impress your guests as the beetroot that is used to cure the salmon not only gives it a great colour but imparts a lovely earthy flavour. This also works well smoked. 

You can also cold or hot smoke this for some added flavour. I find apple or cherry wood works best with the beetroot. If cold smoking give yourself an extra couple of days to prepare this.  I like to use poitín (Irish moonshine) for this particular cure, the smoky sweetness works really well with the beetroot, I've opted for the Teeling spirit of Dublin, which is one of the best ones on the market, the others are too sweet or too harsh, the Teeling one is very smooth and complex. You can also use genever, it's best to use an oude genever if you do, it has more flavour. 

500g - 750g salmon fillet preferably with skin on

For the cure

2 medium sized beetroot topped, tailed and peeled

75g salt

90g sugar

30ml Teeling spirit of Dublin poitín

20g dill

Whizz all ingredients together in a food processor until pureed

Pour a little of the cure into a flat dish and place the salmon skin side down on top and pour the rest of the cure over the salmon

Cover the dish with cling film and place in the fridge for 48 hours
You can serve this as is thinly sliced serve with the sauce or on some toasted bagels with horseradish creme fraiche


Hot smoking
Wash off the cure and dry thoroughly
Set your BBQ up for indirect cooking at 100c
I like to use applewood chips for this but cherrywood also works well too
Allow some of the initial smoke to die down before placing the salmon in the BBQ
Cook the salmon until it reaches 68c core temp this may take about 30 - 45 minutes but use the core temperature as a guide to when it is ready

If you want to cold smoke
Wash off the cure and dry off, allow 1-2 days for it to dry and form a pellicule, which will help the smoke take better, you can air dry it in the fridge
Use apple or cherry wood dust and cold smoke for 3 - 6 hours depending on how strongly flavoured you like the smoke. 
The larger the piece, the longer it will need for smoking

Sauce

10g freshly grated horseradish (or more if you like, I like lots!)

125ml creme fraiche

15g dijon mustard

2g sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

5ml lemon juice

Mix together all the ingredients

To serve thinly slice the salmon and serve with either rye or soda bread and some of the sauce.

Tastes of Home part three - Spare ribs Irish style

On St Patrick's day and I always like to cook my favourite dish which is spare ribs and cabbage. 
I was glad to find out when I moved to the Netherlands that spare ribs were very popular here, but not the spare ribs I grew up with.

When you think of ribs, you probably have a vision in your mind of barbecue ribs or Chinese ribs with a sticky sauce, well think again. In Ireland, we do have the BBQ versions but we also have a salted or cured version which is what I grew up eating. It was only when I moved to the UK and found that spare ribs as I knew them (cured) didn't exist in butchers and if I wanted Irish spare ribs, I would have to cure them myself.

I thought it would be a long drawn out process but like curing your own bacon it is a very simple process, but takes time. 
Allow yourself up to 7 -12 days to cure the ribs before cooking, depending on how salty you like them. 

So if you follow the method that I used for making your own bacon then you are halfway there. 

30g salt to 1 kg ribs

Rub the salt all over the ribs, making sure they are completely covered
Either vacuum pack or place in a ziplock freezer bag and place in the fridge for 7 - 12 days
If using the freezer bag method then ensure you turn the bag every day during the curing period

 First rub the salt cure into the ribs, then either vacuum pack the ribs and leave for up to 12 days in the fridge or place in a plastic ziplock bag in the fridge and turn the ribs every day.

The next stage is the cooking and the traditional way to serve this is as a one pot dish.

Spare ribs with potatoes and cabbage

1 kilo cured spare ribs
1/2 a head of spring cabbage (separated into leaves with mid vein removed)
4 potatoes washed and quartered, no need to peel if you so wish.

Wash the ribs to remove excess cure or salt
Place in a pan of water and bring to the boil
Lower the heat and simmer for 2 hours until they are almost coming apart
Then add the cabbage to the pot
After 10 minutes add the potatoes
Check the potatoes for done-ness after 7 minutes (a knife should pierce them easily).
Drain the water from the pot.
Serve and enjoy!

Growing up we served this with the ribs taken out of the pot and placed on one plate where everyone helped themselves from (or in my case tried to eat as many as possible) and the potatoes and cabbage on other plates.
With the potato and cabbage I like to mash them together with some butter, but that's my preference.
You can also serve this with cally (aka champ), which is mashed potatoes with scallions.

Makin' Bacon

Often there's a product that you like and are used to getting it in the butchers or supermarket, its easily accessible and you don't really think any more about what goes into making it. When that product becomes no longer easily available and you have moved to a country whereby streaky bacon seems to consist of over salted wafer thin strips, you start to think, can I make this myself?

Before I embarked on my bacon journey many years ago I thought essentially that curing my own bacon would be time consuming, laborious and just plain difficult. I was wrong!

So after much googling, speaking with friends who have also indulged and a bit of online research, I found that this magic product is the result of salt (you can also use saltpetre) and the pork product of choice. 
In this case I use 30g salt to every kilo of bacon, I also add 5 - 10g of sugar for added flavour. 
You can add herbs, spices, maple syrup, treacle, honey etc... all depending on your taste, but this is how I make traditional Irish style bacon.

Before starting, make sure your work surface is well scrubbed down and that your hands are clean. I can't stress this enough as you need to ensure the meat does not get contaminated. You can also use food prep gloves too. 

Ingredients
1kg bacon
30g salt (or nitrate cure/ prague cure if using)
10g sugar 

Take 1 slab of bacon, in this case belly pork.

You can remove the skin or leave it on its up to you, I remove the skin so I can make crackling.

Add the salt and sugar cure ensuring the bacon is well covered and the cure is rubbed well into the meat.

If using additional cures such as maple syrup, treacle or honey, I add these after I have added the initial salt cure.

Place in a plastic freezer bag preferably zip lock or one that closes sufficiently so that no liquid runs out and leave in the fridge for 7 days.  
Ensure you keep turning it, every day to ensure the liquid and cure is distributed into the meat. 
You can also cure it by vacuum packing it and leave it in the fridge for the same amount of time, no need to keep turning it.

Once the cure has taken, take the bacon out of the bag or vacuum pack and rinse well, dry the meat and then place back in the fridge in an opened dish or baking tray for 3 days uncovered, to allow it to dry out. 
Once dry you can cold or hot smoke if you wish. I cold smoke using a cold smoke generator placed on the platesetter  of my big green egg. Up to you which types of wood dust you want to use, my favourites are apple, hickory and pecan. The longer you smoke, the heavier the flavour so it is up to you. 
Then you are good to go with your own home cured bacon, you can either slice by hand or with a meat slicer.