Change the Cut
Smoked salmon is most often purchased pre-sliced thinly on the diagonal, but a few innovative smoke houses are changing it up, serving the whole fillet for consumers to cut as they desire, slicing into thick sashimi-style slices on the vertical, or finely dicing to serve as tartare or toss through pasta. At London’s Hansen + Lydersen King Olav, Ola Hansen cures to a traditional Norwegian recipe dating back to the 1920s. Hansen cuts vertically the fish in thick slices, sashimi style, meaning you can taste all the different flavors of the fish in each slice – from the smoked surface to the fresh flesh near the skin. It’s naturally strong-colored and smooth-textured, with a wonderfully buttery finish.
Campbells and Co, from Scotland, are also taking this approach and presenting to high-end cocktail bars, with the thicker uniform cuts making a better textural and fuller flavor companion for shots of whiskey, gin, or other beverages. The thicker cuts leave no need for blini or oatcakes as complements.
A fine dice is being adopted by Grizzly Smokehouse, out of Augustine, Quebec, Canada. The company has developed a salmon tartare (“Tartare aux Duex Saumons”) that combines smoked and fresh salmon, lightly seasoned. The salmon for smoking is first cured in a homemade blend of spices to release their aroma, then brushed with Quebec-brewed maple syrup to give the fish a slightly sweet touch and prevent the salt from penetrating the flesh too deeply. To complete processing, the salmon is smoked over maple wood for 24 to 36 hours.
