How to cure Salmon with Beetroot

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How to Cure Salmon

Want to learn how to cure salmon with beetroot? It takes twenty hours and five minutes to make. That’s 5 minutes of effort. Then 20 hours of patience while it cures in the fridge. Here’s how:

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Step 1: Pin bone

Check your salmon for pin bones and remove any you find.

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Here’s how

1. Run your fingers down the salmon until you find the line of bones.

2. Place two fingers either side of the bone and press lightly down on the salmon.

3. Using pin bone tweezers pull the bone out in the direction towards the head end of the salmon.

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Keep in Mind

• Run your fingers the wrong way over the bones to make them stick up and easier to grab.

• Pull gently along the direction of the bone. It is easy to tear the salmon flesh, so go slow.

• Drop the pin bones into a glass of water to clean the tweezers between pulls. (note to self: don’t drink the water!)

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Step 2: Make the Beetroot Cure

Make the cure by using equal parts of sugar and salt. Then add dry spices, herbs and chopped beetroot. The beetroot does two things: first it adds an earthy beet flavour to contrast the fatty salmon, and second it turns the edges of the salmon a beautiful purple colour.

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Here’s how

1. Add 500g of sea salt, 250g of brown sugar and 250g of white caster sugar into the blender.

2. Add a teaspoon of fennel seed and a bunch of dill.

3. Add 500g of washed, raw, roughly chopped beetroot.

4. Blend for a minute.

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Keep in Mind

• Keep to the 50:50 sugar to salt ratio.

• But feel free to change the spices and herbs. You could also add lemon or orange peel.

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Step 3: Give it time

Add the cure to the salmon, chill and wait…

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Here’s how

1. Place the side of salmon in a dish.

2. Spoon over the beetroot cure mixture.

3. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 10 hours.

4. After 10 hours turn the salmon over, cover and return to the fridge for another 10 hours.

5. After 20 hours, lightly wash off the cure.

6. The salmon is now good to slice and eat.

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Keep in Mind

• The cure draws out the moisture in the fish, preserving it and preventing it spoiling.

• You can cure for less time but the cure and the flavour will not be so strong.

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