I've been slightly obsessed with the idea of vodka-cured trout since catching a glimpse of the Pink Salt menu on series 2 of 'My Restaurant Rules' back in 2005. Living in the western suburbs of Sydney makes it fairly challenging to find anything other than cooked prawns, mushy barramundi and frozen kangaroo tail at the local fish market so I never quite got around to even considering it until recently. Of course, ideas seem to slowly morph whilst stewing in my subconscious over time and this was no different. Vodka-cured trout became trout cured in La Goya Manzanilla sherry with vanilla and star anise. When I first tasted it I thought to myself "Oh God! What monstrosity have I created?!" and promptly threw it back into the fridge. Twelve hours or so later the flavours had mellowed nicely and it was surprisingly delectable.
La Goya-Cured Ocean Trout
150 g ocean trout fillet, skin onRemove any pin bones from fillet with tweezers, set fish aside.
106 g rock salt
40 g cane sugar
1 vanilla pod, split and scraped
3 g star anise, crushed
3 g orange zest
25 g La Goya sherry
Combine all ingredients and spread 1/3 into a bowl.
Place fish on top (skin side down) and cover with remaining salt mix.
Cure for 24 hours in refrigerator, rinse then pat dry.
Skin fillet then slice thinly.
Serve with a wedge of lemon, horseradish cream and good crusty bread.
Does the alcohol cook the meat or is it like sashimi?
ReplyDeletei suppose it sort of pickles it but there's only enough in the recipe to really impart flavour. the rock salt is the ingredient that draws all the moisture out of the fishy and acts as the curing agent in this one. the texture is more like gravlax than sashimi!
ReplyDelete