Wildfood: September 2011

This was an attempt to make dog salmon edible.

Dog, or chum, or keta or silverbrite or whatever you call it, has the lowest amount of omegas along with the least flavor of the pacific salmon family. Often called dog or chum, because of the low quality of the flesh, about all this species is good for is dog food or bait.

So when one accidentally ended up in a batch of coho I was processing, I nearly threw it out. But, Alaska is boring, and I though it be fun the challenge myself to take this boring fish and make something awesome out of it.

I have the vac pac to thank for all the flavor.
What i did: season the fish, let it chill about ten minutes, then loaded the bag with a neutral oil, a lot fresh herbs and two bags of earl grey. I sealed it, and left it in the fridge overnight.

The next afternoon, took a giant pot of water and held it between 105 and 110 degrees. Once the water temp was stable, I put the sealed bag of salmon.

After two hours at 110°F, the texture was perfect. I could have taken the little cubes and used them as they were. But Alaska is boring, so I whipped the dog salmon cubes into a mousseline using crème fraiche and olive oil.