Homemade Gravadlax, Dill and Mustard Mayonnaise, Spelt Soda Bread and Butter- in which i appear preach-ey about food provenance multiple times.

This was my cooking project last week, to stop me from going insane at the hands of history. This works as a lovely starter and very impressive too, since all the elements can easily be made at home with basic ingredients. Cured or Smoked salmon is often viewed nowadays as a luxury, but in reality Gravadlax is a kind of cured salmon which has its origins in poor Scandinavian fishing heritage. In order to preserve fish in general while the fishermen went out in their boats for a second attempt, they were covered in the sand on the beach, and then dug up a few days later, when the salt had cured them. Now the recipe is slightly more complex, but not significantly.


Mine turned out slightly more sweet than salty, but not overpoweringly so, and the flavour of the dill was perfectly noticeable. The mayonnaise here goes really well with the salmon, and soda bread has a kind of earthy, moral glow about it that just makes you feel super-good.



So here are the recipes. Quantities are enough for A) about 8 people for a starter,B) 3-4 for a main if you felt so inclined but that would be odd, C) 1 person over about a week who really likes salmon, or alternatively,D) a hungry bunch of historians for two hours.

Homemade Gravadlax:
Ingredients:

Salmon, filleted and pinboned - 350 g - the meat from about mid way down the fish is best,where it starts to narrow due to the tail, but you could easily use the very tail segment, being aware that the thinner parts would cure more quickly and thus become perhaps overly flavoured. On this note, a quick word about salmon generally. Wild salmon from this country is very hard to come by, and very expensive when you do find it, and most of the wild salmon you would find is imported from Alaska. The better farmed salmon from Scotland is produced to a very high standard, is generally delicious, and supports the British economy. So buy that instead of wasting your money on plane/boat tickets for wild Alaskan salmon.

1 heaped tablespoon of sea salt (preferably Maldon)
1 heaped tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons of fresh Dill, finely chopped ( boycott Israel obviously)

Method: Make extra sure there are no bones sticking out of your fillet of salmon. Then, mix up all of your other ingredients in a bowl, thoroughly, breaking up your sea salt between your fingers if it's in flakes. Place the fish on some clingfilm, skin side down, and scatter your mixture all over the flesh of the fish until its completely covered. Then clingfilm your fish up quite tightly, and then put it in your fridge, probably in some sort of box in case your curing mixture leaks out of the clingfilm. Leave in the fridge for 24-48 hours, it helps to put something relatively heavy on top of it for a couple of hours during this period just to squeeze some of the moisture out.

After a period you're happy with, (i left it for about 30 hours) unwrap the fish and wash off all the excess cure under the tap. Slice it as thinly as you can. If you are as awkward as me, this is the most difficult bit. I found it easiest to remove the skin and then slice it like i would a cucumber, but I'm sure there is a more elegant way. Garnish with fresh dill and the accompaniments below.

Homemade Mustard and Dill Mayonnaise

Ingredients:
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard (why anyone would buy English made Dijon Mustard, which even Waitrose sell, is beyond me. I was shocked. Buy some from Dijon for chrissakes!)
1 tablespoon caster sugar
150 ml vegetable oil, or any other oil. Hemp oil is brilliant, like a kind of English olive oil, but it may be a bit strong for this recipe. Use it for everything else though.
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of freshly and finely chopped dill
saltnpepa to taste.

Method: Whisk the egg yolk with the mustard and the sugar until well incorporated. Then add the oil, drop by bloody drop if you are cautious, and when your patience is exhausted, splash by splash, and then you will almost definitely get bored and your splashes will become more and more liberal. Don't add too much at once though, otherwise the whole thing will become oily and separated and you have to start again. It should incorporate nicely and get slowly thicker. After it's all in, you should have mayo consistency. Then just add white wine vinegar, seasoning and chopped dill. Taste it and adjust however you want!


Homemade Butter

Ingredients:
500 ml double cream - this will generally produce a decent amount of butter, approx 250 g, more than enough to go with this dish. It will keep for a while, as long as you get all the buttermilk out.
sea salt to taste

Equipment:
Muslim (sic)

Method: It really is pretty easy. Overwhip your cream in a bowl which is large enough for your cream to be held in comfortably since it will expand when whipped, past every stage where it would normally be delicious (yes it hurts), until it looks like scrambled eggs and there is a milky white liquid forming at the bottom of your bowl. At this stage stop, and strain the whole mixture through a double or triple folded sheet of muslin, resting in a sieve. SAVE THE MILKY LIQUID THAT COMES OUT OF THE WHIPPED CREAM - it is buttermilk and you will need it to make the sodabread. fold up the muslin around your butter and squeeze it, basically wringing out your precious buttermilk. When no more buttermilk appears to be coming out, and the "butter" appears to be being squeezed out through the muslin, stop and return to another bowl. Or even better, use the same bowl you did previously and just wash it up while it's straining, you lazy bastards. Then whip the butter again, to force out any more buttermilk, for about a minute. Repeat the whole process with new muslin. When the butter is completely void of the liquid, and feels like butter, return to the bowl and mix thoroughly with the amount of salt you prefer in your butter. Then, try and force the butter into some sort of shape, which is where butter pats would be handy, but you can just use your hands or force it into a butter dish like an angry father pushing his child into the bath. Scream "get in you little sod" for greater effect.
Et Voila, homemade butter.

Wholemeal Spelt Soda Bread:

I know this sounds healthy and boring, but its very flavoursome.

Ingredients:

120 g Spelt Flour
80 g Strong White Bread Flour
40 g Plain flour
1 teaspoon sea salt, crushed
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 whole egg, whisked.
1 tablespoon oil, use what you like, but sunflower is fine.
1 teaspoon of clear honey
210 ml of buttermilk (if you didn't get this from making the butter, you can either change the other quantities in this recipe, or top it up with a sneaky bit of milk and pretend you did - that's what i did)

Method: Preheat your oven to 200 C, same old story etc. Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl, mix all the wet ingredients (egg, honey, buttermilk and oil) thoroughly in a separate bowl. Pour them together, and mix until they are incorporated, then stop and don't overwork it. It shouldn't look like a bread dough, more like a firmish cake mix. Pour it into a well oiled loaf tin and put it in the oven. Mine took about 25/30 minutes to cook, but keep an eye on it and it is ready when you tap on the bottom and it sounds like a bodhran. Keeping the Irish theme there. It will keep for 2-3 days nicely, but is best fresh obviously.