Gravlax
: food, December 08 2020 ▶
A Nordic appetizer, which translates as "buried salmon" - old-school food preservation. Not only it goes best with cool vodka, but also makes a delicious lunch - just put 2 slices of bread, some soft cream cheese, rucola (rocket salad), some horseradish and the fish together and you will thank me later.
The ingredients:
- all measurements are relative to 1kg of salmon fillet with the skin
- 170g rock salt (sea salt will do)
- 30g pickling salt (if you do not have, just put 30g more rock salt)
- 200g sugar - I prefer brown sugar
- 100g vodka or gin - I use vodka
- 1 cup dill (chopped)
- 10g ground black pepper
- orange zest of a regular-sized orange
The making:
- rinse the salmon under cold water, dry with kitchen paper
- mix all the ingredients above, put a small amount at the bottom of a deep dish
- put the salmon skin-down
- use the remaining mixture to "bury" the fish
- put some foil on top, (optional) put something heavy to press it down
- leave in a cool place for 3 days
- put out the fish, rinse with cold water, dry with kitchen paper
- slice as thin as possible, enjoy
Pork tongue
: food, November 13 2020 ▶
That is the tongue of a pig. Also one of the best appetizers/side-dishes ever! It is fairly easy to prepare, but slightly more difficult to find, as general stores do not usually sell such stuff - you have to go to your local butcher. Here we go:
Ingredients - tongue:
- 600-800gr pork tongues
- 2 bay leaves
- 10-15 peppercorns
- 1-2 pimento seeds (Allspice)
- 1/2 tea spoon salt
Ingredients - sauce:
- 2 big garlic cloves
- juice of 1 big lemon
- 1/2 tea spoon salt
- 1/2 cup dill
- 1/2 tea spoon chili flakes
- 1 tea spoon Worcestershire sauce
Preparation:
Put the pork tongue in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes on MAX setting. Take it out, let it cool down, peel the skin with hands. DO NOT even think of throwing the stock away - you can make a soup or use it in another dish. Just strain it first. Some other recipes may ask for some oil, but the tongue is fatty enough, so I do not use any. Mix all sauce ingredients in a separate cup. Serve the tongue slightly warm and cut sideways.
Aged cowboy steak
: food, September 08 2020 ▶
Not every day a God-sent piece of meat lands in my plate, so it is an occasion to commemorate. Plus, this is how you do it:
- What you see on the pictures is a 20-days dry-aged ribeye cowboy steak (meaning "with the bone").
- Rinse and pat dry with kitchen paper.
- Sunflower oil to rub. Forget about the "extra virgin" bullshit. It has lower smoke point and will turn bad.
- Ground pepper and salt. Generously!
- Put the pan on "highest".
- Preheat the oven on 180C with ventilator (else 200C).
- In the pan - 2 minutes on each side, repeat (total of 8 minutes).
- Move the meat to a baking dish(if the pan is not ovenproof), cover with foil, put it in the oven.
- This steak was ~3.5cm thick, so I would say 10 minutes per centimeter. In my case - 35 minutes.
- Remove from oven, leave it to rest 5-10 mins.
- 17C cooled Merlot or Cabernet (if you are wondering).
