Time to make some more smoked salmon!

Time for some more smoked salmon!

 As we all know there is good smoked salmon and there is some really ropey stuff around, well we make our own and its surprisingly easy to do. Lots of our guests have commented on how special it is and I am always telling everyone that its really easy to make, so I thought it was time to blog all about it.  That way you can just get on and try it out.   It’s  great fun and very rewarding so go on, have a go!!

 First, you will need a side of salmon, try and find a good fishmonger as ideally you don’t want farmed, but don’t worry if all else  fails swing  into your  local Morrison’s their fresh fish is pretty good  ask the deli guy to take out the pin bones though to make life easier for yourself.

When you get home put the side of Salmon on a plastic board, skin side down,  don’t use anything metallic as this woud react with the salt and you’d end up with a rusty piece of fish – not wholesome!

 Cover the open side with freshly ground pepper you can be quite liberal give it a good covering using a pepper mill of course, then make up the cure,  100g of table salt & 100g of caster sugar.  Mix together well and spread it all over making sure all the flesh is coated. Wrap up in cling film lots of it, (it is worth using a catering size it’s wider)  then bang another chopping board on top and put it all in a tray (good to catch the drips ).  Pop it into the fridge and then put something heavy on top – like a brick  leave alone for 5 days , then unwrap wash the cure off and pat the side down with some kitchen roll,  the ground pepper can stay and will stay on

Then pop it in a smoker for about 4 hours, if you don’t have a smoker yet check out the blog post on how to make yourself a home smoker .

Cutting the smoked salmon can been a little daunting, I would suggest the easy way is to cut the fillets as in the picture you’ll  need your sharpest knife – if you get into trouble no worries just cut the slices a little thicker,  this will easily keep in a fridge for 7 to 10 days .   If you prefer just slice the whole thing  and portion up say a couple of slices wrapped in cling film and store in the freezer until you  fancy it, it will only take a few minutes to defrost  and will be good and tasty for at least a month.

 You’ll never buy the shop smoked stuff ever again!

New menu time at North Wheddon

Spring is now well and truly upon us, and summer is in sight.  I am increasingly thinking it’s time to redo our menu.  Late Spring / early summer is such a great time for food and ingredients.   But what to try out?  Let me explain, we try as much as possible to make, grow and produce our own dishes,  so we need to plan ahead to either to produce or raise the livestock.  The Geese are ready which is a great, we are thinking of trying out  a smoked goose breast,  with loose leaf salad and an AGA dried tomato dressing  - we will be trying this out in the next week or two.  We’ve got some pheasants left from the end of the shooting season which we are going to casserole with our own homemade lardons of smoked bacon, shallots and root vegetables slow cooked in the oven finished with some very good wine from our wine list, Im thinking of probably using a new world wine.

Our coq au vin is always a winner, it’s easily as good as its French counterpart but English!  These birds will soon be ready.  And of course our own fat lambs will be ready although I do prefer mutton for a fuller flavour but spring lamb always has a place when in season with rosemary & mint jelly.  As for fish, well we only live 10 miles from the coast so always best to check with the lads to see what’s about – last time we ended up with 40 odd fresh mackerel – which we cured , smoked and turned into a hot smoked mackerel pate served  with a horseradish toast .   The poultry laying has started to take off after the winter downturn,  so we’ve plenty of chicken and duck eggs to choose from,  which means homemade meringues are a winner!

Rache & I will always try out our new menu  idea’s which although it not good for the waistline, its a hardship we can just about bear!  

The Seasons

The Seasons

Never used to pay very much attention to the seasons, never had to - things just seemed to keep coming round, time was about meetings, deadlines,  projects  and schedules- with little or no time to spare always working at breakneck speed to just keep bobbing along.

Things couldn’t be more different now, sure there’s  lots to do, but there’s more time to do it and the pace is slower. Everything has its own pace which for the most part cannot be hurried. A new born lamb trying to suckle requiring a little help won’t be told  you’ve got a busy day and telling your prize pig that you’ve only got 15 minutes to move her into a new field just doesn’t work!  Things just take as long as they take and that’s the way it is.

 Seasonality is of course now very important to us – whether its planning newly born animals, planting in the veg patch or updating our menus with some of Somerset’s local larder.  We do still watch the time of course but more waiting & planning for the seasons rather than the minutes, hours & days.