Ingredients
Scale
Cold-Smoked Salmon
- 2 to 3 lb fresh salmon
- 1 ½ cups kosher salt
- 2 tbsp horseradish
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
Sourdough Bread
- 1 cup sourdough starter
- 1 ½ cups lukewarm water
- 1 to 2 tsp instant yeast
- 2 ½ tsp salt
- 5 cups AP flour
Pickled Onions
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup water
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
Horseradish Vinaigrette
- 1 tbsp horseradish
- 1 garlic clove, small dice
- ½ shallow, small dice
- 1 tsp honey
- 2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- ¼ cup salad oil
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
Cold-Smoked Salmon
- Run your fingers over the flesh side of the salmon fillets, feeling for the sharp ends of pin bones. Pull out any you find with fish tweezers.
- To make the cure, combine the salt, horseradish and brown sugar in a mixing bowl and mix with your fingers.
- Spread 1/3 of the cure over the bottom of a shallow dish or sheet tray just large enough to hold the fish. Lay the salmon fillets on top of the cure. (The cure should extend ½-inch beyond the edges of the fish on each side.) Spread the remaining cure on top so it covers the fish completely.
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap and cure the fish in the refrigerator for 24 to 48 hours.
- Gently rinse the cure off the salmon under cold running water. Place the salmon in a large bowl with cold water to cover by 3 inches. Soak for 30 minutes then drain well.
- Blot the salmon dry on both sides with paper towels. Arrange it skin-side down on a wire rack over a sheet pan. Let the salmon dry, uncovered, in the refrigerator until it feels tacky, about 4 hours or overnight. It is very important that the salmon be very dry before smoking.
- Set up your smoker for cold smoking following the manufacturer’s instructions. Cold-smoke the salmon until the exterior is bronzed with smoke and the salmon feels semi-firm and leathery, about 12 hours.
Sourdough Bread
- Mix everything together and then knead it to make a soft, smooth dough. It may be soft and slightly sticky, but you should be able to round it into a ball.
- Allow the dough to rise in a lightly greased bowl or covered container until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes. Once it has doubled, divide the dough into 2 pieces.
- At this point shape the dough into oval loaves and place them on lightly greased, parchment-lined baking sheets. Again, let them rise until puffy, about an hour, score whatever design you’d like on the top – typically we just do two evenly spaced lines and then place in a preheated 425-degree oven.
- Bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes, until it is golden brown and the internal temperature is 200 degrees. Remove the bread from the oven and cool on a rack.
- The bread will last at room temperature up to 5 days.
Pickled Onions
- Whisk together first 3 ingredients and water in a small bowl until sugar and salt dissolve. Place onion in the small, sealable container and pour vinegar mixture over and let sit refrigerated overnight.
Horseradish Vinaigrette
- In a blender, combine all the ingredients and blend until completely smooth and emulsified. Season to taste with salt and pepper.