Scandinavian-Style Sous Vide Salmon Recipe
by Nicola Lando
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30 minutes prep time
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75 minutes cook time
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Intermediate
There are many different ways of cooking salmon sous vide. The higher the temperature of the water, the closer the fish is to being conventionally-cooked. If a salmon fillet is put in a water bath at 65°C for five minutes, then the outside will be gently-cooked, with a lightly-done centre.
Cooking the salmon for a longer time at a 40°C means that it has a more even, lightly-cooked texture throughout. There’s no right or wrong. It’s simply a matter of preference - although at this low temperature, it's worth using sashimi-grade salmon.
The other thing worth noting with salmon is that it gives off a white protein called albumen as it cooks, which can discolour the fish – a pity when using a deep pink salmon. By brining the fish in a salt solution first, it draws out the albumen and retains the pure, rich colours.
Ingredients Serves: 4
- 4 x sashimi-grade salmon fillets, skin removed
- 1.5kg water
- 150g salt
- 50g sugar
- 4 sprigs of thyme
- Black pepper
- 20ml vegetable oil
- Crème fraiche
- Chervil, red onion and cucumber pickle (Dissolve 25g sugar in 100ml white wine vinegar. Add one thinly-sliced onion, and ¼ thinly-sliced cucumber and refrigerate for an hour. Drain to serve and stir through chopped chervil.)
Method
- Dissolve the salt and sugar in the water to create the brine, and then chill to 5°C.
- Place the salmon fillets in the chilled brine in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Fill the sous vide machine or container with warm water from the tap, and set the sous vide temperature to 40°C.
- Rub the fillets in a little oil and put them in a sous vide vacuum bag with a little black pepper and a sprig of thyme. Cook them in the water bath for 45 minutes.
- Remove and either serve straight away, or chill the sealed bags in iced water in the fridge for a couple of hours to serve cold. Served cold, the salmon firms up more which you may prefer.
- Open the bags, slice and serve the fillets on individual wood boards with a blob of crème fraiche, chervil garnish, and spoon of red onion and cucumber pickle.
About the author
Nicola Lando is the co-founder and CEO of Sous Chef, where she has spent more than a decade sourcing, tasting and selecting specialist ingredients, cookware and tableware from producers around the world.
She trained at Leiths and later completed a stage at a Michelin-starred London restaurant, experiences that helped shape Sous Chef’s original mission: to give home cooks access to the same exceptional ingredients used by professional chefs.
Today, Nicola leads much of Sous Chef’s product sourcing and ingredient selection, working directly with producers and travelling internationally to food fairs, farms, mills and manufacturers. She tastes thousands of products each year and has built deep expertise across storecupboard ingredients, olive oil, condiments, spices, preserved foods and specialist cooking ingredients.
She holds an olive oil sommelier certification from ESAO in Spain, Imperial Executive Education’s Certificate in Nutrition for Health: Evidence-Based Tools and Strategies certificate; as well as studying Food Safety and Control at University of Greenwich.
Nicola also writes recipes and ingredient guides for Sous Chef, combining practical cooking experience with first-hand knowledge from producers, suppliers and specialist food makers. Her work focuses on helping cooks understand how to choose better ingredients, use them well, and get more flavour from their cooking.
