Hazelnut and Coriander Spiced Sous-Vide Salmon

- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- ½cup hazelnuts
- 2½tablespoons coriander seeds
- 5tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
- 2tablespoons dried chamomile blossoms or contents of chamomile tea bags
- 2½teaspoons ground ginger
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 10salmon fillets, 1 inch thick, about .25 pound each
- ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 8tablespoons unsalted butter.
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Roast the nuts in a baking pan until the skins are dark brown, about 10 minutes. Wrap them in a dish towel, rub briskly to remove the skins, then coarsely chop.
- Step 2
In a dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast the coriander seeds, stirring constantly, until golden brown and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Crush in a mortar and pestle or with a spice grinder.
- Step 3
Add the nuts, sesame seeds, chamomile, ginger and 1 teaspoon salt to the grinder or mortar and grind to a coarse powder. Work in batches if necessary. Place in an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Step 4
Season the fish with salt and pepper. Place a large pot in your sink, and add warm water until the pot is full and the water reaches 115 degrees. Place two fillets side by side in a gallon-size heavy-duty resealable plastic bag. Drizzle fillets with oil. Submerge the bags halfway into the warm water (this creates a vacuum). Seal as airtight as possible, pushing out any excess air. Repeat with the remaining fillets.
- Step 5
Once all the salmon fillets are submerged in the pot, add more hot water until the water temperature returns to 115 degrees (the cold fish will reduce the water temperature). Let the salmon rest in the water bath about 20 to 25 minutes until its core temperature is 113 degrees (remove and check one fillet with an instant-read thermometer). Check the water temperature occasionally and add more hot water as needed to maintain the temperature of 115 degrees.
- Step 6
Transfer the salmon bags to a cutting board. Remove fish from plastic bags and gently pull off the skins (or use a butter knife). Transfer the cooked fillets to a plate for easier handling.
- Step 7
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add about ⅔ of the fish spice, and increase the heat until the butter just starts to bubble. Sear the fillets on both sides in the pan while basting with the hot butter, about 30 seconds. Serve immediately, sprinkled with more fish spice, if desired.
Private Notes
Comments
Why oh why would you remove the delicious skin? Seems like a crime against salmon! Instead, I'd finish this (post sous vide) by searing skin side down only in very hot pan for 30 sec to a minute to get it nice and crispy, while basting the naked side with the sauce.
I often make sous vide salmon, although I keep it a little rarer (105-109 degrees for about 25 minutes). While the spice mix, with the butter, would be delicious, I am sure, I have found that adding a blackening spice to browned butter is excellent!
I have made this three times. The last time I used my Sous vide and cooked the salmon (wild red) at 110 for about 25 minutes. Perfection. This is so great for a dinner party. Just a few minutes stovetop and you are done. It is a very beautiful dish. Well received by my guests.
As a sous-vide enthusiast and a big Melissa Clark fan, I was mildly disappointed by this dish. Even though I set the water temperature to 112 rather than 115, the salmon fillets came out so soft and mushy that they were impossible to keep intact through the "searing" stage. As the video notes, there is actually no searing going on, and therefore no browning. The end result is a pleasantly (mildly) flavored salmon mush. For me, salmon is better served by browning and somewhat stronger flavors.
This was...interesting. The salmon tasted velvety smooth throughout. I'm not sure if I liked it as the taste and texture was completely uniform. I added lemon zest to the spice mix-- Nathan mentioned it in the NYT cooking video but it was not included in the ingredients list here. I did not think the spice mix was overwhelmingly great. I've had better salmon dishes with less effort.
That fish sauce was a very unfortunate waste. Super boring flavors. And why remove the skin?
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