Smoking food is an ancient form of preservation, and until recently was looked on as the exclusive domain of hunters and fishers or butchers.
In his new book, Smoked: How to flavour, cure & prepare meat, seafood, vegetables, fruit & more, Jeremy Schmid explains the different types of smoking, simple equipment such as stovetop smokers and larger hot and cold-smoking units, including how to make your own, the types of wood or other fuel to use and curing methods.
There follow many recipes, not only for smoking your own pastrami, bacon, fish, patties, cheese and other dairy products, chocolate, eggs, seeds, nuts, vegetables and fruit, but also for using your smoked product to make further dishes - smoked tomato chutney, cassoulet of smoked sausages, smoked burger patties, smoked pears with cinnamon cream.
Cold-smoked salmon with pumpernickel
Serves 4
Cold-smoked salmon is my favourite cold-smoked fish and serving it with pumpernickel is an age-old tradition. I have added creme fraiche and cream cheese to enhance the dish, as some people find pumpernickel a little dry.
Ingredients
100g cream cheese
salt and pepper to taste
300g pumpernickel bread, sliced
100g creme fraiche
1 tsp chopped chives
To assemble
400g cold-smoked salmon, sliced
rocket leaves to garnish
2 tsp capers
olive oil to garnish
Method
Place the cream cheese in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. Mix well.
Spread the slices of pumpernickel with the cream cheese, leaving 1 slice plain for the top layer. Spread the cream cheese right to the edges.
To layer, place 1 slice on top of the next with the cream cheese facing upwards then top with the plain slice. This will form a layered loaf. Wrap the layered loaf with clingwrap and place in the fridge for 20 minutes before slicing.
Add the creme fraiche, chives and salt and pepper to taste to another bowl, and mix well.
To assemble
To serve, lay the salmon on a plate, add 1 slice of pumpernickel and a spoonful of creme fraiche. Garnish with the rocket leaves, capers and olive oil.
- Recipe extracted with permission
The book
Smoked: How to flavour, cure & prepare meat, seafood, vegetables, fruit & more, by Jeremy Schmid with photography by Devin Hart, published by New Holland, RRP $45.
