How To Cook Salmon Like A Professional London Private Chef

If you love salmon (or want to treat someone who does), here’s an excellent recipe from a top London private chef you can follow. Read on to find out how to cook a mouth-watering salmon dish.

Total time: 2 days

Hands on time: 2-3 hours

Ingredients

You’ll need the following ingredients to prepare your salmon dish.

For The Salmon

• East London Gin
• Botanical Mix (1 tbsp juniper berries, 1 tbsp fennel seeds, 1 tbsp cardamom pods, 1 tbsp dried dill, 1 tbsp coriander seeds, 1 lemon zested)
• Salmon (We use Loch Duart)
• Dill
• Lemon
• Water
• Salt
• Sugar

For The Lemon Curd

• 5 lemons, zest, and juice
• 6 egg yolks
• 200g of sugar
• 50g of cornflour
• 80ml of water
• 150g of butter — cubed

For The Dill Oil

• 10 bunches of fresh dill (the fresher the better)
• 500ml neutral oil (vegetable, sunflower, etc.)

To Garnish

• Creme fraiche
• Picked dill

Equipment Needed

Use the equipment below for your salmon recipe:

• Sous Vide Water Bath
• Vacuum sealer
• Blender
• Spice grinder
• Large bowl
• Ice
• Piping bag
• A very sharp knife

Method

Once you have all the ingredients and equipment needed, you can get to work cooking your salmon like a top private chef.

1. Start by making the lemon curd. Place the lemon zest and juice into a pan and bring to a boil. Separately mix the cornflour and water to form a paste. In another bowl whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until completely dissolved then combine with the cornflour mixture. Add the mixture into the pan with the lemon and continue to whisk until the lemon curd thickens. Remove the pan from the heat then add in the butter piece by piece until melted and combined. Once the desired thickness has been achieved, transfer to a container and leave in the fridge to set and firm up.
2. Prepare the dill oil (this can be done in advance as it needs to drip overnight in the fridge). Blanch the bunches of dill in boiling water for 15 seconds then quickly submerge in ice cold water to cool. Strain the dill until completely dry using a tea towel or kitchen paper. Add the neutral oil to your blender with the dried dill. Blend until the side of the blender is hot to the touch — usually 4 minutes. Strain the dill oil through cheesecloth overnight in the fridge.
3. Skin your side of salmon and remove any bloodline and bones. Prepare the gin brine by combining 100ml East London Gin, 800ml water, 80g salt, 40g sugar & half the botanical mix in a large bowl. Whisk until sugar and salt are completely dissolved then add a handful of ice. Submerge the cleaned side of salmon into the brine for 1 hour.
4. Set your water bath to 40 degrees Celsius. When the salmon has brined for an hour remove it and pat dry with a paper towel. Brush the salmon with olive oil (this will prevent it from sticking when removing from the vacuum sealed bag). Place your salmon in the vacuum bag and seal.
5. Submerge your salmon into the water bath for no more than 15 minutes. Once done remove and add straight into ice water to stop the cooking and to set the salmon.
6. After the salmon is completely cooled, remove from the water bath, and cut into desired size. Our private chefs like to go with a 1.5-inch-thick fillet for a starter sized portion.
7. Add the remaining half of your botanical mix to the spice grinder and blend until a fine seasoning mix is achieved.
8. Transfer your lemon curd into a piping bag ready to plate.
9. To plate, start by lightly sprinkling the salmon with the botanical seasoning mix. Once evenly coated place 5 small dots of the lemon curd along the salmon. You can add any micro herbs or pickled dill on top of the salmon as garnish. Place the salmon on the left side of your bowl and then place a quenelle of creme fraiche to the right. Indent the quenelle with a small spoon and fill the whole with the dill oil.

Cook Salmon Like A Top London Private Chef

And just like that, you too can be cooking salmon like a top private chef. If you don’t trust your culinary skills but would still like to enjoy fine dining at home with a few guests, Zest X LDN offers a service for private chef hire in London. Make your booking to guarantee a Michelin standard salmon dish and service.