Salmon

This recipe will make as much as you wish to prepare.

Directions:

1. Start by dividing your salmon into serving size portions or cubes.
2. In a bowl, mix water, salt and brown sugar to make a brine and whisk until dissolved.
3. Pour the brine over the salmon and let it marinate for 4-6 hours in the refrigerator.
4. Rinse brine off salmon and towel off extra moisture.
5. Prepare your sous vide and allow it to get to  115°F.  Transfer the salmon and some of the marinade into a sous vide bag and seal the bag.  Sous vide at 115°F for 45 minutes.
6. Alternatively, you can use a smoker set to 180°F and smoke until the internal temp is 140°F. 
7. Drain off the remaining marinade after cooking and pour into molds to retain as a broth for rehydration.
8. Add parchment paper to your trays and arrange the salmon on the trays.  Add the marinade to molds on a separate tray.
9. Pre-freeze when possible.
10. Freeze dry (my cycle time was 22.5 hours).
11. Store in mylar bags for long-term storage.

Rehydration:

This is where you can get creative!  Rehydrate with your sous vide liquids or other flavor enhancers.  I like to melt a pat of butter per filet and pour over salmon before rehydrating and allow it to soak in for 2-3 minutes.  Then submerge filets in WARM water.  Do not use hot water or you will start cooking the salmon more.  Depending on thickness, filets will usually fully rehydrate within 20-30 minutes.  Do not over hydrate or you may end up with a pile of salmon mush.  You can cook them further if needed at this point.

Notes:

If you pre-cook the meat before freeze drying, your results for rehydration will be better.  I have not had good results with raw salmon.

Nutritional Value Per ¼ lb filet

Calories: 173   Protein: 22 g   Fat: 7 g   Carbohydrates: 3 g   Sugar: 3 g   Fiber: 0 g

Cycle times & rehydration for reference only. Your results may vary.