September 22, 2020

Salmon Rillettes

A Smoked and Steamed Salmon Spread

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(Jump to the recipe file here.)

This post is for my Dad…

…or for my Mom to make for my Dad!

(My Mom and Dad are actually both good cooks in their own rights. My Mom is definitely adventurous, and a great baker, (she used to bake butter cookies and leave them in the mailbox for the mail carrier at Christmas time back in the late ’70s), and she’s willing to try new recipes all the time. My Dad, I feel, is more comfortable when he knows he’s got this.) This recipe, however, is so easy, anyone can do it! The only tip I have for this 30-minute-bit-of-perfection, is that a sharp knife makes all the difference in the texture of your final dish as well as in the speed in which you make it.

Here’s how I found this one.

I, along with about 1.5 million other people, admit that I love Whole Foods Markets. (The other 1.5 million love it, but don’t admit it.) Now, I can’t claim to be a rabid fan, like some of my family members who, may or may not have found the closest Whole Foods before going on vacation, and ordered groceries ahead before heading out of town. While I’m not that kind of fan, there are two things at Whole Foods that I miss, and mean I miss intensely, to my bones. Those two things are their peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (exact copy recipe, I will find you one day!) and, drum roll please…

their Wild Smoked Salmon Salad.

But My closest Whole Foods here in Moab, UT is in Basalt, CO, which is 3 hours and 16 minutes away. (I googled it.) Once again, Moab, you beautiful beast, have pushed me to find out what I can do by the grace of God and on my own!

I believe God brought me to this blog post by David Lebovitz on rillettes,

a French bourgeois dish usually made with pork, rabbit or goose that are long-roasted in liquid to render out the fat, then the meat is shredded and the fat and herbs are mixed back in to make a juicy meat paste or paté to spread on toast. I never thought of the Whole Foods Wild Smoked Salmon Salad as a particularly French dish, because it’s not, but David Lebovitz makes a Salmon Rillettes, and it’s simply delicious.

…It’s divine!

I only do a couple things differently.

First, I use all of the salmon that comes in the packaging that I can get at my local City Market grocery store (rather than measuring any out) and I add a dollop of sour cream and mayonnaise. The Whole Foods spread contains mayonnaise, and I quite like mayonnaise, so I included it in mine.

(Side note: there are a few things that I always include in a recipe whenever another ingredient is called for. Whenever a recipe calls for onion, I add garlic as well. Whenever a recipe calls for vanilla extract, I add a drop or two of almond extract. Whenever a recipe calls for dried turmeric, I add black pepper. And whenever a recipe calls for mayonnaise, I always add a dollop of sour cream, hence adding the mayonnaise plus sour cream to this recipe.)

This salmon spread, or salad, or rillettes or paté, whichever you prefer, is so simple and is so delicious, AND my recipe makes about 36 oz. on average, way more than the Whole Foods’ 8 oz. portions; I want to tell Whole Foods to eat it!

No, literally, if I could invite Whole Foods over for dinner, I would, and I would make this for them.

Here it is:

Steamed and Smoked Wild Salmon Rillettes

You’ll Need:

Anywhere from 12 to 24 ounces of fresh, wild caught salmon
Salt & pepper to taste (or about 1/8 tsp of each per fresh salmon steak)
5 Tbs unsalted butter at room temperature
1 Tbs olive oil
1 ½ Tbs lemon juice
0.5 oz chives
1 Tbs sour cream
1 tsp mayonnaise
Approx. 40 oz smoked salmon
¼ tsp smoked paprika
1/8 tsp chili powder or Korean chile flakes, (or your favorite smoky, sweet chili flakes)

First, rinse and pat dry the fresh salmon steaks and remove any bones. I use a pair of kitchen-designated tweezers for this. Rub your hand along the flesh and feel for any bones, then pluck them out with the tweezers. You can simply use your fingers and fingernails to pull out the bones, but here’s a slow-cook’s quick tip: designate a pair of tweezers and a pair of scissors to your kitchen. (Just wash them after each use with dish soap or vinegar or vodka!)

Fill a deep saucepan (for which you have a lid) with about 2 inches of water, place a steamer basket inside, and start the water boiling.

Next, slice the steaks into pieces about 3 inches in length and the width of the fish. Place each slice on a piece of aluminum foil and season with salt and pepper. This is also the only place that I add salt and pepper in this recipe, so don’t be afraid to use your judgement and salt and pepper to your taste, or as a rule of thumb, plan to use 1/8 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper each slice.

Wrap the seasoned salmon steak slices in the foil, folding down the top, and rolling up each side.

Once the water is boiling, place these packets in the steamer basket, about four packets at a time. Place the lid on the pan and set a timer and steam for 8 minutes.

After 8 minutes, carefully remove the packets and set aside to cool and repeat covering and steaming with any remaining packets of salmon steaks.

Wait a few minutes before opening any of the packets, then once opened, allow them to at least almost completely cool. You know, at least almost completely.

(Also! If steaming another round of salmon steaks — sometimes, I add a couple fillet’s worth of the steamed salmon if I’m making this for a crowd or if I’m planning on eating it for a couple days — be sure to check that there is enough water in the bottom of the pot to steam longer.)

Next, in a large bowl, whisk together your room temperature butter and the olive oil, and beat until smooth, uniform and creamy. Don’t leave any butter bits.

Now rinse and finely chop all your chives. If I’ve managed to grow them at home, I just use a big bunch about as big around as a US quarter, if I’m using them from the store, they usually come in plastic clam-shell packages, and I use the whole thing. (If I can’t find chives, I use spring onions.)

Use your knife to scrape up all your chives into the bowl of creamy goodness. Juice half a lemon, and pour 1 and ½ tablespoons into the bowl. (This is David Lebovitz’s measurement, and I have to say, it’s always been just the right amount of lemon, though kind of an odd amount since I’ve never owned a ½ tablespoon measuring spoon. I just eyeball that 2^nd ½ Tbs.)

I also, sometimes remember to zest that half lemon peel, because… because. I love lemon, and if the zest can go in the dish, it goes right on in. If it doesn’t make sense to add it (like in adding lemon juice to jam – the zest might be weird in jam), I zest the peel onto my cutting board and keep a Ziploc bag of zest in the freezer. Then I have zest whenever I want! But in this case, that zest can go right on in now!

Add your zest and juice to the bowl and whisk again.

Whole Foods Wild Smoked Salmon Salad has mayonnaise as the 2^nd ingredient, and I love mayonnaise, so I put a heaping teaspoon in my Salmon Rillettes. And, as I mentioned before, when I add mayonnaise, I also add sour cream, so I put a tablespoon of sour cream in as well. (One day soon, I’m going to deviate from my steady here and try using dill instead of chives and Greek yogurt instead of the mayonnaise and sour cream. That is, if I can break myself away from this tried and true love, because this simply is just perfect as it is!)

Once the mayo and sour cream are also invited to the party, give them another good whisk.

Next, working with half at a time, stack about half of your smoked salmon pieces atop one another and slice the stack into 1/8” thin strips, then either rotate the stack of salmon 90˚ or rotate your cutting board 90˚ and slice again, now into 1/8” dice.

I have a really nice single-bevel usuba that was a Christmas gift a couple years ago that works wondrously well for this. Not to brag about my usuba, but well… it’s really great. Sometimes while making this dish, I pick up my usuba and say, “Oooh, usuba, only usuba can slice my salmon the way you do.” You should get someone to give you one as a gift sometime. Failing that, do use the sharpest knife you’ve got for this step, because the smoked salmon is pretty sticky. (In any case, even if you can’t get super even 1/8″ dices, this is salmon rillettes… a bourgeois dish… a coupe chunks never hurt anyone.)

Now, add the smoked salmon bits to the bowl, but switch to a fork instead of a whisk for mixing. (You’re welcome for that tip.)

And mix, mix, mix. Next add your paprika and some good, smoky chili powder. And mix.

Now, unwrap those steamed salmon packets and begin flaking them into the bowl. I like to use my hands for this in case I missed a bone or two, but also, just because my hands are the perfect tool for flaking steamed salmon! And they’re the easiest tool to clean up in the kitchen!

(Quick tip: the skin generally sticks to the foil for me here, so I don’t even have to worry about having to peel it off, but if it doesn’t stick to the foil, use the back of another fork to scrape the skin off. If you use your hands for this little bit, you may get some scales on your hands, and it’s just much quicker to not have to be washing scales off your fingertips in between each salmon steak flaking.)

(One more quick tip: if you have a cat or a dog, save the salmon skins for them! They L-O-V-E them, and they’re super good for them!)

Once all of the steamed salmon (that you haven’t eaten by now) is added, mix, mix, mix.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill for about 30 minutes.

I love, love, love asparagus and salmon together;

it’s just one of my favorite food combinations. I generally serve this with grilled asparagus (and toast or crackers), which is also pretty quick. So! This is about the only 30-minute meal that I can actually do in 30 minutes!