Salmon Belly

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
1

Salmon Belly,

I used to cut it off and throw away ( making a uniform thickness fillet ) when I’d buy my salmon fillets, but lately I have been cutting it off and vacuum packaging them to use at a later date. I had two packages of three belly, this is about 6-8 oz of meat. I ghetto sous vide the belly @ about 130/ 6 min, knowing I’m making Salmon cakes. This creates a lot of white protein in sous vide bag. I removed the belly and washed the white off and allowed to cool a bit.

Meanwhile saute in butter, season with my father-in-laws spicy seasoning salt
3 baby carrots
1 /2 celery
2 scallions
1 small shallot

Cooled, I was going to remove the skin from the belly, but it crumbled into a nice texture with the firm meat…so in it went.
added 2 t meyo, 1/2 t Maille, cayenne pepper/ malbar pepper and 1 egg white and Italian crumbs to bind ( re-coated in crumbs too ). Make cakes and allow to sit 1 hr. Pan fried in EVOO

I made a Kishu Mandarin Orange/ parsley aioli to top.

Dont waste the belly, it is fabulous with good fats, and if I could get really fresh salmon, would be a killer sushi item. Since I gave up wine for lent… I had water [thumbs-up.gif]

2

I generally try to get salmon filets with the belly portion. We just cook and eat it as part of the main filet. It’s very good that way.

3

+1

4

The belly of fish makes great sushi, love salmon, yellowtail, albacore, etc, all of those bellies are super tasty. Also, the broiled cheeks make a tasty dish, yum.

5

I picked up a bunch a few weeks ago, skinned and skewered them, tossed some Penzey’s bbq 3000 on 'em and flash grilled 'em. Yummo with an '06 Alesia SC pinot.

6

Yumm and easy!! great idea!!

7

Love salmon belly. We usually make tartare or rillettes out of it. Sometimes we’ll smoke it and make smoked salmon cakes. Sometimes we’ll confit it and serve a thin portion of it alongside the filet. No matter what, it’s too delicious to toss out.

8

Paul,
Do you vacuum and freeze until you get enough to use?

Love the skewer idea as well.

9

Milton,

We have three in the family, and we usually buy the 6 oz portions( roughly). So I cut the belly off to make the fillets more uniform thickness, then seal the three belly pc’s. So 3 meals and I will get 9 belly pc’s good to work with for a family of three.

Paul

I too liked the skewer idea… belly skin is pretty thin and , for me , actually work right into my dinner. [wow.gif]