Serves4
Ingredients
Mackerel
4 mackerel fillets
400ml rice wine vinegar
4g piece of kombu
Rock salt
Cucumber pickle
180ml rice wine vinegar
120g sugar
¼ red chilli
10g ginger peeled and sliced
1 cucumber,peeled,diced and seeds removed
2 chopped shallots
100g capers
Chopped dill
Samphire, picked
Method
Cucumber pickle
Heat 180ml rice wine vinegar, with the 120g sugar, ¼ red chilli and 10g of ginger. Remove from heat once the sugar has dissolved.Finely dice the shallots and add to the cooled liquor, along with the capers and the peeled, deseeded, and diced cucumber.
Mackerel
Coat the mackerel fillet in rock salt, leave for two hours.Meanwhile heat the 400ml rice wine vinegar, add the 4g kombu once the vinegar is steaming and remove from heat.After two hours wash off the salt on the mackerel and pat dry. Then submerge the mackerel in the cooled vinegar infusion for 45mins.Remove from the vinegar and pat dry, remove the pin bones using tweezers, and peel the fine clear membrane on the skin using a cloth to grip.
To serve
Chop the dill. Pick the samphire into 1.5cm pieces, and wash.Slice the mackerel into 0.5cm pieces, cutting vertically all the way through with the skin side up. Be sure to keep the slices in line with each other, and repeat this with all four fillets.Blowtorch the sliced fillets until the skin has blistered and blackened slightly.Place the fillets on the serving plate keeping the slices together to look like a whole fillet, mix the chopped dill with the pickled cucumber, capers, and shallots to make dressing.Spoon over the dressing, straining off the pickle liquor as you go, so not to flood the plate.Garnish the fillets with the picked samphire and serve.
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