I should know better than to experiment on any kind of scale. But I got so excited reading this cured salmon recipe and so taken in by the amazing photos, that I went straight to Granville Island Market and bought the nicest side of wild salmon that I could find. I thought it was too simple to screw up. I was wrong.

The obvious thing about curing fish is that the salt pulls the water from the flesh. But I did not anticipate the amount of water that would come out, nor have a plan for dealing with this. So the fish sat in this salty brine and did not cure properly. The end result looked mostly right but the fatty belly was slimey and I could tell it was just not quite right.

But I tried some just the same, a slice that looked amazingly delicious. It was outrageously salty and the taste was not good. I also tried an edge bit that did not sit in the water, and which was quite delicious with the citrus taste standing out well. But the single slice of salmon made me feel mildy sick for about 30 hours and I am still not 100%. Disaster. I don’t think I will be going anywhere near salmon for a while now, but I will be back. In the new year.

Side Note: If you are keeping track, that is two foodandtell.com disasters in one week. Impressive!