Salted Egg Salmon Poke
When it comes to food, the majority of times of making things, I don’t have any deeper reason of making other than “I just want to.” I’ve lately tried to make a salted egg seasoning for egg tofu. You’ve probably seen this for shrimp, crab, or lobster, but I can never eat those since I’m allergic to crustaceans. But I love salted egg yolks but after making some attempts, I do have some technical cooking issues with egg tofu that I’m trying to work out.
As mistakes go, many times they are just dead ends. Once in a while, they can lead to a different perspective to help make something new. Out of my egg tofu problems, I’ve noticed that the seasoning for salted egg yolks requires it to be dissolved in hot oil. I wondered if the salted yolks can dissolve into hot oil and after it’s cooled, could it be reintegrated back into something fatty like mayonnaise?
I don’t use mayonnaise much, and if anything it’s usually for spicy salmon poke so I figured to make a salted egg mayo for poke. Farmed salmon is my preferred fish for this since it’s a fattier and rich tasting fish, it would go well with the salted egg mayo. But be sure to get a high quality one, usually for me any that’s sourced from the Faroe Islands are excellent. You won’t use all the egg mayo for this amount of salmon, but I tried to work with simple ratios to make this dish. You can also save this mayo for other uses.
At the time I made this, I thought I came across something new with this salted egg mayo. But after trying to dig around on the internet, Li Ziqui has already made this. Making novel things is pretty fun for me and lots of times things don’t work out, so it’s extra satisfying when things come together. But when I tried digging around on the internet, it seems like nobody else made this kind of poke before!
RECIPE:
1/2 lbs high quality farmed salmon
1 salted egg yolk
Few thin slices of white onion
1/2 tbsp neutral oil
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp gochugargu
Salt, to taste
White pepper, to taste
Scallion, about half of one and thinly sliced
Peel salted egg and scoop out the salted yolk with a spoon and set aside in a bow. Discard the egg white. With the same spoon, use the back of it to mash the egg yolk as best as you can until it is a paste. (The egg whites are very salty so you can also add scoop out some whites into the yolk mixture in place of salt. I think the recipe doesn’t need extra salt, but this is my preference.)
In a wok or pot, heat over medium low until hot and add the neutral oil.
Fry the salted egg yolk paste and ground white pepper in the oil and continuously stir so it doesn’t burn. Saute for about 3 minutes as this will help dissolve the yolks and remove any moisture. The egg yolk paste will foam up and this is normal. You may need to reduce the heat down to low at times.
Line a plate with paper towels and place the fried egg yolk paste on there. Eat any large pieces of undissolved egg yolks. Spread out the paste and let this cool to room temperature.
In a bowl, add the mayonnaise, cooled egg yolk paste, and gochugaru. Mix to combine. Taste and if necessary, add salt. You might not need it.
Cut an onion in half through the stem. Cut along the stem to the tip so you get long strips, not cross sections. Thinly cut about 3 slices and set aside.
Meanwhile, gently rinse salmon under cold water and skin it. Slice into 1 inch cubes and place in a bowl.
Add roughly half of the salted egg yolk mayonnaise to the cubed salmon (taste) and onions. Mix to combine and marinate for at least 30 minutes in the fridge. Before serving, rinse one scallion and thinly slice about half of it and sprinkle on top.
