Introduction: Homemade Salmon SPAM With Kombu Masubi
Some of the healthiest, most flavorful parts of the salmon are often the sections that get thrown away. The belly and collar are the fattiest parts (where those much touted omega-3’s are found). To source these, best case scenario is that you catch your own salmon, but if not, more and more fish vendors are selling these parts for far less than salmon fillets and steaks. Also, I only use wild salmon and so only make this during salmon season. You can usually get these from your local fish monger, or buy a whole fish, and eat or freeze the fillets.
Step 1:
Take a sharp knife and separate the skin from the belly by placing the belly down on the table and running the knife along the skin. (Save the skin to cook into chicharrones). Open the collars and cut out the meaty and fatty parts. Take a large spoon and scrape all the meat off the bones. Also cut open the tail and get all the meat out of there.
Step 2: Blend It With Herbs
Chop these sections up and put them into a food processor with the herbs and other flavorings you like with salmon. I used a Thai-inspired blend. Adjust it to the amount of fish trim you have, but I used
1 tbs. lemongrass very, very finely chopped
1 tbs basil chopped chiffonade-style
1 teaspoon garlic
2 tbs. chopped shallots
1 tbs of finely chopped ginger
Step 3: Slow Cook It in Oven Double Boiler
Once blended, put into a bread baking pan. Cover with foil and then put this into a larger pan that has about 2 inches of water in it. Place this in the oven at 250 degrees and bake for 45 minutes. Put it into the refrigerator over night with something heavy on it to press into place.
Step 4:
Gently remove the loaf by turning the pan upside down and tapping it. Slice it into SPAM like segment. At this point, I wished that I had used some agar (seaweed used as a gelatin-like binder) or salmon heads so the gelatinous section would help bind it together more.
Step 5: Make Rice
For the masubi, make sushi rice. If you can’t find it, try Calrose medium grain. You can add a tablespoon of saki and piece of kombu to the cooking rice if you’d like to flavor it a bit. When it’s done, put it into a bowl. If you have a sushi roller, use that to roll it into cylinders. If not, you can try to use some wax paper or your hands to make rolls of rice.
Step 6: Start to Assemble
Slice your SPAM and put it on the rice. I added a little seaweed sauce made with kombu, sesame oil, onions, shitake mushrooms, Tamari, ginger, honey and red pepper flakes. Let it simmer for 45 minutes. When the sauce cools a little, puree it. This stuff is good on everything. A more in-depth Instructable is coming on this. While this sauce was cooking, I put a few pieces of kombu in to soak up flavor and to soften.
Step 7: Tie-Up
Take a few large pieces of kombu and cut them into thin slices. Use these to tie up the rice and SPAM. Remember to soak these first so they are malleable. You can use the seaweed-tamari sauce I mentioned, or soy sauce, or even water if need be.
Step 8: Garnish and Serve
Sprinkle with gomasio and if you want, add a sliver of preserved lemon. Serve.