Cured bream, radish, Exmoor caviar

  • medium
  • 6
  • 1 hour 30 minutes plus 1 day for straining the oil
Not yet rated

This striking seafood starter from Stuart Ralston has a base of cured, wild bream and caviar, which is topped with delicate petals of radish and garnished with a light cucumber and apple broth and droplets of jalapeño oil.

First published in 2023

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Jalapeño oil

Cucumber and apple

Pickled radish

  • 250g of water
  • 125g of cane sugar
  • 125g of vinegar
  • radishes, thinly sliced

Bream tartare

Equipment

  • Juicer
  • Thermomix
  • Vacuum bag and machine

Method

1

Combine all the ingredients for the jalapeño oil in a Thermomix and cook at 70°C for 10 minutes. Once the timer is up, turn the speed up to 10 and cook for 2 more minutes. Alternatively, chop up the jalapeños, then warm the oil to around 80°C. Set aside to infuse until cool and then blend

2

Once puréed, pass the oil through muslin cloth and leave to hang for a day to let the water and sediment set. After a day, pour off the separated oil and set aside

3

Juice the apples and cucumbers separately

4

Clarify both juices by slowly bringing them to the boil, and skimming off any scum as you go. Pass the juices through muslin cloth

5

Once they are clarified, chill them down over ice to retain the fresh flavour

6

Once both juices are cool, mix them together and season with the dashi stock, simple syrup, lime juice and vinegar to taste

  • 25ml of dashi
  • 25ml of simple syrup
  • lime, 0.5–1, juiced
  • Chardonnay vinegar, to taste
7

Bring the water, sugar and vinegar to a simmer and then stir until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside to cool

  • 250g of water
  • 125g of cane sugar
  • 125g of vinegar
8

Compress the radish in some pickle brine and then set aside

9

Mix together equal parts of salt and sugar and sprinkle over the bream on both sides. Set aside to cure for 10 minutes

10

Rinse the cure off the bream and then pat dry

11

10 minutes before serving, squeeze over some lime juice and drizzle over some lemon oil and then set the fish aside 

12

To serve, place 10g of cured bream in the bottom of each bowl, and top with a teaspoon of caviar. Top this with another 10g of bream

  • caviar, at the restaurant they use Exmoor caviar
13

Layer the radish on top of the bream, and then place a single pearl of caviar at the centre of each one. Pour some cucumber and apple broth around the dish, and then dot over the jalapeño oil. Garnish with alyssum flowers

Since opening his first Edinburgh restaurant Aizle in 2015, Stuart Ralston has gone on to earn himself a legion of fans both in the Scottish capital and further afield. With four concepts now to his name, each unique in its influence, he has established himself as one of the country’s most ambitious and intriguing culinary talents.

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