Fish crackling with smoked tofu dip
- Snack
- Medium
- 2-4
- 20 minutes, plus marinating, dehydrating and smoking time
PT20M
Try out Dom Auger's moreish snack of crispy fish crackling with a smoked tofu dip. The salmon skin is flavoured with a soy and fish sauce marinade overnight before being dried out and deep-fried, which is what causes it to puff up and turn shatteringly crisp. An excellent zero-waste recipe to use up any leftover fish skin – you can even store skins in the freezer until you have enough to make a batch.
Ingredients
Fish crackling
- 6 salmon skins, descaled
- 20g of light soy sauce
- 15g of fish sauce
- 1 pinch of salt
- 4g of caster sugar
- 2g of white pepper
- vegetable oil, for deep-frying
Smoked tofu dip
- 350g of silken tofu
- 5g of rice wine vinegar
- 10g of date molasses
- salt
Hay powder
- 100g of water
- 125g of T45 flour, or 00 flour
- 30g of hay
- 1 pinch of salt
Equipment
- Cold-smoker
- Blender
- Dehydrator
Method
Scrape the back of the salmon skin so it is completely clean and any excess fat is removed
- 6 salmon skins, descaled
Mix together the soy, fish sauce, salt, sugar and pepper. Coat the skins in this mixture, then place in the fridge overnight
- 20g of light soy sauce
- 15g of fish sauce
- 1 pinch of salt
- 4g of caster sugar
- 2g of white pepper
The next day, strain the skins and place in a dehydrator set at 63ºC, turning every few hours until completely dry
Meanwhile, set up a cold smoker and cold-smoke the tofu for 3 hours
- 350g of silken tofu
While the fish skin dries and the tofu smokes, prepare the hay powder. Preheat an oven to 170°C/gas mark 3½. Place a small amount of hay on a metal tray and use a blowtorch to burn it. As the hay burns, keep adding a little bit more hay until it is all burnt. Note you do not want to completely burn the hay to a black ash; it should still hold its shape a little
- 30g of hay
Mix the hay with the flour, water and a pinch of salt, then spread this mixture out onto a silpat mat or piece of baking paper. Transfer to the oven and cook until crisp (roughly 15 minutes), then blitz into a fine powder using a blender or spice grinder. Reserve in an airtight container until needed
- 125g of T45 flour, or 00 flour
- 100g of water
- salt
Once the tofu is smoked, transfer it to a blender with the rest of the ingredients and blitz until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve and check the seasoning. At this point you can serve it as is (like a dip), or aerate it using an espuma gun for a lighter, moussier texture
- 5g of rice wine vinegar
- 10g of date molasses
- 2.5g of salt
Once the skin has completely dried out, heat a pan of oil to 190ºC. Add the fish skin one piece at a time – it should puff up and turn golden very quickly. Drain on kitchen paper and repeat with the other pieces, only frying one at a time to prevent the oil spilling over
- vegetable oil, for deep-frying
Serve the crispy fish skin with the smoked tofu dip, dusted with a little hay powder
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Fish crackling with smoked tofu dip
