Orange-Sesame Salmon Crudo

Serves 4

I copied this from Island Creek Oyster Bar. It's still a work in progress, but even imperfect, it was quite nice. In the past I've tried to make ceviche out of salmon, and found that it's kind of disgusting, with the acidity bringing out an incredible fishiness in the fish. When I had this crudo at ICOB, I was very impressed, because the lower acidity of the orange didn't have that result. When I tried this, I only marinated it for around 20 minutes, which was not enough. Below is what I did with suggested amendments called out. I'll update this when I try it next. 

• 8 ounce filet of salmon, never frozen, sliced into 1/6" slices, then cue into 1" x 1" square. You're basically looking for sushi grade--and the best proxy you can get for that, is to ensure it's not been frozen, and ask when the fish was filleted (if the answer is longer than "yesterday," you shouldn't do this dish). 
• Juice of two oranges. I might try blood oranges, or even fresh squeezed orange juice, as both are more acidic
• 2-4 T sesame oil (I have no idea how much I used)
• Crushed red pepper flakes
• Kosher salt to taste

The way I did it

Whisk sesame oil in with orange to create a vinaigrette (incidentally, this would be a fantastic salad dressing). Marinate fish in vinaigrette for 20 minutes. Add salt and crushed red pepper to taste. Serve. 

The way I will do it next time

The issue with the way I did last time is that the fish did not take much of the flavor of orange, so you only got that taste to the extent that you were eating it with the vinaigrette. It was still nice, but not as good as ICOB's, and not as good as it could be. Below is what I will try next time. 

Remove a few large pieces of orange rinds, then over a sink, place a lighter underneath them to "smoke" the rind, and get out the essential oils. Place fish with orange juice, orange rind, and around 1 tsp kosher salt. Marinate for 1 hour. Drain fish. Make a new vinaigrette from juice of one orange, salt, and sesame oil. Add pepper flakes to taste. Don't let your guests, because they won't, and these are crucial. Just don't over do it--for your guests--go wild for yourself :)