09 Dec 2025
For Elena Hogg, founder of local culinary company FOOD by Elena, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without salmon…
December is upon us and every year it takes me by surprise. There’s the panicked rush to find advent calendars for the kids and the sharp uptick in WhatsApp polls asking about availability for pre-Christmas get-togethers.
It’s a month spent trying to keep my head above water, between sorting gifts, getting a tree up and decorated, fielding emails from school about Christmas jumper days
and festive lunch menus and booking delivery slots for gargantuan food shops.
So December, for me, is also about finding some easy cheats in order to retain at least a shred of sanity by the time the big day comes. And food is one area where it’s pretty easy to cut corners without compromising on flavour or quality. When you’re stressed and time-poor, you need festive food that isn’t laborious or finicky, but that does deliver the wow factor.
Enter salmon.
What could be more impressive than a gleaming whole salmon sitting in a fish kettle, gaily stuffed and strewn with lemon and herbs? The vibrant yellow and green peeking out of the pink flesh is jubilant in itself. And yet this is possibly one of the simplest – and most cost-effective – ways to prepare and cook salmon, considering how many people you can then feed with it in one go. Salmon cooked in bulk, but with brio.
I know many of you are thinking, “But I don’t have a fish kettle”, and I feel your immense chagrin. All is not lost, though, because if you sacrifice your salmon’s head and tail (as un-Christmassy as that sounds), you can still fit it in a roasting tray. Use a deep-sided one and line it with greased foil that overhangs the edges by a long way.
Put a greased roasting rack into the tray on top of the foil, then lay your salmon ceremoniously onto it and pour over water, or cider or white wine – or a mixture of all three. Once you lift the foil up and over the salmon, crimping it tightly shut, you’ve basically created the same cooking conditions as a fish kettle.
Don’t forget to add ‘fish kettle’ to your Christmas list, though.
Another way that salmon can save you a great deal of work at a busy time of year, but still make a delicious and dramatic impact, is to cure a side of salmon.
There are various recipes for curing salmon, which a quick online search will reveal to you, and keep an eye out for ones that offer a good Christmassy vibe, like a gin-based cure or one involving orange juice and thyme.
However, if you’re looking to maximise the visual effects, consider curing your salmon in blended beetroot, if you don’t mind looking like Lady Macbeth at Christmas, with red-stained hands. It’s very easy to do; I use Rick Stein’s recipe which merely involves blending cooked beetroot with salt, sugar and some aromats like caraway seeds and white pepper.
I often add orange zest too. Find a clean plastic bag (with no air holes hiding in it – I learnt this the hard way) and place the salmon side or fillets into it. Pour in your blended beetroot and give it a good swish about. Leave in the fridge for a day or two under a saucepan or baking tray filled with cans to weigh the salmon down and compress it.
When you bring the salmon out to serve, the gore-factor is real: it looks like a bloody severed limb wrapped in a body bag. Try not to let that spoil your appetite.
Cut the salmon into glistening, ruby red slices and adorn with dill or gold leaf for extra festive points.
Finally, my most reliable and bulletproof salmon recipe. It’s a tried and tested favourite amongst all my family and friends, and I’m regularly asked to make it again for guests. I gift it to you all as a recipe you can count on to delight diners, but which can be made easily, quickly and – best of all – in advance. It’s a December dinner party hack, if you will.
Take a salmon side (you can use fillets, of course, but the whole side makes a more striking visual statement on the table) and a pestle and mortar. Add salt (I use fleur de sel), lemon zest, black peppercorns, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and ground turmeric, and pound it all up till it’s a rough powder. Specific quantities don’t really matter – it’ll taste good with any proportions. In fact, it’s a very flexible recipe: add in any other flavours you fancy, like coriander, onion or fennel seeds.
Rub the powder all over the salmon and leave for twenty minutes. If you want to do this part a day in advance and leave in the fridge, go ahead but leave out the salt or it’ll part-cure the salmon and you want it to stay juicy. Instead, season with salt before cooking.
Put your salmon in an oven and bake at 200 degrees fan for about fifteen minutes, depending on thickness. I have become braver with the temperature over the years: I used to worry it’d dry out, but it doesn’t and the flavour of the spices in the rub really come through with a high heat.
Once cooked, you can serve immediately or else leave to cool and serve at room temperature, or even pop it back in the fridge to serve another day. The whole process is half an hour of your time, but rewards you with delicious December dining without the drudgery. Happy festive feasting!
