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Pop Up Crudo

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Pop Up Crudo

A confirmed crowd-pleaser

Trevor Joyce
Mar 21, 2023
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This past weekend I had the pleasure of popping up at Farm to People’s Brooklyn kitchen, which was my first pop-up event, and, aside from a brief fry-dunking stint in college, my first time cooking professionally. It was a fantastic time, and I have many people to thank: everybody who came out, the excellent, exceedingly hospitable Farm to People team, and all you subscribers putting up with this newsletter’s tardiness as I pounded out cutlets and made giant vats of beans. It was so great to meet so many of you in person, and there will certainly be more pop-ups in the near future.

I figured, then, that I’d make this week’s recipe one of the most popular dishes we did at Farm to People: a tuna crudo (honestly, more of a tartare) with capers, fried breadcrumbs, fish sauce, and aioli. This one was flying out of the kitchen on Friday night; we couldn’t make them fast enough. It’s kind of the crudo equivalent of a sports car: ruby red and diminutive, but with a lot of horsepower. The trick here is being quite conservative with the aioli and fish sauce, allowing the slight salt-and-sugar cure on the yellowfin to shine through.

Tuna Crudo with Fish Sauce, Fried Breadcrumbs, and Aioli

Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 14 oz yellowfin tuna, cubed

  • 3 tablespoons capers, rinsed and dried

  • Sourdough bread torn into coarse breadcrumbs

  • 3 tablespoons minced shallots

  • 3 strips of lemon peel, finely minced

  • Red Boat fish sauce

  • 2 egg yolks

  • 2-3 grated garlic cloves

  • 1-2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

  • Extra virgin olive oil

  • Canola or grapeseed oil

  • Red wine vinegar

  • White sugar

  • Kosher salt

Instructions
  1. Make the aioli: in a processor, combine the yolks, garlic, mustard, and a pinch of salt. Pulse. Keep the processor running and slowly stream in olive oil, then canola/grapeseed oil. I like to do half olive oil, half vegetable oil. Add the oil slowly with processor running until the aioli is thick. Taste for seasoning and set aside.

  2. Cure the tuna: add a few pinches of salt and sugar to the tuna. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

  3. Make the fried breadcrumbs: add a generous amount of olive oil to a pan. Heat to at least 350 degrees F; add the breadcrumbs and fry until golden brown. Remove and salt immediately.

  4. Make the pickled shallots: submerge the minced shallots in a bit of water, 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, salt, and sugar. Let them pickle for at least a few hours.

  5. When ready to serve, combine the tuna, capers, shallots, breadcrumbs, lemon zest, a few small dashes of fish sauce, olive oil, and a small pinch of salt. Mix well.

  6. Add a very small dollop (1 teaspoon) of aioli to the center of the plate. Spread it around into a thin, circular layer.

  7. Add the crudo in an even circular layer on top of the aioli.

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