Chocolate Covered Trout Skin

Ingredients
2.4 L filtered water
350 ml white wine vinegar
45 g salt
10 g coriander seeds
12 g juniper berries
5 g arctic thyme

Method
Combine all ingredients in a medium pot on the stove and bring them to a simmer just before you’re ready to blanch the trout skins.

Ingredients
3 fresh trout skins
2% salt brine
(Use the Cooking Liquid as above)
Grapeseed oil for frying

Method:
Scrape the trout skins clean of all scales.
Place the skins in a 5 L container filled with cold 2% salt brine and let them purge in the refrigerator. Change the brine every 2 hours over a total soaking time of 6 hours.
Bring a pot of the cooking liquid to a boil. Remove the skins from the brine (in small batches) and blanch them in the simmering liquid for 20 seconds.
Remove the blanched skins and lay them, scale side up, flat on a nonstick dehydrator mat that has been sprayed with a fat spray. Dehydrate overnight at 60°C.
The following day, transfer the skins to an airtight container.

Frying:
Heat a pot of oil to 220°C.
Deep-fry each skin one at a time until they puff up.
Use two pairs of long tweezers while frying to shape the skins, keeping them as long and flat as possible.
Once puffed and the bubbles subside, remove the skins from the oil and shake off any excess fat.
Place the skins on a C-fold towel–lined tray in a dehydrator at 60°C to absorb any remaining oil.

Ingredients
1 kg 70% chocolate
300 g cocoa butter

Method
Chop the chocolate into rough chunks.
Place 800 g of the chopped chocolate along with the cocoa butter into a vacuum bag. Seal the bag at maximum and cook it in a water bath set to 50°C overnight (approximately 8 hours).
Empty the contents into a mixing bowl and begin tempering by adding the remaining 200 g chocolate in three additions—using an immersion blender continuously until fully melted. This process should lower the temperature to around 28°C.
Then, place the bowl over a double boiler and gently raise the temperature to 30°C, holding it there.

Ingredients
1 fried trout skin (per serving)
Tempered chocolate (prepared above)
Fennel seeds
Toasted arctic thyme
Raw licorice powder
Flaked sea salt

Method
Once the fried skins have cooled to room temperature, use tweezers to fully submerge a skin in the tempered chocolate in one smooth dip. Allow the excess chocolate to drip off.
Place the dipped skin onto a tray lined with parchment paper.
While the chocolate is setting, sprinkle the skin with toasted fennel seeds, arctic thyme, a small amount of licorice powder, and flaked sea salt.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready for service.