Ingredients
Seaweed
- 100 gdried dulse
To pan-fry
- 1 tbspbutter or bacon fat
To serve
- bread and butter
- beer
- potatoes
Directions
- Buy dulse that is deep purple-red and still pliable rather than brittle and brown. Brittle dulse is old and tastes of little except salt.
- Shake or brush off any sand and small shells clinging to the fronds, and pick out fragments of shell by hand.
- Do not wash it. Rinsing dissolves the surface salt that carries most of the flavour and leaves the fronds limp.
- To eat it as it comes, simply tear pieces off and chew. It is salty, chewy and faintly smoky, and this is how the great majority of it is eaten in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
- To pan-fry it, melt a little butter or bacon fat in a hot pan.
- Add the dulse and cook for 20 to 30 seconds a side and no longer, until it turns bright green and crisps.
- Twenty seconds is the entire window. It goes from crisp to burnt and bitter almost instantly and cannot be left unattended for a moment.
- Drain on paper and eat it immediately, or crumble it over potatoes, soup or scrambled eggs.
- It is hand-picked at low tide off Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick and dried on the beach rocks, as it has been for generations.
Technique
- Dulse is high in iodine, as all seaweeds are, and it is worth eating in moderation if you have a thyroid condition.
- It is sold in paper bags in Maritime shops and eaten like crisps, usually with beer.
- Fried dulse tastes startlingly of bacon, which is why it turns up in vegetarian cooking well outside Canada.
Substitutions
- Irish dillisk, which is the same seaweed under another name.
- Nori if dulse is unavailable, though it is milder and thinner.
Variations
- Crumbled into soda bread before baking.
- Ground into a seasoning salt.
- Stirred through mashed potato with plenty of butter.
History
Hand-picked at low tide off Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, and dried on beach rocks as it has been for generations.
Frequently asked questions
What is Dulse?
Dulse is a snack from Canada: sun-dried purple seaweed eaten straight from the bag, salty and chewy. Hand-picked at low tide off Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, and dried on beach rocks as it has been for generations.
How long does Dulse take to make?
Dulse takes 5 min of preparation and 2 min of cooking. The recipe makes 1 bag. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Dulse?
Yes, within limits. Irish dillisk, which is the same seaweed under another name. Nori if dulse is unavailable, though it is milder and thinner.
What is the most important thing to get right in Dulse?
Buy dulse that is deep purple-red and still pliable rather than brittle and brown. Brittle dulse is old and tastes of little except salt.
