Announcing The 2025 Reel Deal Winners
This year, we partnered with Seafood From Scotland to celebrate the pristine quality of Scottish salmon. From peat-smoked gravlax and kelp cures to low-temperature poaching and tartares, chefs across the country submitted creative recipes highlighting the salmon’s natural texture, richness, and flavor.
Photo: Marc PiscottY
Join us in giving a big congratulations to Chef Max MacKissock of The Culinary Creative Group for his winning dish featuring Scottish salmon. For his win, he’ll receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Scotland this summer.
As MacKissock describes, “I chose to do a mi cuit preparation—French for ‘half-cooked’—which is my favorite way to eat salmon. I think it gets that fatty, buttery texture without releasing some of the natural oils you get when cooking the fish at high heat. My most recent restaurant is an Italian cocktail and mozzarella bar called Bar Amorina. We have a whole section of the menu dedicated to raw preparations, and I’ve had fun taking some Japanese ideas and applying them with Italian and Mediterranean ingredients.”
Recipe: Scottish Salmon Mi Cuit, Orange Kosho, Lemon Brodo, Basil Oil, Radish, Chives
Photo: Brad danner
Photo: Lindsey Luna
We’d also like to give a big shout-out to runners-up Hannah Tillett-Banaszak of Tilly Bagel Shop and Robin Leventhal of Wine Country Culinary Institute, whose recipes earned them each $500.
Tillett-Banaszak submitted a gravlax bagel with cured Chicago-spiced Scottish salmon, cream cheese, pickled dill, and fried lemon. “I made a version of gravlax using the city of Chicago as our inspiration by curing the salmon in a blend of seasonings that are similar to the flavors of a Chicago-style hot dog. Think dill, celery seed, mustard seed, onion, and poppy seeds. The Scottish salmon has a rich, buttery texture, and with the Chicago cure, that helps carry the flavors of the ingredients throughout. I plated the gravlax on our bagel with cream cheese and fried lemon. The lemon adds great acidity to the dish,” says Tillett-Banaszak.
Leventhal submitted a Scottish salmon bao with miso caramel, pickled apples, a Napa cabbage slaw, gochujag aïoli, and sesame seeds. As Leventhal explains: “I created a recipe to highlight all the delicious qualities that make salmon such a fantastic fish. Miso is a perfect complement to the fatty sweetness of salmon with just enough salty umami flavor. Global ingredients are the foundation of my food, but I have a soft spot for Asian cuisine, especially as a native Pacific Northwesterner.”
Recipe: Chicago-Style Scottish Gravlax Bagel, Cream Cheese, Fried Lemon, Dill
