Salmon gravlax - 10/9/10
Gravlax is a Nordic dish consisting of raw salmon, cured in salt, sugar, and dill. Gravlax is usually served as an appetizer, sliced thinly and accompanied by a dill and mustard sauce, either on bread or blini.
In the old days, gravlax was made by fishermen, who salted the salmon and lightly fermented it by burying it in the sand above the high-tide line. The word gravlax comes from the Scandinavian word grav, which means literally "grave" or "hole in the ground", and lax (or laks), which means "salmon", thus gravlax is "buried salmon".
Homemade gravlax is made with a dry marinade of salt, sugar, and dill, and cured for a few days. As the salmon cures, by the action of osmosis, the moisture turns the dry cure into a highly concentrated brine. This same method of curing can be used for any fatty fish, but salmon is the most common.
I can eat this dish just myself! I simply adore gravalax topped with a toasted piece of bread or bagel and a doll up of crème fraîche!
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Close up view of the gravlax.
I made this dish for Kevin's 17th Birthday. Here I am serving the gravlax with Blini, red caviar and dill crème fraîche.
Preparation work..
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Ingredients 2 cup coarse sea salta 1/2 cup sugar 1 tablespoon whole black or white peppercorns 1/2 bunch fresh dill 2 pound side salmon: pin bones removed with skin on |
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Add the salt, sugar, white or black peppercorns in a bowl and mix well. |
I bought about 3 pounds of salmon but you can cut the recipe in half. |
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Rub the salt mixture all over the salmon. |
Put the salmon in large glass bowl. |
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Add the dill.. |
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours to cure the fish. |
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36 hours later, remove the bowl from the fridge and scrape the salt mixture off the salmon and lightly rinse the fish under cool water. Pat dry with paper towels. |
Remove the pin bones and cut into thing slice. |
Lay the salmon on large plate.
Filed as: Appetizers
