Gravlax Salt Cured Salmon Recipes

GRAVLAX (SWEDISH SUGAR AND SALT CURED SALMON)

Steps:

• Remove any small bones from the fillets with a pair of tweezers or needle-nosed pliers.
• Mix the sugar, salt and pepper in a bowl.
• Cover the bottom of a baking dish with 1/3 the dill and rub half of the sugar-salt mixture into the first fillet, on both sides, and lay it skin side down on top of the dill.
• Cover with 1/3 of dill.
• Prepare the other salmon fillet in the same way, and cover with the remaining fillet, skin side up, with the remaining dill on top.
• Cover in plastic wrap, place a cutting board with some heavy weights on top and marinate in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
• Remove from plastic wrap and discard accumulated juices.
• Rewrap and refrigerate another 24- 48 hours.
• Scrape off the marinade and slice paper thin.
• Serve with Mustard Dill Sauce (Recipe #68168).

GRAVLAX, SALT-CURED SALMON

Steps:

• It's best to buy two sides of the same salmon, or at least two opposites sides that are fairly close in size.
• The above ingredients are for 1lb of salmon, so adjust (presumably) upwards as required.
• Defrost salmon and pat dry with paper towels.
• Remove any bones you detect with clean pliers.
• Lay flat on a baking sheet covered with plastic wrap, skin side down, so that you can easily flip one side onto the other, back the way they would be if it were a whole fish.
• Take the salt, sugar and pepper and mix thoroughly in a bowl.
• Evenly apply the salt/sugar/pepper mix onto the salmon flesh, being careful to cover every part, with a little less for the thin ends, and more on the thicker parts.
• Sprinkle the dill over the salted fish.
• Flip one side over onto the other making a sandwich.
• Place one end of a long strip of muslin underneath the fish.
• Roll the fish over toward you, and tug a little on the muslin to tighten. Repeat until out of muslin.
• You don't need to tug very hard, each time you do it the pressure increases more and more.
• Place the fish on the baking sheet to catch drips and place in the fridge.
• Turn once or twice per day for three days.
• Unwrap, and rinse off the cure mix and dill quick as you can so the salmon doesn't soak too much. Carefully pat dry with paper towels. This will keep for a week or freeze for 3 months.
• With a sharp knife carefully slice on the diagonal to get slices as thin as you can without them falling to bits, leaving the skin.
• With practice you can become pretty good at this.

SALT AND SUGAR CURED SALMON GRAVLAX APPETIZER

Steps:

• Fillet the salmon or have the fishmonger fillet it for you; the fish need not be scaled.
• Lay both halves, skin side down, on a plate.
• Sprinkle with the salt, sugar, and pepper, spread the dill over the salmon and splash on your liquor of choice.
• Sandwich the fillets together, tail to tail, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
• Cover the salmon "sandwich" with another plate and something that weighs about a pound -- an unopened can of coffee or beans, for example. Refrigerate.
• Open the package every 12 to 24 hours and baste, inside and out, with the accumulated juices.
• On the second or third day, when the flesh has lost its translucence, slice thinly as you would smoked salmon -- on the bias and without the skin -- and serve with rye bread, pumpernickel or bialys and lemon wedges.

GRAVLAX SALT-- AND SUGAR--CURED SALMON

Steps:

• Mix together all the ingredients except the salmon.
• Place the salmon skin side down on a large sheet of plastic wrap.
• Cover the flesh side of the fish with the salt mixture, coat it completely.
• Wrap the fish well in plastic wrap.
• Refrigerate for at least 24 hour, preferably 36.
• Unwrap the salmon and rinse off the cure. Dry then slice on the bias.

GRAVLAX

Steps:

• Cure the salmon: Lay salmon skin-side down, flesh-side up in a glass or stainless-steel baking dish. (A large lasagna dish works well.) In a small bowl, toss together the salt, sugar and pepper until blended. Sprinkle the mixture over the salmon evenly, with abandon, until fully covered, as if under a blanket of snow. Use all of it.
• Spread all the chopped dill on top of the cure-covered salmon to make a thick, grassy carpet.
• Lay plastic wrap or parchment paper over the salmon to cover and press down, then place a heavy weight - such as a 2-gallon zip-top bag filled with water - on top, to weigh heavily on the curing fish. Refrigerate just like this, without disturbing, for 5 days, turning the salmon over midway through the cure - on Day 3 - then covering and weighting it again.
• To serve, mix together the softened butter, dill, shallot and mustard until well blended.
• Remove salmon from the cure, which has now become liquid, brushing off the dill with a paper towel, then set fillet on a cutting board.
• With a long, thin, beveled slicing knife tilted toward the horizon, slice salmon thinly, stopping short of cutting through the skin. Generally, you begin slicing a few inches from the tail end and you slice in the direction of the tail, moving your knife back, slice by slice, toward the fatter, wider belly portion of the fillet. The last slices are always hard to get. Once you have shingled the fillet, run your knife between skin and flesh, releasing all the slices, then transfer them to parchment until ready to serve.
• Spread the compound butter on bread, then drape sliced gravlax on top, and eat as open-faced sandwiches.