Gravlox

Salmon cured with citrus, dill and gin

Gravlox is a Nortic dish made from salmon cured with salt, sugar, and dill. For me, it is an absolute must that you use wild salmon. If you knew what they fed farm raised salmon (no joke, chicken shit) and how they dye the meat, you’d never eat it. Also, wild salmon is rich in Omega 3 (the good omega) and low in Omega 6 (the bad omega). Farm raised salmon is low in Omega 3 but high in Omega 6, which means it’s less healthy.

In addition to salt, sugar and dill, my recipe involves gin, along with lemon, lime and orange zests. So in that sense maybe I should call it “Old School Martini Gravlox.” Making gravlax is pretty straight forward, wash your fresh salmon and leave the skin on. Spread your ingredients along both sides and wrap in film. Put wrapped salmon on a tray and put another tray on top. Put in frig with a weight on top (I use a gallon jug of milk). Every two days flip the salmon. The gravlax is ready in about 5-6 days.

The best way to serve finished gravlox is as thin slices. The best way to slice is at an angle perpendicular to the grain using the cured skin to scrape against. I like to try different ways of plating, but my kids like to just have it on a cream cheese bagel.

Ingredients

• 1 lb Salmon – Wild Pacific if possible
• 2 TBL Gin – or Grappa
• 0.5 cup Fresh Dill – with stems
• 1 Lemon zested
• 1 Orange zested
• 1 Lime zested
• 4 TBS Sea salt
• 3 TBL Sugar
• 0.5 tsp Black pepper

Process

1. Mise en Place: Measure and prepare your ingredients prior to starting.
2. Mix the dill, citrus zests, salt, sugar and pepper.
3. Place half the mix on a large piece of plastic film arranged to size of fillet.
4. Place salmon skin side down on salt bed.
5. Slowly pour the gin over the flesh letting it soak in. Don’t worry if it slides off onto the film.
6. Cover meat with rest of salt mix.
7. Wrap salmon with the plastic film and place in a tray or dish that can collect moisture.
8. Put plate or wooden sheet on top of salmon and and put weight on it to press the fillet.
9. Flip fillet twice per day for three days.
10. Remove fillet from film and gently rinse off salt mix.
11. Wrap in fresh film until ready to serve.
12. Can be frozen and will last for weeks in the fridge.

To serve, slice against the grain in this slices using the cured skin as a base. Best to angle your cuts to expose as much flesh as possible in each slice.