Long-cured salmon gravlax

What a long weekend. All in all, it’s probably a good thing it’s nearly over: we do have to do at least a little work. Still, nothing bad came of it. Look, this is my third post this year. I think I’ve already beaten last year’s record; I don’t think I even had the energy for that many then.

But with plenty of time off, and the skiing finished before New Year, there was time to indulge some culinary cravings. This gravlax salmon had been on my mind for ages, but the curing takes a long time. So they gave me a long weekend to get it done.

Today, perfectly timed for Epiphany, I took some beautifully cured raw salmon out of the fridge, typically Swedish gravlax. I won’t go on, because the weekend is ending and it’s time to get back to work…

Hmm… I think I’ve already said that. But it is, so I recommend this and I’m off. Keep your fingers crossed, though, and perhaps there’ll be more recipes this year. You know what? Christmas was so inspiring that I promised myself I absolutely must still post sweet herring, roast pork loin with prunes, mango cheesecake — OMG, it was so good — and there are other recipes still waiting in the wings. Among them, I owe you naan bread, which, I must admit, turns out ridiculously good when I make it. So keep your fingers crossed: the winter school holidays are only about a month away 🙂 In Warsaw, at least.

Now, on to curing… gravlax salmon 🙂

At a glance:

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Curing time: 2 days

Serves: two starters or one larger meal

Calories: fish have bones, not calories; I’m sure I’ve said that before 🙂

Ingredients for wonderful cured gravlax salmon:

• a piece of raw salmon fillet, skin on (about 25–30 dag for two people; you can see the size in the photo)
• 3/4 of a glass of sugar (I used cane sugar, but ordinary sugar is fine)
• 1 glass of salt (I used a mixture of fine sea salt and coarse pink Himalayan salt)
• 3 bunches of fresh dill 
• 1 tablespoon ground mixed peppercorns (I ground mine fresh for the cure)
• a dozen or so mustard seeds

Recipe for gravlax salmon in a dill cure:

The recipe itself is so simple, I don’t know whether you’ll believe it. So there’ll be a few pictures to show you that it really does work like this 🙂

The essentials are simply the cure and a good-quality piece of salmon. I washed the salmon thoroughly and dried it. Then I prepared the cure. I put all the dry ingredients in a bowl, chopped 2 bunches of dill very finely — not 3, just 2 — and added them to the seasoning. I mixed everything thoroughly.

Next I scattered half the cure over the bottom of a container big enough for the salmon to lie flat, then laid the salmon on it.

I covered it with the remaining cure and covered the container with aluminium foil. Unfortunately, I always lose all the lids for these containers 😉 Into the fridge it went for two days.

After two days, I took the container out of the fridge and removed the cure from the salmon.

Don’t worry if it’s slightly wet; it hasn’t gone off. Once cleaned and dried, I put the salmon back in a container — a clean one, obviously — and sprinkled it with very finely chopped dill. That’s what the 3rd bunch is for.

I covered it with aluminium foil again and put it back in the fridge, this time for an hour. Then I took it out and started slicing straight away.

The most important thing is to use a sharp knife and slice the gravlax at an angle towards the skin, without cutting through it, making the slices as thin as possible. So: a sharp knife held at an angle, about 45 degrees, then turn the blade upwards at the end so you don’t slice off the skin. Once all the salmon is off the skin, the gravlax is essentially ready to serve.

You can serve it on its own as a starter. I chose to put it on wheat toast, sprinkled with fresh lemon juice, with a dip made from two tablespoons of creamy Horcica mustard — the Czech or Slovak kind in a big jar, which you probably know — one teaspoon of Dijon mustard, one level teaspoon of horseradish, a drop of olive oil and black pepper. Of course, you can experiment however you like 🙂 Enjoy!