Gravlax is a Nordic dish of salmon that is cured using salt, sugar, and dill. Gravlax is usually served as an appetizer, sliced thinly and accompanied by a dill-mustard sauce with dark rye bread or boiled potatoes.

During the Middle Ages, gravlax was made by fishermen who preserved the the salmon in salt and lightly fermented it by burying it in the sand above the high-tide line. Today, the salmon is “buried” in a dry marinade of salt, sugar, and dill, and cured for twelve hours to a few days in the refrigerator. There are no funky fermented flavors to develop a taste for, just the clean, mildly salty flavor of lightly cured salmon and dill.

Gravlax – Cured Salmon

Gravlax is easy to make and even easier to eat. The trick is to use the freshest salmon filets you can find and be patient while it cures.

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Course: Appetizer, Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine: Denmark, North Western European, Norway, Scandanavian, Sweden

Prep Time: 25

Curring: 2

Total Time: 2 25

Servings: Thin slices

Author: My Hungry Traveler

Equipment

Large bowl
Small bowl
Resealable plastic bag

Ingredients

2 lb Salmon filet, skin-on, highest quality slice
½ cup Kosher salt or sea salt (no iodine)
¼ cup Brown sugar
1 bunch Fresh dill
1 tbsp Smoked paprika (Sub: sweet paprika)

US Customary – Metric

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Instructions

Remove any errant bones from the fillet. Rinse fish by putting it in large bowl of cold salt water for 10 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine Kosher salt, brown sugar, and paprika.
Remove salmon from water and pat dry with paper towels. Place salmon in a resealable bag and rub the spice mixture all over both sides of the fish. Add fresh dill.
Seal bag and place in the refrigerator for 7-10 days to cure. Flip every 2 days.
Remove cured salmon from the dish and rinse under cold water. Pat dry with paper towels and place fish on a wire rack set over a baking pan. Refrigerate uncovered until it is dry to the touch, about 3 hours.
Salmon may be served as lox right away or cold smoked for 2-3 hours To serve, slice the lox on a slight diagonal into very thin slices (about 1/8-inch thick).
Gravlax is great atop bagels with cream cheese, capers, and red onion or by itself with a sour cream-dill sauce. It can be enjoyed on its own as an appetizer, added to salads, sandwiches, and wraps. Try it thinly sliced into ribbons and tossed into fettuccine Alfredo

Notes

A liquid will develop during the curing stage. This is good. It means the fish is marinating in brine and absorbing flavors. It gets rinsed away at the end.
Cured salmon can be refrigerated, tightly wrapped, for about 7 days.
Smoked salmon can be frozen for several months by tightly wrapping in foil then placing in a resealable plastic bag. Defrost slowly in the refrigerator.
To smoke salmon, place in a smoker until internal temp reaches 130 degrees. Use either a cold smoker in the grill with top down or smoker set on low temperature.