How To Make Gravlax Food

GRAVLOX

Steps:

• Drape plastic wrap over a glass baking dish. Cut salmon in half lengthwise, and place one half in dish, skin side down. Mix together salt, brown sugar and pepper. Sprinkle half of mixture over salmon in the dish, cover with the chopped dill, and pour the vodka over the whole mixture.
• Sprinkle the remaining salt mixture over the remaining half of salmon. Place over the salmon in the dish, skin side up. Fold the plastic wrap snuggly over the entire salmon. Place a board over the fish and weigh it down with a heavy object.
• Refrigerate fish for 24 to 36 hours, turning every 12 hours. To serve, separate the filets, and carefully brush off the salt, sugar and dill. Cut into very thin slices with a sharp knife.

GRAVLAX WITH MUSTARD SAUCE

Steps:

• Cut the salmon in half crosswise and place half the fish skin side down in a deep dish. Wash and shake dry the dill and place it on the fish. Combine the salt, sugar, crushed peppercorns, and fennel seeds in a small bowl and sprinkle it evenly over the piece of fish. Place the other half of salmon over the dill, skin side up. Cover the dish with aluminum foil. Place a smaller pan on top of the foil and weight it with some heavy cans. Refrigerate the salmon for at least 2 and up to 3 days, turning it every 12 hours and basting it with the liquid that collects.
• Lay each piece of salmon flat on a cutting board, remove the bunch of dill, and sprinkle the top with chopped dill. With a long thin slicing knife, slice the salmon in long thin slices as you would for smoked salmon. Serve with dark pumpernickel bread and mustard sauce. You can also serve with chopped red onion and capers, if desired.
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon ground dry mustard
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• Combine the mustards, sugar, and vinegar in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the oil and stir in the chopped dill. Serve with the gravlax.
• Yield: 3/4 cup

JULIA CHILD'S TRADITIONAL GRAVLAX

Steps:

• Trim the salmon fillet, cutting away any thin uneven edges and the thin end of the tail (which can be reserved for something else).
• Make sure all the pinbones are removed--run your fingers up the fillet; if you feel any bones, remove them with a tweezer or a needle-nosed plier.
• Cut the fillet in half crosswise so that you have two pieces of the same length and roughly the same width.
• Mix the salt and sugar together.
• Sprinkle half the mixture over each fillet and rub it in with your fingers.
• Place one fillet in a glass (or other non-reactive) baking dish big enough to hold it.
• Drizzle about two tablespoons of cognac over each half, rubbing it in with your fingers.
• Spread the dill over the salmon half in the baking dish.
• Lay the other half fillet on top (skin side up).
• Align the two halves.
• Cover closely with a sheet of plastic wrap.
• Place a board or pan on top of the fillets.
• Make sure it is resting on the fish and not on the sides of the baking dish.
• Weight the top with something heavy (a large can of tomatoes for example).
• Place in refrigerator.
• After one day of curing, remove weights and board and turn fillets over(so the top fillet is now on the bottom) and baste with the liquid that has accumulated in the dish.
• Replace weights and board and return to frig.
• On the second day, turn and baste again and slice off a tiny piece to taste.
• If it doesn't taste like it's getting there, add a little more salt and/or cognac on the fish.
• Return to the fridge.
• Cure for a third day, turn and baste again.
• On the fourth day, you can serve the gravlax.
• To serve, clean the dill away and wipe the fish dry with paper towels.
• Use a long thin-bladed slicing knife (sharpened) and start slicing a few inches from the narrow end of the fillet.
• Cut with a back and forth sawing motion toward the narrow end to remove a thin slice of fish.
• Start each succeeding slice a bit farther in from the narrow end; always cut at a flat angle to keep the slices as long and thin as possible.

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.

GRAVADLAX

Steps:

• Pat the salmon dry with kitchen paper and run your hands over the flesh to see if there are any stray small bones - if there are, use a pair of tweezers to pull them out. Set the salmon fillets aside.
• Tip the salt, sugar, peppercorns, lemon zest, juniper and dill into a food processor and blitz until you have a bright green, wet salt mixture or 'cure'. Unravel some cling film but keep it attached to the roll. Lay the first fillet of salmon skin-side down and then pack the cure over the flesh. Drizzle with gin, if using and top with the 2nd fillet, flesh-side down. Roll the sandwiched fillets tightly in cling film to create a package.
• Place the fish in a shallow baking dish or shallow-sided tray and lay another tray on top. Weigh the tray down with a couple of tins or bottles and place in the fridge for at least 48 hrs or up to 4 days, turning the fish over every 12 hours or so. The longer you leave it, the more cured it will become.
• To make the sauce, tip all the sauce ingredients into a blender. Blitz until you have a thickened dressing.
• To serve, unwrap the fish and brush off the marinade with kitchen paper. Rinse it if you like. You can slice the fish classically into long thin slices, leaving the skin behind, or remove the skin it and slice it straight down. Serve the sliced fish on a large platter or individual plates with pumpernickel bread, dill and mustard sauce.

HOMEMADE GRAVLAX

Steps:

• Combine the dill, sugar, vodka, salt and lime zest in a small bowl and stir until well mixed.
• Spread the mixture over the salmon flesh. Cut the side of salmon in half crosswise. Fold each piece in half so the flesh is touching and the marinade is on the interior. Wrap the pieces tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 days.
• Slice the salmon thinly on a bias and serve.

GRAVLAX

Steps:

• Place salmon fillets on a parchment-lined work surface. Remove any remaining bones from fillets. In a medium bowl, mix together anise seeds, caraway seeds, pepper, sugar, and salt.
• Place one fillet in a large glass or enamel pan. Cover with spice mixture. Spread dill on top of spices, then pour vodka or other liquor on top of dill. Place second fillet on top of the first, in the opposite direction (head to tail).
• Cover entire pan tightly with plastic wrap. Place a heavy object, such as a book or brick, into a smaller pan. Lay pan on top of fish to weigh it down, and place both pans in refrigerator.
• After 12 hours, remove fish from the pan, turn it over, and rewrap tightly with new plastic wrap. Replace weighted pan on top of fish. Continue to refrigerate for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 more days, turning fish over every 12 hours.
• After 4 days, remove fish from refrigerator, unwrap, and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Remove top fillet, and scrape dill and spices from the surface of both fillets.
• To serve, slice each fillet on the diagonal into thin pieces.

GRAVLAX

Steps:

• Rinse the fillets in cold water and pat them dry with paper towels.
• Crush the caraway seeds, aniseed, juniper berries, red pepper flakes, and black peppercorns using a mortar and pestle.
• Or place the spices on a cutting board or other hard surface and crush them with the underside of a heavy skillet.
• Combine with the salt, sugar, and dill.
• Place one of the fillets skin side down in a deep ceramic dish just big enough to hold the fillets.
• Rub the fillet with half the spice and dill mixture.
• Rub the other fillet with the remaining mixture and place it skin side up on top of the first, creating a salmon'sandwich' with all the spices and dill in-between.
• Pour the aquavit on top, cover the dish with plastic wrap, and place a heavy weight, such as two heavy plates or a saucepan, on top of the fish.
• Refrigerate for 3 to 4 days, turning the fish every 12 hours and basting it with the brine that accumulates in the dish.
• To serve, dust off some of the spices and slice the fish into thin slices, on the diagonal- the way they cut smoked salmon, with a sharp thin knife.
• Serve with mustard sauce and dark rye bread, for open-faced sandwiches, or with mustard, pickles, and capers.