Salt And Sugar Cured Salmon Gravlax Appetizer Food

SALMON GRAVLAX

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and salt together and set aside.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Place salmon, flesh side up, on a grate on the prepared pan. Scatter fresh chopped dill over the top of the flesh. Sprinkle with crushed peppercorns and vodka.
• Layer salt and sugar mix, over the top of the fish.
• Refrigerate in a container in the refrigerator for 24 to 36 hours.
• Drain the liquid on the pan. Scrape off sugar, salt and dill. Rinse the fish and pat dry.
• The fish is now ready to be thinly sliced on a bias, leaving the skin behind.

SIMPLE, HOMEMADE SALMON GRAVLAX

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Rinse the salmon fillets and pat them dry thoroughly.
• Use tweezers or pliers to pull out any pin bones, if necessary.
• Drizzle the aquavit or vodka evenly over the flesh of each fillet.
• In a small bowl, combine the salt, sugar, and pepper.
• Divide the mixture into 3 even piles within the bowl.
• Divide one of the thirds of curing mix in half and place on a rimmed baking sheet or baking pan in the shape of one of the fillets.
• Lay a fillet skin-side down on the mixture. Spread a third of the curing mixture on the flesh of that fillet.
• Spread the remaining third of the curing mixture on the flesh side of the other fillet. Sprinkle the dill, if using, over both fillets.
• Lay the second fillet flesh to flesh on the first fillet. Sprinkle the remaining curing mixture over the skin of the top fillet.
• Cover the fillets and baking sheet or pan with foil or plastic wrap. Place a cutting board or second baking sheet on top of the covered fish and top it with something heavy (cans, pots, or pans) to weigh the fish down. Place it all in the fridge and let chill for about 12 hours or overnight.
• Remove from the fridge, unwrap, and discard the accumulated liquid in the pan. Turn over the fillets so the bottom one is on top.
• Cover the pan, weigh down the fish again, and return to the refrigerator. Let chill another 12 hours.
• The fish is now cured and ready to serve, but it will continue to benefit from another 12 to 24 hours of being weighed down and chilled, so feel free to repeat these steps a second time around.
• When ready to eat, pat dry, and thinly slice the gravlax against the grain using a very sharp knife.
• Serve and enjoy.

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, 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.

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).