Swedish Dill Salmon Gravlax Food

GRAVLAX (MARINATED SALMON)

Steps:

• For the salmon, remove all bones with a pair of tweezers, but leave the skin on.
• Rinse.
• Mash the dill stems in a mortar with a little of the salt.
• Mix with the rest of the salt, the sugar and pepper.
• Save the dill leaves for the sauce.
• Cover the flesh side of the fillets with the mixture, and place the fillets flesh-to-flesh in a tray made of glass or stainless steel.
• Cover with plastic foil and put a heavy weight on top (e. g. the mortar or a brick).
• Keep refrigerated for 72 hours, turning the fillets every 12 hours.
• Do not discard the liquid that forms.
• Scrape off the spices and discard the liquid.
• The salmon will keep refrigerated for about a week.
• For the sauce, mix mustard, sugar and vinegar.
• Add the oil a little at the time (as for mayonnaise), constantly stirring.
• Just before serving, add lots of dill and salt and pepper to taste.
• Slice the salmon with a sharp, flexible knife in big, thin slices parallell to the skin.
• Arrange the ice-cold salmon on lettuce leaves with slices of lemon.
• Serve the sauce separately.
• Also serve toasted bread and butter.

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.

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.

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).

SWEDISH DILL SALMON (GRAVLAX)

Steps:

• Remove the backbone and other bones from the salmon and cut in half lengthwise.
• Combine the salt, sugar and pepper and rub over the insides of the fish.
• Place one piece, skin side down, in a large bowl or serving dish.
• Place the dill over the salmon. Top with the other piece of fish, skin side up.
• Place a heavy platter over the salmon and weight it down.
• Refrigerate, covered, for 24 hours. Turn the fish once or twice during this time.
• When finished, remove the salmon from the dish and scrape off the seasonings and dill.
• Cut off skin and slice the salmon diagonally into thin slices.
• Serve salmon.
• For Gravlaxsas: Combine the mustard, sugar and vinegar in a bowl and mix well together to make a paste. Slowly add the oil, beating well after each addition. Beat until the sauce is the consistency of mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper and add the dill. Makes 1/2 cup.

GRAVLAX (FRESH SALMON MARINATED IN DILL)

Steps:

• For the sauce, mix the mustard, vinegar and sugar in a small bowl.
• Gradually whisk in the oil.
• Stir in the dill.
• Refrigerate, tightly covered, up to three days.
• Whisk again before using.
• Serve slightly chilled.
• Run your fingers down the flesh side of each fillet to locate the small pin bones and remove them with tweezers or needle-nose pliers.
• Wipe the flesh with a damp paper towel.
• Combine the salt, sugar and peppercorns in a small bowl.
• Rub the mixture onto the flesh side of both fillets.
• Sprinkle the dill evenly over 1 fillet and lay the other fillet flesh-side down on top, placing the thin end of one over the thick end of the other.
• Place the salmon in a large plastic bag, press out the air and seal tightly.
• Put the salmon on a platter and lay a cutting board or baking sheet on top and weight it down with three 1- to 2-pound cans of food.
• Refrigerate 36 to 48 hours, turning the bag of fillets over every 12 hours.
• Lift fillets from the bag and discard the bag and accumulated liquid.
• Scrape the seasonings off the fish and pat dry. (Fillets can be wrapped in plastic and stored in the refrigerator up to 10 days before serving -- see note below.)
• Place one fillet, skin side down, on a large serving platter (with head end to the left for right-handed people).
• Hold the knife blade tilted so you'll be slicing down through the fillet at a 45-degree angle (rather than straight up and down).
• Begin slicing at the head end, making a 1/8-inch-thick slice.
• At the bottom of slice, turn the knife blade gently to separate the slice from the skin.
• Using the knife, turn the slice over to the left as if turning the page of a book.
• Continue cutting 1/8-inch slices on the angle, separating each from the skin and turning each slice over to partially overlap the previous one.
• Repeat with remaining fillet.
• Garnish with fresh dill and serve with Mustard Dill Sauce and rye or dark bread.
• NOTE: You can keep gravlax in the refrigerator up to 10 days after curing, serving it anytime withing that span. Wrap sliced or unsliced gravlax in plastic and store in the coldest part of your refrigerator.

MORMORS SWEDISH GRAVLAX WITH MUSTARD DILL SAUCE TO MATCH

Steps:

• Mix salt, sugar, and white pepper to form the seasoning mix.
• Preparing storing dish (glass, metal, etc is fine - only has to hold wrapped up fish for 4 days in fridge) by placing a generous amount of aluminium foil on it.
• Chop a handful of dill roughly and place 1/4 of it in the dish to form a bed for the salmon to sit on.
• Take the two equal size pieces of salmon and wash over the sink with the dark liquor. Pat to dry and place aside.
• Using half of the dry mix, rub the mix into one salmon piece to cover all sides. Use the remaining dry mix for the other salmon piece.
• Place the first salmon piece skin down on the bed of dill. Place more dill on top and around the sides.
• Place the second salmon piece (skin up) on top of the first piece to form a salmon sandwich with dill in between and all around both pieces.
• Wrap tightly with the aluminum foil previously laid over the dish.
• Place dish in the fridge with a heavy-ish cookbook on top of the wrapped up salmon. Make sure it will evenly distribute its weight over the packed salmon. This is to squeeze the liquid out of the salmon.
• Wait two days, drain any liquid out of the dish, flip the salmon pack over and place back in the fridge with the book on top.
• Wait another 2 days and voila! You now have gravlax ready to serve. Slice it thinly with a fillet knife (check youtube for technique).
• To prepare the mustard dill sauce: Take all ingredients (except olive oil and dill) and whisk together in a bowl. Put olive oil in a container suitable for slowly pouring into the mixture. While whisking, slowing pour in olive oil to ensure it mixes well. Keep whisking. Add the finely chopped dill into the mixture (ensuring there are no stems in the dill). All done!