Gravlax
photo by Peter J
- Ready In:
- 20mins
- Ingredients:
- 10
- Serves:
-
6-8
ingredients
- 2 (1 lb) salmon fillets, skin on, any pinbones removed
- 1 tablespoon caraway seed
- 2 teaspoons anise seed
- 5 juniper berries
- 1⁄2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or 1 small dried hot red chili pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1⁄2 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 3 tablespoons salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
- 3 3 tablespoons eau de vie or 3 tablespoons scotch
directions
- 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.
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Reviews
-
First time I've made Gravlax and loved this, so much nicer than store-bought! I used brandy and left for around 24 hours using the stated preparation method but then transferred to two vacuum sealed Food Saver bags and left another 3 days giving them the odd squeeze to move the brine around. That worked really well and saved removing the plastic wrap to baste each time.
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OK, here goes. I live in Athens, Greece. I moved out here many, many years ago from Ottawa, Canada - so I am blessed in having two wonderful heritages!
I suffer from compulsive obsessive behaviour with regard to food and my psychiatrist thought it would be a good idea to find a 'society' where many have the same problem and try to find a cure.
So far, I've copied a couple of thousand recipes from this site and my psychiatrist has thrown the towel in and refuses to answer the phone when I call.
What did I do wrong?
Got 3 kids that keep me on the go - 10 and under at this point (2008) - I may not get round to updating this for a few years, so you'll have to do your own maths.
I teach English full-time and Greek Cookery part-time. I would like to make the cooking part of it full-time and the English Grammar part of it part-time.
That's all for now.