My daughter Elodie and I recently experimented with making homemade salmon gravlax together. I’ve had Elodie in the kitchen with me, cooking and baking almost daily, since she was 15 months old! We used a small, individual portion of salmon, perfect at a brunch or lunch for two!
I sort of think of salmon gravlax as smoked salmon without the smoke. The texture is similar, but the flavour is lighter and brighter. Elodie and I used this method from Serious Eats however, because we were experimenting, I chose to start with a much smaller portion of fish.
Each time we’re in the kitchen together, I encourage Elodie to be hands on with as many tasks as possible. While preparing the salmon gravlax I had Elodie dump salt into a container of water, then stir it, for the initial soak of the salmon. She helped me measure and mix the salt, sugar, and pepper for the cure, and she pulled all of the dill fronds from their stems. Elodie then placed all of the dill fronds under and on top of the salmon, and helped place a weight on top of the fish for its duration in the fridge. She is a great helper!
Homemade Salmon Gravlax
Ingredients
- 125 grams fresh salmon skin on
- 21 grams sea salt
- 14 grams sugar
- 2 pinches white pepper
- Fresh dill to make a bed under the fish and to cover the top
Instructions
- Fill a container large enough to hold the fish with water and salt the water generously. Gently place the fillet in the salted water and soak 10 minutes. Rinse well under cool running water and pat dry. Dump the salt water out of the container, rinse, and dry.
- In a small bowl, mix the sea salt, sugar, and white pepper.
- Place a layer of dill fronds in the container, large enough to make a bed under the fillet. Place the fish on top of the dill and cover the fillet, top and sides, with the salt-sugar cure.
- Layer the top of the fish with more fresh dill, then cover the fillet with plastic wrap. Place a weight on top of the salmon (we used a loaf pan with a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes insidand place in the fridge overnight.
- The next day, remove the plastic wrap and dill from the top of the fish, flip it over, replace the dill, and recover with fresh plastic wrap. Place the weight back on top of the salmon and put it back in the fridge overnight.
- Remove the fish from the container, and remove all of the dill fronds. Rinse the salmon well under cool running water and pat dry. Proceed to carefully slice the salmon as thin as you can with the sharpest knife you have. Serve with rye or brown bread, quick pickled red onions, and aioli.
Did you make this recipe? I would love to see how you made out! Let me know on Instagram by tagging me @baconandbaileys and hashtag it #baconandbaileys so I can take a peek and re-share it in my Instagram stories! You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
This post was first published on May 22, 2019 and was updated on June 21, 2019.
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