Serves: n/a
Approx cost: β¬30
Approx calories (per 100g): 160
Approx preparation and cooking time: 3-4 days
I’m going to be brief – it’s about a billion degrees celsius in the apartment today, there’s no air movement, we started having some rain and a thunder storm a few minutes ago but I guess it was even too warm and sweltering for old man Thunder to rear his head and that soon petered out. However, I wanted to post this earlier, but now will have to do. Last week was Midsummer, and as per usual at our place around this time of year, we celebrate Swedish Midsummer. A central part to the traditional “Midsommar” table is Gravlax, along with potatoes, meatballs, pickled or soused herring, hard bread and soft, flat bread, among other yummy stuff. After (or maybe it’s before… regardless, this next part is a tradition we don’t partake in alas) eating yourself silly, everyone then dances around a curiously shaped pole and does a dance called The Little Frogs. You can find a number of humorous videos on YouTube of this dance if you were that way inclined π
Anyway, on to the food. Gravlax is super awesome, and delicious, and actually really easy to make too. There is very little that can go wrong with it. Just make sure you have a good, fresh piece of fish and don’t skimp on the salt and sugar and you’re good to go! Remember to make it a few days in advance! There are many different things you can add to the cure – herbs, spices – but if you’ve never made it yourself before it’s nice to just try a very simple recipe first, and then build on that over time to customise it for yourself!
Gravlax
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Ingredients
– 1 Salmon fillet with skin (any size really… I prefer to buy an entire half fish)
– Equal parts Salt and Caster Sugar (For a large piece like mine you need about 2dl (1 cup) of each)
– 1 big handful of fresh Dill
You’ll also need
– Plenty of plastic food wrap (cling-film)
Instructions
- Start off by washing the salmon fillet, scraping away any loose scales on the skin and removing any noticeable bones. If not already done by the fish seller, trim away any funky bits from the edge – rough edges, fatty parts… try and make it neat and tidy. Place skin side down on a large board and then mix together the salt and the sugar. Rub all the mixture over the salmon, sprinkling it on and pushing it firmly into the flesh.
- Cut the fillet in half and fold it over on itself, flesh sides inwards and then wrap it tightly in cling-film.
- Place inside a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator for 2 – 3 days. After this time, remove from the refrigerator. Remove the plastic wrap and rinse off the cure and pat dry. Cover the flesh with finely chopped dill and place the top back on top again and wrap well with cling-film once more before returning to the refrigerator for another 24 hours or so, to allow the dill flavour to infuse into the fish.
- After this time, remove, unwrap and slice along the base with a sharp knife to remove the skin. Discard and cut the fish thinly and serve. In addition to making a great midsummer feast you can also top off scrambled eggs with it among a multitude of different things. It will keep well in the refrigerator for about 1 week once finished. If you have too much left over you can cut into smaller pieces and freeze it. It will last in the freezer for about 6 months and taste almost just as great once defrosted! Enjoy!
kelly says
This is really neat – so it's a raw salmon, right? and the refrigeration allows the flavours to soak into the fish…very cool. Have not prepared salmon this way before and I love dill, so this could work well. Thanks Charles.
Charles says
Hi Kelly – Yeah, start with raw salmon. Grav (or "gravad") literally means "Buried", and "Lax" is Salmon in Swedish – I think that back before refrigerators the fish was salted and sugared and then buried in the ground for some days. The salt and sugar causes a chemical reaction which acts as a preservative on the fish… almost like a cooking process – did you ever place raw salmon in lemon juice and leave for some hours? That also "cooks" it in a way. You end up with something which is not dissimilar to smoked salmon, just with a different flavour! Hope you can try it π
Greg says
This looks wonderful! Katherine and I love watching cooking shows, and there's this one with a guy, I think he's Scandinavian. We saw him do this and wanted to try. Now we have a recipe!
Charles says
My wife and I were watching a Jamie Oliver cooking show the other day… "Jamie does Sweden" I think it was called. He actually made some gravlax in that although he was adding some funky stuff … beetroot I think, and then eating it with olive oil at the end π Sacrilege!
Sissi says
All the delicious food you describe makes me think of the only Swedish place I am addicted to… do you work at IKEA?????
Seriously, your gravlax looks lovely!!! And great for this hot weather.
I have heard of gravlax many years ago but somehow never haven't made it. Your pictures are very encouraging. It really seems childishly easy.
Your dill makes me think I should plant mine once more (I have already used all I had on the balcony).
Great post and a very inspiring idea!
Charles says
Thanks Sissi! I don't work at IKEA, haha – my wife is Swedish though so I'm sort of "required by Swedish law" to think that IKEA is awesome π It is super easy, and really satisfying to make. I have an entire half of the filet in my freezer stored away for Christmas. Incidentally Christmases are always a fun time – Swedish people celebrate Christmas on the 24th, while the British celebrate on the 25th, so we always end up with two huge Christmas meals – December is a bad time for our waists! π
Caroline says
You always have such great recipes, Charles. This looks awesome–and I don't even like gravlax. I love that it's easy to make/prepare. Great post!
Charles says
Thanks Caroline – It's definitely one of those things that you either love or hate. Even if you don't like it though it's a fun, impressive thing to pull out for a dinner party or something similar and be all like "hah, look what I made :D"
Kristy says
I've never heard of gravlax before. I love raw salmon – sushi, lox, etc. I might have to give this a go sometime. I'm not so sure about the dill though…it depends how strongly it's flavored with dill. Still I think this is worth a shot. π And you know you don't have to worry about me adding beet root. Ack!
Charles says
Are you not a fan of dill? I think it goes *really* well with fish dishes – especially something like this as it offsets what can be quite a strong flavour from the salmon. I hadn't actually heard of Lox before – just looked it up. If you like that I've no doubt you'll like this! Have a good sunday π