If you’re just doing a small tail piece like I did, these
times and measurements should get you close to what you see here, but if you're feeling adventurous, and want to do something larger, then you may have to do
some research for techniques that work better when doing a thicker piece of
fish.
I think a brick works great for a press, but anything that
weighs a few pounds would be fine, as long as it’s large, and flat enough to
distribute the weight evenly. A book with a few cans of soup on it would do the
trick. Regardless of how you press yours, once unwrapped, sliced, and served on
a toasted bagel, I think you’ll agree it was worth the wait. So, I really do
hope you give this gravlax technique a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 6 to 10 ounces of Gravlax:
8 to 12 ounce tail section of fresh salmon with skin on
(scaled)
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup white sugar
cayenne and/or freshly ground black pepper to taste
enough grated beet and/or fresh dill springs to thickly
cover fish
- Press with something heavy, and let cure in fridge for 1 1/2 days, or until salmon is firm, and translucent when sliced. You can
carefully unwrap, and poke to test, and then rewrap, and let cure longer if
need be.
17 comments:
Hi Chef John! Is it safe to use standard grocery store salmon, or should we be using sashimi grade?
A tip for gravlax is to pan fry it lightly and serve it with boiled potatoes in a dill bechamel, its a wonderful summery dish. In Sweden it is called bräckt gravad lax and it is usually made with lightly cured salmon.
How long can this be kept in the fridge once cured?
G'day Chef John,
Looks like a fantastic take on cured, fresh salmon; an ingredient we have a lot of in our neck of the woods. Two questions if I may: If one is practiced in removing salmon skin can one remove it before the curing or is there a specific reason why the skin is left on? And,
Can one use drained and diced canned beets; which we call beetroot here, downunder?
Cheers, Bill Halliwell
Chef John please make butter chicken. Not only is it extremely delicious, it is super fun to say Butter Chicken.
Is there a benefit to leaving the skin on?
It has never occurred to me to skin the salmon before curing! I'm sure the skin imparts flavour to the flesh during the curing process. And it also helps the piece keep its shape. This is especially true of farmed salmon, I would think, because the flesh is really really fat and soft and would get pretty squashed under a weight. And who wants to slice gravlax without the skin? It basically serves as a cutting board.
JEFF: I would say about 2-3 days.
KBO and TOM HOUY: I have never skinned salmon before curing, it has simply never occurred to me. I think the skin is left on because it imparts flavour to the flesh during the curing process. And I would think that it also helps the piece keep its shape. Especially if farmed salmon is what you've got, farmed salmon is unnaturally fat and soft and textureless and would get pretty squashed under a weight if it isn't attached to the skin. And who wants to slice gravlax without the skin??? It basically serves as a cutting board
Hi! You should leave the skin on, once you have cut all the salmon you can cut the skin in strips and fry it slowly in a pan (without fat). It will crisp up and it’s a great companion with a cold beer!
Mine came out gorgeous, but super salty. I think my issue was the salmon wasn't thick enough. I rinsed the salmon and used to make a fabulous cream cheese/sour cream spread that everyone loves.
Good lord this came out amazing! So soft and buttery, and the colors are beautiful. If I can figure out how to share the picture I will. Great recipe chef, thank you!
Hi Chef John!
I followed this recipe to a T, but the texture just wasn't right after 3 days in the fridge. The salmon wasn't particularly thick (very similar to the cut presented in your video). The only difference was I used chopped dill instead of beets. Any thoughts? The texture was very gelatin like, and there was a gooey residue on the knife when I sliced the fish.
I was thinking that perhaps I should used iodizes salt next time instead of kosher salt? Just racking my brain here and can't seem to figure it out!
This is absolutely gorgeous. I would be proud to serve it. But I would pretend it was VERY difficult and tricky.
Followed the recipe; outstanding. I’ll need to increase the quantity for next time ( twice as thick and twice as long). Do I double the salt and sugar? Do I double the the refrigerator time?
I've made this recipe 4 times now. I've quadrupled it for 2 large salmon fillets the second batch go around. The first time I used a very old and large salmon fillet that should have been thrown out but I didn't heart to waste that food. Cut it in two uneven pieces, the smaller tail piece I just used dill and after it was done (1.5 days) ate it in one sitting without even the extra dry time. The larger beet-cured fillet piece wasn't cured long enough to my liking at 2.5 days but looked beautiful. You could tell from the thinner edges of that fillet, the texture was more jewel-like and cured to a chewier consistency that the thicker parts could have used more time for that texture difference but maybe I should have done that drying step cuz the flavor was there. Also half of that fillet I did dill AND beets which was great. Turns out I really like that classic dill flavor. Second batches taste great, but I'm also letting them dry in fridge because one of their surfaces right after removal of beets was a little slimy. Also I left these 2 big fillets cure for a week cuz they were massive and checked on them to see texture. Def recommend using another backing sheet with a paper towel under it so it won't stick to cling wrap as your weight onto fillet. So easy! Ty, Chef John.
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