Gravlax (or gravad lax) consists of salmon cured in salt, sugar and dill. It is typical of scandinavian cooking. It is very easy to do, can be kept for couple of weeks after curing, and is agrementing our lunch salads on Belisama on a routine basis. It is a very good food to bring or make in a boat, as it can be kept safely for couple of weeks and will complement salads and aperitive in a very nice way.
For the preparation of gravlax, you would need the following ingredients:
Two very fresh filets of salmon, sashimi grade, possibly of the same size and shape, as they will be assembled in sandwich, skin out
Flakes of sea salt and white sugar in equal quantities, roughly totalling half the weight of the salmon
Red and black peppercorn
Dill
Sunflower oil
Rinse the salmon, check that there are no bones left and dry it using tissue paper
Mix the salt flakes, sugar and crushed peppercorns along with chopped dill
Put one of the salmon piece on a board, skin down, and cover with the curing mix
Put the other piece of salmon on top, flesh to flesh, skin up
Put in a food plastic bag (Ikea-type zip bag) of an appropriate size (not to large) and keep the bag open
Keep the bag on the board at room temperature with some weight on top of the lax bag (pot of water) for few hours
Then, seal the bag tight (no need to vacuum) and keep in the fridge with some weight on for two to three days
The longer, the more cured, but potentially the more salty. Turn the bag upside down every 12 hours, and remove any juice coming out of the bag.
Finally, rinse thoroughly with cold water and remove all the curing mix.
Pad dry, add a few fresh branches of dill and put in a vacuum bag with a few drops of oil.
You can keep the gravad lax for a couple of weeks in sealed vacuumed bags in the fridge.
Cut in fine slices to serve...