Gravalax – Homemade cured lox

Personally, in many ways I prefer gravalax to regular smoked salmon aka lox.  It has a less “gushy” texture (sorry for the complicated foodie jargon 🙂 ) is firmer and more meaty.  I think people are a little scared of making it themselves but once I nerved myself to trying it and potentially wasting a good piece of salmon, I was astounded at the ease of preparation and how beautifully it turned out.  I went over many versions of preparation, decided to cobble them together and was pleased indeed with my final result.  I present it to you forthwith.  Just be aware, you need to plan ahead, it takes approximately 24-36 hours to sit and cure.  What you are doing is curing the salmon rather than smoking it so that the fish is not raw, you are in essence preserving it.  Despite this, the gravalax should be eaten within about 4-5 days.  I wouldn’t worry about that since it usually goes very fast.

Start with a filleted side of salmon and try for deep pink without dark spots.  I have used fresh and frozen.  Fresh is definitely better but I’ve done it with good frozen salmon fillets and had excellent results. Rinse well and pat dry.

Run your hand down the fillet to feel for pin bones and you can remove with your fingers or a tweezer. (If I’m in a dreadful hurry, I skip this, shame on me!)

Set aside. Now take the kosher salt (not regular, regular salt will melt away before it can properly cure the salmon. you must use the kosher salt, a much coarser texture) and the sugar, the dill – I used the pre-chopped frozen cubes of dill since I couldn’t find any fresh in my market and ya know what? it worked a treat! – the pepper and the star anise and mix together in a bowl. I did this by hand in my hurry and just broke the star anise into bits. You are trying to infuse flavor into the fish so it need not be pulverized. At this point, you can add all sorts of other spices but this is the basic version which I love and you will use a mustard dill sauce with it for tons of flavor.

Take your fillet and using a pan large enough to hold the fillet in its entirety, take plastic cling wrap and cover the pan on all sides by using an extra long piece lenthwise and widthwise. You are going to completely cover the salmon with the overlapping plastic so be generous. Then take half the mixture and put in the pan sort of mounding a bit and lay the fillet on it skin side down. Then take the other half of the sugar/salt mixture and cover the top of the fish with it, like so.

This picture shows the salmon with the mixture below and on top.

and completely coat the fillet top and bottom. Then taking the plastic wrap, enfold the whole lot.

As you can see, it’s all neatly wrapped. Next, find some heavy weight to weigh on top of the fillet to get the curing going. Without this step, it will not work. I use my kilo bags of flour since the salmon is well wrapped and doesn’t get them wet but whatever works for you. Remember, liquid ultimately will seep out of the wrapping, but on the bottom onto the pan.

Now plunk the whole shebang into your fridge and begin the countdown.

This is actually 26 hours, you see the slightly dryish top to the salmon, this is how it should look and when sliced, has a lox-y look to it.

I’ve cured my salmon from 24 hours (the minimum amount you should do) to 36 hours. The longer the gravalax cures, the drier and “meatier” it becomes since that’s what curing does, it removes the liquids from the salmon. The last time I made this, just this past Shabbat, it came out at 26 hours like a slightly drier lox and was a wild hit with my company, who were certain it was a fancy store bought brand of lox. There you go!

Gravalax – Homemade cured lox

1 filleted side of salmon with skin, rinsed well and patted dry
2 cups coarse kosher salt
1 1/2 cups sugar (I’ve tried the equal salt and sugar proportions and it makes the end result way too sweet.  Done in this way it is just right, not too salty, not too sweet)
2 star anise, crumbled (You can make it without this but it adds nice flavor)
1 packet kosher fresh dill, soaked and washed and patted dry and chopped fine OR one large cube of frozen chopped dill
fresh ground pepper, easy on it, don’t want to overwhelm the fish

Directions:

Take a baking pan big enough to hold the whole fillet ( I prefer a disposable one).  Take plastic wrap and cover every inch of the pan, leaving enough overlap from all 4 sides that you will be able to completely cover the salmon and seal it on top.  Mix together the salt, sugar, anise, chopped dill and pepper till completely combined (if using the frozen dill, defrost it and it cooly turns the mixture a pale green).  Take half the mixture and spread it on top of the plastic wrap which is laying on the pan.  Lay the washed clean and patted dry fillet skin side down on top of the mixture.  Take the second half of the mix and cover the salmon top with it. Use your hands to pat it on salmon to make sure it’s fully covered.  Now take the plastic wrap that was left on the sides and top and bottom of the pan and completely cover the salmon with the wrap.

Next,  either take another empty baking pan that it at least the size of the fillet and put it on top of the salmon, and then put the weights on or put weights to weigh down the salmon directly on the plastic to help it cure in the mixture.  I take my kilo hermetically sealed flour bags (I use 2 of them) and lay them in either the empty baking pan to weigh down the salmon or right on the plastic wrap if I’m living dangerously.  What happens is the mixture turns into a marinade which cures the salmon.  Take this whole concoction and put it in the fridge.  It takes about 24-36 hours to cure. 24 hours turns it into a more smoked salmony feel and the longer it cures, the drier and “meatier” it becomes, so it’s to your taste, but no less than 24 hours.

When done, remove from fridge, take the weights off and the top pan, open the sealed plastic wrap and gently clean the mixture (which will now be waterier) off.  I don’t wash the whole thing off, this takes away the nice look and flavor, rather, using my (gloved) hand, I scrape off the mixture and rinse my hand, not the salmon till it’s almost completely cleaned off but still has some spice mixture on it.  Take the salmon and put on a cutting board and using a very sharp knife, slice the fish in thinnish slices although you can make them thicker if you wish.  This is nice with mustard sauce, recipes to follow.

Mustard Sauce

Version one

(sweet and sour)

3 tablespoons of deli or wholegrain mustard
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (bland not olive)
2 tablespoons chopped dill (see above for clean and wash OR use the prepared squares)
1 tablespoon sugar (or more to taste)

Whisk all together, serve in a bowl alongside the salmon, or drizzled on top.

Version two

3 tablespoons deli mustard

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

whisk all together, serve in a bowl.

This makes a lovely first course for Shabbat or Yom Tov or a fancy starter for a nice dinner.