Gravlax?

Da Nag

Da Nag

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I'm smokin' up a batch of Sitka goodies today, and while searching for some recipes I stumbled upon "Gravlax" - never heard of it before today.

I'm sure my ignorance is showing, and my fellow Brats will tell me how great or foul the stuff is.

I love lox - this seems like a similar style, but looks dead easy to prepare.

Hook me up, folks - who has the skinny on this stuff?
 
No skinny here except what I know from the eating end. Local longtime chef does this and it is darn good.

It is not smoked or "pickled" in the usual sense (pickling implies use of vinegar), but seems to have some of the consistency of cold smoked salmon.
 
As luck would have it, we have a batch curing in the fridge at this very moment! We love this stuff. There's a little Finnish deli in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and every year when we pass through with the MOOSE heading out on Lake Superior, we stop and stock up on 'suola kala' (salt fish) which is essentially gravlax.

We first acquire two equally sized fillets of salmon. For the cure mixture we use three parts white sugar, three parts pickling/canning salt, and one part white pepper. Some people also throw in some fresh dillweed, but we do not. We lay the first fillet, skin-side down, on Handy-Wrap with a little of the cure underneath. The bulk of the cure goes on the flesh side followed by the second fillet, skin-side up, with the last of the cure on top. The sandwhich is then tightly wrapped and placed in a glass pan in the fridge with a board on top and some weight, like a brick or some canned goods. The fish package is flipped over about ever 12 hours and in two days is done. Wash off the remaining cure, pat dry, and you have gravlax. Serve it by cutting thinly with a fillet knife at an angle just down to the skin. We like it on thin Finnish rye bread with raw onion, but some folks use lemon juice, capers, dill mustard, etc.

One caveat: do not attempt this with fresh water fish because of the likelihood of encountering parasites.

Bon appetit!
Al
 
Patty is the Queen of gravlax makers. I'm sure she will have some tips. Here is a kind of interesting recipe. We have to buy our fish (anybody with an excess of salmon on their hands is invited to send it our way). It is delicious on rye crisp with cream cheese, cappers and red onions! And it fast to make. Patty's cure is salt, sugar and dill, she covers it with plastic wrap, and weights it all down with a brick. Easy, quick and good!
 
Or, as we say in English, it is fast to make, and they are of course "capers" not "cappers." But 30 minutes have elapsed, so I have to do another post instead of correcting errors!
 
Woo hoo - good deal everyone, thanks for the tips! I'm gonna give it a try.

All of my Sitka salmon is in steaks - no whole fillets. Most of the recipes I'm seeing are using whole fillets, but I assuming that is more for consistency of the two pieces of fish since they are sandwiched together while curing. I've got a ton of salmon from this year's trip, so I'm pretty sure I can find a couple nearly identical steaks.

Now...silvers or kings? And, any reason why thicker or thinner steaks would be preferable, other than cure time? I've got silver steaks that probably vary from 3/4" - 2", and kings from 2" - 4" or so.

Heck...maybe I could answer my own question, and pair up a thick silver and skinny king slab. :mrgreen:
 
Moose,
Amen to you and Cooking for Engineers (see DaNag); you need to worry about parasitic worms. Don't ever eat uncooked freshwater fish -- some of those parasites are spectacularly nasty, and I don't think gravlax or ceviche is worth the risk. Saltwater fish parasites, not so bad, and if you slice the fish (think credit card) very thinly you might not recognize them for what they are.
A funny story :roll:: Years ago, as an undergrad in Alberta, Friday's dorm lunch always consisted of creamed "smoked fin and haddock" on toast. I cleared seven men from a table of eight, after I dissected out a large round-worm from a piece of fish and showed it around. I'm a zoologist, so I stayed to enjoy a lot of "seconds."
Rod
 
Good tip on the parasites, Rob.

Didn't mention it, but that's one reason I'm using the Sitka caught salmon instead of WA fish. Not that I'm under any illusion AK salmon has fewer parasites - but my Sitka fish was flash frozen, and kept in a commercial freezer for 2.5 - 5 days before being brought home. That should have taken care of any nasty critters...but if not, it's also been in the chest freezer at -10F for a couple months.
 
I have also made Gravlax for years and it always tastes better when you use downrigger cannonballs for the weights !I use a fish poacher and the strainer part goes on top of the fish to do the pressing with the down rigger weights on it . I line it with plastic wrap to keep the cure from the aluminum . They make stainless fish poachers but I aint that uptown. You can drizzle a little Wrights liquid smoke to make a cold smoked like product too.A few drops per fillet will do it .
Marc
 
I took parasitology in college a hundred years ago and so I know of what you speak, Rod. Our Finnish friends on Lake Superior came all supplied to make their own 'suola kala' if they caught a salmon last summer, but I quickly disabused them of this notion. And our local tackle shop owner tells about some dudes up fishing in Ontario, one of whom considered himself a gourmet and who made walleye ceviche for everyone. Suffice it to say, he was less than popular a couple weeks later.

But none of this is intended to steer anyone away from making their own gravlax. We've eaten lots of it and it is a real treat.
Al
 
Hi Moose,
And y' know,I was thinking less about gastrointestinal inconvenience and more in terms of large and dangerous parasitic cysts in, oh...say, my lungs or other organs of established importance. :shock:
 
rjmcnabb":1xisj4oh said:
Hi Moose,
And y' know,I was thinking less about gastrointestinal inconvenience and more in terms of large and dangerous parasitic cysts in, oh...say, my lungs or other organs of established importance. :shock:
Click to expand...

Ok, enough of this. I'm gonna go sample my fresh batch of suola kala.
 
rjmcnabb":2gsnb6uu said:
Hi Moose,
And y' know,I was thinking less about gastrointestinal inconvenience and more in terms of large and dangerous parasitic cysts in, oh...say, my lungs or other organs of established importance. :shock:
Click to expand...

Being a meat-eater, I was unfamiliar with the gravlax... sounded like something I heard about in a pharmacutical, um, pharma, um, DRUG commercial: "Ask your doctor if Gravlax is right for you."

:wink:
 
Patty here. I wasn't going to add anything because the first few responses covered the way I do it. BUT...I noticed everyone is "sandwiching" their fish and I have never done that, probably because I've never had enough fish to do it. One single filet works just fine. I use equal parts sugar and salt depending on the size of the fish, and I use dried dill right in the sugar-salt mix because I always have that on hand. I wrap it tightly in Saran Wrap, put it in a dish, and weight it with a foil-wrapped brick. Two days isn't quite enough, three is about right, four makes it too dry. Enjoy!
 
Most years we have 20 to 30 glazed, commercially flash frozen, vacuum sealed sockeye filets in our freezer; we’re fortunate to have relatives who own and operate a major fish processer in Kenai.

We enjoy eating this fish sushi style dipped in a little soy souse mixed with wasabi. Next time I thaw a couple filets out I’ll try my hand at gravlax, thanks for the recipe ideas.

Jay
 
First batch is in the fridge...I'll update when it comes out.

I chose to start off simple - single medium king slab in saran wrap, sugar, sea salt, pepper, fresh dill, topped with a brick wrapped in paper. I'll flip every 12 hours, and open it up for a check at 2 days.

Only thing I changed - I read a number of reviews where a 50/50 salt/sugar mix, was deemed a bit salty. That's a common complaint I have with many recipes, so I did mine with a 60/40 sugar/salt mix, as recommended by others.
 
Man...I don't even have a picture of the finished product. I pulled it out this evening after three days, opened it up, and gave a few small pieces to my family who is visiting.

Big mistake...it was like tossing a steak to a pack of hyenas. My wondrous 2 lb. slab of Gravlax disappeared in minutes.

I'm starting another batch tomorrow...it will be ready the day after they leave. Shucks - for them.

Highly recommended...if you like lox, you'll love this stuff. And it's dead simple to prepare. I can think of a gazillion ways to serve it, but ours disappeared atop toasted bagels, cream cheese and a little red onion.
 
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