Salmon Gravlax

Plat du jour

I made gravlax twice over the holiday season. It was the centerpiece of the entrée (first course) that was my contribution both to Christmas Day dinner and our New Year’s Eve extravaganza.

I first learned that you could make gravlax at home from my friend Matt, but it was several years later that I tried it myself. It’s a ridiculously easy but still impressive thing to serve.

Start with two large pieces of fresh salmon. I get mine from my local farmers’ market in Lyon where it is extra fresh and Label Rouge - a French designation that means meeting the highest possible quality standards which also comes with a higher price. But any fresh salmon will do. Don’t forget that salt is one of the four ways that food can be “cooked” and therefore made safe to eat - the other three are heat, acid (such as pickling), and dehydration.

Ideally, you want the larger, thicker pieces toward the top (neck end) of the salmon fillet. To make gravlax to serve as an entrée for eight people, I used a little less than a kilo (so about two pounds) of salmon. I asked for a piece about “this long” and held up my fingers - it was 10 to 12 inches. You want it with the skin on.

When you get home, you only need about 15 minutes (assuming you have all the ingredients) to do most of the work in preparing your gravlax. First, measure the length of your piece of salmon and cut it in half - you’re going to make a sandwich with the two halves, skin side out.

Find a glass container (one with a lid is best) or baking dish that your salmon sandwich will comfortably fit inside. Line it with saran wrap/cling film in both directions, i.e. with lengths of the wrap extending out of the dish in both length and width.

Now prepare your curing mix and roughly chop a large bunch of dill. For the curing mix, put one fourth (25%) of the weight of your salmon in rock salt or gros sel in a bowl - do NOT use table salt or sea salt or your final product will be way too salty. Add 18 to 20% of the salmon’s weight in sugar, then as much pepper as you like. In the photo below I used a mix of five colored peppers but I’ve also made it with freshly ground black pepper.

Sprinkle a bit less than one fourth of the salt mixture on the saran wrap in the dish in the shape of your salmon pieces. Place one piece of the salmon on top of that, skin side down. Then sprinkle the next part of your mixture (until you reach about one half) on the skin side of the same piece of salmon. Add the layer of chopped dill - the dill will be in the middle of the sandwich.

Cover the dill with another thick layer of the salt mixture and add the second salmon piece skin side facing up. Use the remaining salt on top of the skin.

Carefully but firmly wrap your salmon sandwich in saran wrap. Use a third piece if needed to tighten up the bundle.

Place a flat object (like a small cutting board) on top of the sandwich and weight it with canned goods. Place in the refrigerator. Turn the bundle over approximately every 12 hours, and leave it to cure for between 36 and 48 hours. You will notice quite a bit of liquid accumulating in the dish as the salmon surrenders its water and takes in salt.

When it’s convenient (for me this was at around 40 hours both times this year), remove the plastic wrap and quickly rinse your salmon pieces in cold water, then pat them dry. Rinse out the dish and dry it well. Put the now cured salmon pieces back together, skin side in, and either put the lid on the container or cover your baking dish with plastic wrap. Let it sit in the refrigerator at least another day to mature - we discovered that we like it better with two days of maturing, but the difference is small.

I used to cut my gravlax into thin slices for serving it (see the first photo in this post), but I noticed when I was buying the salmon this year that the fishmonger sold it in thicker slices, about 3/4 of an inch. I decided to try serving it that way this year and it was a better choice: your guests can cut it into pieces as they eat it, and you have more of the sensation of chewing something somewhat substantial and more gravlax flavor in each bite.

I don’t serve my gravlax with a sauce, but you certainly could. A popular option seems to be a mustard and cream sauce with dill, and you can find plenty of recipes online. We serve it with a lightly dressed mâche salad. Mâche is known as lamb’s lettuce in English and it is delicious. I’ve never understood why we don’t have it in every grocery store in the US like they do in France.

Bon appétit!