Mark Bittman's Gravlax
- Total Time
- 15 minutes, plus 24 hours' basting
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 13- to 4-pound cleaned salmon without the head, skin on
- 1cup salt
- 2cups brown sugar
- 1tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼cup spirits, like brandy, gin, aquavit or lemon vodka
- 2good-size bunches of fresh dill, roughly chopped, stems and all
- Lemon wedges for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)
380 calories; 18 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 24 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 23 grams sugars; 27 grams protein; 378 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Fillet the salmon or have the fishmonger do it; the fish need not be scaled. Lay both halves, skin side down, on a plate.
- Step 2
Toss together the salt, brown sugar and pepper and rub this mixture all over the salmon (the skin too); splash on the spirits. Put most of the dill on the flesh side of one of the fillets, sandwich them together, tail to tail, and rub any remaining salt-sugar mixture on the outside; cover with any remaining dill, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Cover the sandwich with another plate and top with something that weighs a couple of pounds -- some unopened cans, for example. Refrigerate.
- Step 3
Open the package every 12 to 24 hours and baste, inside and out, with the accumulated juices. When the flesh is opaque, on the second or third day (you will see it changing when you baste it), slice thinly as you would smoked salmon -- on the bias and without the skin -- and serve with rye bread or pumpernickel and lemon wedges.
Private Notes
Comments
Save yourself a lot of time and frustration by simply packing the fish, dill, and salt mix into a nonreactive pan (I used a 2 qt pyrex). Stretch the plastic wrap over the top and weights on top of that. The pan will catch all the liquid pulled out of the fish, the weights will keep it submerged, and you won't need to fuss with unwrapping messy gloppy cling film.
I make my gravlax with just 1/3 to 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and 2-3 tsps. salt in a similar manner, plus the chopped dill of course.
I fail to imagine how 2 WHOLE CUPS of brown sugar, let alone 1 CUP of salt, would affect the taste of such an exquisige delicacy.
My father's recipe was equal parts salt, sugar and enough liquid smoke to make a paste. Schmear on both sides of salmon and put the whole think in the Sunday NYT bag and tie it up tight. Flip daily for 7 days. No need to baste or weigh it down. I leave the skin on, well, because he did. I freeze in chunks, also because he did. Just pull out the night before and and allow to defrost in the fridge. Nothing better with everything bagels, cream cheese, capers and thinly sliced red onion.
People, if you're finding ways to drain the brine, you're not actually making gravlax although you may like the result anyway. The "grav" or "gravvad" part of the name shares a root with "gravy": The point of curing salmon or trout under a heavy weight is to express liquid from the fish and let it marinate in the brine. I make mine in two pyrex dishes with a sheet of saran wrap in between and a brick on top. Somebody here uses half a case of beer: even better! And drink the aquavit neat.
For 4 lbs of salmon, I've mixed 1/4 kosher salt, 3 tbps sugar, 2 tbsp black pepper, and sloshed Aquavit over the flesh before sprinkling the mixture over the fish and adding lots of dill. I fold the two filets over each other and add more of the salt/sugar/pepper outside. I wrap in plastic wrap and weight as described. As liquid seeps out, I sometimes drain it. After turning every 12 hrs over at least 2 days, it's ready. I've been doing it this way for 30 years - I've never been disappointed!
Absolutely DO drain the brine off after 24 hours, rewrap and leave for another 24. If you leave it, the brine will actually extract too much of the fish oil and make your gravlax taste like nothing but brine. Also, a nice change from dill is to swap in some minced ginger from the jar and some thinly sliced cucumber. Don’t use brandy. Period. Gin, vodka, even white rum works. Equal parts sea salt and white sugar, a few good grinds of black pepper, and try a little cardamom.
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