Salmon Gravlax Recipe

Salmon Gravlax Recipe

salmon gravlax recipe

Recently for both this blog and at home, I’ve been making a lot of Eastern dishes but now I really fancy eating something a little different. Also, there are so many really delicious and beautiful western dishes that I love to make, both professionally at work and at home, but haven’t had the opportunity to share. So, for this particular blog post, I decided to make salmon gravlax.

Salmon gravlax is a dish which originates from Norway during the Middle Ages. Fishermen used to salt the salmon then lightly ferment it by burying it in the sand. Gravlax’s literal translation is “grave”. Thanks to Wikipedia for this information and also inspiring me to draw a couple Vikings for this recipe.

Now this is probably going to sound really strange but even though I have made salmon gravlax many times professionally, I’ve never actually eaten it. I know this sounds really bizarre but probably because I’ve prepared it so many times I’ve kind of been put off it but my husband absolutely loves salmon gravlax so when I asked him if he fancies eating it, of course he said YES (with capital letters)!

I first learned how to make salon gravlax when I worked in a fine dining restaurant in Birmingham but after moving to Edinburgh I made it a few times while working in a hotel that I used to work in. Again I know it must sound strange that I haven’t tasted it before but as anyone who works as a chef knows, you barely even have time to have a glass of water or go to the toilet (this is one of the many reasons chef smoke – so they can have a cigarette break).

With this dish I combined two different recipes.

So what do I think? Interesting! It has a really unique mild herb and spice flavour with a little bit of a citrus taste. I have to say I like it very much and Chris gave me the big thumbs up. I liked it so much I used some of this salmon gravlax to make eggs royale (I’ve been absolutely crazy lusting after hollandaise sauce for nearly a year but couldn’t eat it because of the raw eggs which is obviously bad for unborn babies).

So I hope you enjoy my salmon gravlax recipe. It’s great to try a new dish and tick off one of the many hundreds of dishes out there that I want to try.

As there a really large number of preparation photos with this post, I haven’t included any new pictures of my daughter or any updates about her (she’s doing fine btw, she’s absolutely awesome) but in a few days I’ll post my recipe for eggs royale along with an update about her and some new photos.

salmon gravlax
salmon gravlax
salmon gravlax
salmon gravlax
salmon gravlax
salmon gravlax
salmon gravlax
salmon gravlax
salmon gravlax
salmon gravlax
salmon gravlax
salmon gravlax
salmon gravlax

 

 

Salmon Gravlax Recipe

Course Main Dish
Prep Time 3 minutes
Total Time 3 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  • 450 g fresh salmon with skin on
  • 1 bunch fresh dill chopped
  • 2 tbsp sea salt
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp peppercorn toasted and crushed
  • 1/2 lemon juiced
  • 1 lemon zest
  • 1/2 tsp ground coriander or fennel seed
  • 2 tbsp vodka

Instructions

  1. Rinse salmon under cold running water and pat dry with kitchen napkins.
  2. Mix the sea salt, sugar, crashed peppercorn and ground coriander in a bowl evenly.
  3. Mix vodka and lemon juice together
  4. Lay couple sheets of cling film on a tray as procedure photo shown. Put salmon on the middle of tray.
  5. Pour vodka and lemon juice on salmon.
  6. Sprinkle lemon zest on the salmon first then sprinkle step 2 seasalt and spice mixture evenly on the salmon.
  7. Sprinkle chopped dill on the salmon and wrap salmon nice and tight with the cling film.
  8. Try to find something heavy put on top of salmon. I used 2 wooden boards on both side of salmon and wrap really tight to give it a bit of pressure to help it totally marinade.
  9. Leave it in the fridge for 3 days and take it out. Wash away the seasalt and herb. Slice very(!) thin to serve (you’ll need a really sharp knife for this)