There are many things that are magic in the kitchen. Curing salmon is one of those things. Salt, sugar and time do their magic and raw salmon turns into this wonderful gravlax!

First things; your salmon must be fresh. Like super fresh. I like to use a small whole skinless side of Atlantic salmon. You can ask your fish monger to remove the skin for you. If this isn’t an option, don’t worry – taking the skin off isn’t mandatory but I can show you in a quick video how to do it. 

Here are the simple steps: Lay the salmon skin side down on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife (chef or fish knife), start at the narrow end of the salmon.  Angle the knife at 45 degrees or less and begin to separate the skin from the flesh. Once you have about 1-inch of skin, you can grab the skin with your left hand and begin to pull as you move the knife down towards the wide end of the fish. Keep the knife angled at 45 degrees or less moving it gently back and forth. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You can flip it over and get the rest of the skin if you have missed some. Rinse salmon after if there are scales on it. Now you are ready to go.

Salmon Gravlax

Ingredients

2 lb salmon filet, skin removed

1 cup Kosher Salt (table salt isn’t going to work here)

1 cup white sugar or 2 cups brown sugar

1 cup rough chopped fresh dill

Other add ins:

Ground peppercorns, lemon zest, grated beets…..

Instructions

Lay plastic wrap on a sheet pan. Combine salt and sugar together.Spread half of the salt/sugar mixture over sheet pan; top with half chopped dill then the prepared salmon filet. Sprinkle top of salmon with remaining dill then the last of salt/sugar mixture.

Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and top with a second sheet pan. Place sheet pans in refrigerator and weight top sheet pan with heavy objectives and let cure for 36-48 hours*.

Remove from the refrigerator, scrape off cure, rinse well with cold water and pat dry with paper towel on a cutting board.

How to Serve

Slice salmon into thin slices on an angle. Serve on toasted pumpernickel or rye bread slices with spicy mustard, dill sprigs, finely chopped red onion, capers or cream cheese.

*Curing time 36 hours is my sweet spot for curing. The salmon is flesh is firm, moist and not too salty. If you like more of a hard cure where the salmon is very firm and saltier, keep it going for 48 hours. I suggest that you do a taste test after 36 to determine your own sweet spot.