Dorothée’s famous Gravlox Recipe – Norwegian-style Cured Salmon

This is a real family secret, so treasure it. I am giving it to you now because it takes some important ingredients, and then time.

Heads-up: it’s messy to make. But oh so worth it!

Dorothée’s famous Gravlox Recipe

• source the freshest, best salmon you can get, ideally skin on. Ideally antibiotic free. Better even: sustainably raised (in Halifax at Afishionado – best to order ahead!)
• buy 2 lbs – two matching sides of 1 lb each, so that you can make a ‘sandwich’. (this is also very nice with 2 whole sides of salmon; adjust recipe accordingly)
• in mortar, coarsely grind 1 tsp each of whole black pepper, whole allspice, and whole coriander.

• add 2 TBS coarse salt, and 3 TBS brown or raw sugar (all this will drain out at the end)
• thoroughly wash, spin & dry 2-3 large bunches of fresh dill, then finely chop.
• prepare two plastic bags & a way to tightly close them. And a straw – I will explain. perhaps duct tape. I will also explain.
• Ensure that there are no bones left in the salmon filets. Do this by gently feeling across the grain to see if any bones stick up. If they do, remove them with tweezers (if you have a really good fish monger, tell them to make sure there are no bones in the filets, and skip this step).

Get ready for the mess:

• Make a ‘sandwich’ by sprinkling spice mixture evenly over flesh sides of both salmon filets. Then pile chopped dill high on one of them (dill should be at least as thick as salmon). Flip other filet on top to complete sandwich (salmon, spice, dill, spice, salmon).

• Now wrangle this mess into the 1st prepared plastic bag (you are up to your elbows in fish & dill at this point, which is why you prepared the bags first). Tightly close; before sealing, insert the straw and suck out all the air (and some fish juices, yes, and dill .. mazzletov). seal airtight (as mentioned, this is where I sometimes use duct tape, no joke – see top left in this image). 

• Place in a dish, ideally on bed of ice, in the fridge. Put a board or something flat on top, and weigh it down (i.e. with milk cartons, pickle jars, a turkey, etc.)  in your fridge. 
• Turn every 12 hours
• Cure like this for 3-5 days

Then: more mess!

• Remove from plastic bags by slicing one side open, draining out all the liquid (you might smell of salmon & dill for days). Extract from the bags, and wipe dry with paper towel. It’s nice to leave a few of the spices and dill still on; as you like.

To serve:

• Slice as thin as possible on an angle, against the grain (starting at the fat side of the filet).

• nice to serve with mayo/mustard/maplesyrup/dill sauce
• either way, nice to serve (even messily, as in this photo, oops) with sliced red onion, capers, fresh dill, and lemon slices, and a nice rye bread or baguette

But you won’t have to worry about serving for a bit yet!
Let me know if you are planning to try this, and certainly don’t hesitate to reach out with questions.