TasunkaWitko Tries Gravlax

[tasunkawitko]

alright - in order to get in the spirit of this new international foods forum, i've decided to try a true scandinavian specialty, gravlax. the recipe i used came from the scandinavian volume of time-life's series, foods of the world, circa 1968

here's the goods:



amounts are as follows:

• non-iodized salt - 1/4 cup
• sugar 1/4 cup (i used turbinado "sugar in the raw," guessing that this would be closer to what they had in the days of yore
• freshly-ground black pepper - 2 TBSP
• 1 large bunch of fresh dill
• 1 fillet of salmon

the salmon used was a chum salmon, which is not as vividly orangish-pink as some, but a very good eating salmon; plus, the price was right. the package that i got unfortunately had a salmon fillet that was pre-cut into four equal sections down to the skin. this wouldn't have been so bad, but it did complicate things a little when i sandwiched the fillets.
i prepared this cure by mixing the salt, sugar and pepper:





then gave the dill a rough chop, stems and all:




i laid down the center-cut fillet, then generously rubbed it down with half of the curing mixture:



then spread the dill out evenly across the top of the fillet:




after spreading the remaining salt/sugar/pepper cure evenly on the dill:



i laid the other fillet on top. it is important to lay them "belly-to"back" so that the thick pars of each fillet are evened out and not sitting on top of each other. i then double-wrapped it well in saran wrap:




and put the wrapped package of salmon in a rectangular glass baking dish. this was bigger than it need to be, but that's alright.

i set a square baking dish on top (which covered the salmon perfectly) and weighted it down with a two-pound block of cracker barrel sharp cheddar (thanks, RIVET!). the whole thing then went into the fridge, where it will remain for about 48 hours.

due to serendipitous timing, this salmon was wrapped at exactly 8pm friday night. every 12 hours, i will turn and rotate the package of salmon. the instructions also suuggest basting the fillets with the juice that seeps out ofthe salmon and becomes a marinade. as far as how long it needs to be there, different instructions vary from 36 hours to three days. i plan to unveil this for halftime during the superbowl sunday night, so it will probably be just shy of 48 hours in this time zone. due to the fact the the fillets are a little thin compared to big salmon, this should not be a problem.

gravlax is traditionally served on rye toast with a kind of sweet mustard sauce, but we will simply be using keebler club crackers and koops mustard (thanks again, RIVET!).


we'll see how it turns out! if anyone has any questions about the history or preparation of this awesome traditional cured salmon, please let me know.

 

[tasunkawitko]

a litle history to go with the experience:

 

[hoser]

Can't wait to see the finished product TW.
Not much better than smoked salmon.

 

[got14u]

Nice TAZ I will wait to see final product before further uuuhs and ahhhs

 

[bwsmith_2000]

Tas,
I'm looking forward to seeing how the Gravad Lax turns out. I spent 18 months in Sweden in the late 90's and ate a ton of the stuff. It was delicious. Too bad you don 't have the mustard sauce to go with it because it really made the dish. Anyway, hopefully the mustard that Rivet sent will be just as good. And by the way, the smoked salmon that they serve over there is also wonderful. Look forward to the results.

 

[old poi dog]

Great start here...Looking forward to your review. Keep us posted.

 

[tasunkawitko]

gave it a turn and rotation this morning - everything is looking fine!

there's quite a good amount of "juice" that has been drawn out of the fish - you just know that in its place is going some sweet/salty/spicy/savory goodness ~

will keep you posted, guys!

bw - if i had a reliable, authentic recipe for the hovmästarsåsgravlaxsås, and if the ingredients are available ehre in my little small-town grocery, i'd sure be interested in giving it a try. if you kow of one, please feel free to post it.

 

[rdknb]

Looking forward to seeing the finished product. Great detail in writing the prep thanks

 

[rivet]

Hey Tas~ Great lookin ggravlax you have going on! I found this recipe at Taffel.se apparently it is a Swedish food website. Recipe looks easy and I'm sure a perfectly good equivalent substitute for the sweet swedish mustard the recipe calls for would be any mild American honey-mustard.

Be aware that this recipe calls for measurments in decilitres, which 1 dl = .4 cup, slightly less than half.

Here's a google translation which reads kinda clunky:

[font=&quot]This classic was one of the most important sauces in the Swedish restaurant kitchens during the 1900s.[/font] It was served not only for gravlax - cold and grilled - and other marinated fish, but also to the shellfish cooked lobster and crab, as well as pickled herring. Now has the reputation, but at certain times and many have seen the bottom of this a bit extreme sauce. It was among other master chef Auguste Escoffier who found the tomb of the salmon delicious but despised hovmästarsåsen and instead proposed a tartar sauce as an accessory. A Danish version also contains egg yolks, and some lace sauce with a little brandy or honey. Sometimes excluded and dill sauce is then called simply the mustard.

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  1-2 pinches of salt
  4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
  1 / 2 dl Swedish sweet mustard
  possibly 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  1 dl neutral oil
• salt, white pepper from the mill

1. Mix sugar, salt and dill (it is said that the dill flavor arrives best this way).
2. Mix the mustard and vinegar.
3. Stir in oil, little by little so that the sauce does not crack. . Season with salt and pepper. Let stand awhile before serving.
   
   
   Good luck to you and hope you can make it!

 

[tasunkawitko]

[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]after a third turn at 0800 this morning, mine was at the 36-hour mark, which is the minimum "finished" time. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]right now it is waiting patiently for the superbowl, at which time i will open it up slice it in preparation to be served with a traditional swedish mustard sauce called hovmästarsåsgravlaxsås. RIVET found it Swedish food site. here's what he had to say about his research:[/font]

 

[beer-b-q]

Looking Great...

 

[scubadoo97]

TasunkaWitko that looks really good. I make gravlax and Nova lox often. I use to drain away the liquid that was given off but read many recipes that recommended basting the fish with the liquid. I have started just doing it in a zip lock bag and squeezing all the air out. Self basting and I don't have to worry about putting it on a sheet pan to catch the juice.

After you try gravlax try Nova lox. Uses a 15+% wet brine (1.5# salt to 1 gal water). I like to added a big handful of brown sugar. Deepens the color of the flesh. Brine for no less than 1 hr per inch of fish. You can go a lot longer. I often do it over night. Refresh and dry in the fridge before cold smoking.

Anyway have fun it's wonderful. Waiting on the pics of the final product.

 

[tasunkawitko]

that's sounding pretty good, scuba - the next batch i make, i am definitely considering smoking one or both of te fillets.

this one seems like its coming along nicely - can't wait to try it out!

 

[bwsmith_2000]

Tas,
The recipe that Rivet posted sounds like a good one. I was looking through Google and found the following one that you might also want to try:


Swedish mustard
1 dl Colmons mustard (english mustard powder)
1 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp liquid honey
1 tsp salt
½ dl creme fraiche
½ dl single cream

Mix the first four ingredients together. Beat the last two together and then mix all together to make a smooth paste. Left overs can be used to spread on ham, bread or even to dip the barbecued meat in.
Mustard sauce
(Gravlax sås)
Mix 30 ml of the Swedish mustard you made according to the above recipe,
or any sweet mustard with 30 ml sugar and 15 ml vinegar.
Add 200 ml oil gradually, stirring steadily. It can coagulate otherwise.
When you have a smooth thick sauce add finely chopped fresh dill


Good luck!

 

[tasunkawitko]

looks dang good, bw! thanks for posting it and i will give it a try!

 

[tasunkawitko]

alright, the hovmästarsåsgravlaxsås is finished and looking great. for this first gravlax i prepared it as described above in rivet's post, choosing to use extra virgin olive oil rather than something "neutral" like canola. results are very, very good with a sweet-tart tang and a good bite from the dill, pepper and other seasonings. my only regret is that i had no fresh dill to chop up and use - the dry "dill weed" that i did use is quite adequate, but it is ground pretty fine and therefore ended up coloring the mustard a bit. no big deal, it tastes great - just looks a little different:




this is going to make a very nice accompaniment for the gravlax, and i may also try it on the anchovy fillets and latvian sprats - this seems to be a great mustard sauce for any fish and possibly for some poultries as well - one thing is for sure, i think it would make an outstanding fish baste for the grill or smoker, and will try it in that capacity some time this year.

 

[beer-b-q]

Sounds like it would go good on Hot Dogs Too...

 

[rivet]

Good grief that's looking good, Tas~ and your mustard looks perfect! Gotta agree with Beer-B-Q, that might be dang good on a spicy-beer-brat with onions.

Youo've certainly done the cooking world a favor with this recipe, and you deserve points for that!

 

[tasunkawitko]

alright, this is the moment i've been waiting for. my ancestors ate this, and i am honored to be joining them in this tradition.

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]some instructions say to rinse the finished gravlax off in cold water and pat dry, but i chose simply to scrape off the dill and then pat dry. becuase of the thin-ness of the fillet, it cured pretty quickly and the outer edges and surfaces were starting to get "pasty," which is just fine. the salmon below was firm and sliced easily:[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif][/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]here's how it looked on a club cracker. [/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif][/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]and here's a topping of the hovmästarsåsgravlaxsås:[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif][/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]in reality, it's probably a little too much of the hovmästarsåsgravlaxsås, but i wanted to get a good snort of it for evaluation purposes.[/font]

results are very good. i tried a it with and without the hovmästarsåsgravlaxsås and found both versions to be very good. with the traditional sauce, you get a definite and vivid explosion of flavors, all of which work well together and bring each other out. alone, you get a full mouthfull of great salmon flavor fighlighted by the salt, sugar, pepper and dill. a success all-around and an outstanding traditional experience.



this gravlax made a great addition to our superbowl smorgasbord!

 

[hoser]

OK...somebody help me out here...stupid question of the day time.
What the heck is a dl?
Is it a deciliter?
What does it convert to?
Would that be like...3 tablespoons?