Salmon gravlax with smoked dune pepper and sweetfern

Salmon gravlax is a Nordic dish par excellence. A cousin of smoked salmon, it is delicious as an appetizer, accompanied by crackers or toast, a little dill and sometimes a mustard sauce.

Often considered a luxury food, salmon gravlax is actually disarmingly simple to prepare. It is simply a piece of salmon left in a mixture of spices, salt and sugar for a curing period.

Here we offer you a version of salmon gravlax which benefits from the aromas and flavors of smoked dune pepper and sweetfern. Perfectly suited to this recipe, these spices give the salmon complex flavors. The smoked dune pepper gives it its taste of smoke, menthol resin and cherry wood, while the sweetfern gives it a balsamic, eucalyptus and thyme aspect.

Ingredients

• 200 g fresh sushi-grade salmon, skin removed
  we recommend buying it from a trusted fish store and choosing a piece of salmon of as equal thickness as possible, otherwise the thinner parts risk hardening during the curing period.
• Enough spice mix to cover the fish from our gravlax spice mix
• Or
• 50 g of salt
• 50 g of sugar
• 10 g smoked dune pepper, reduced to powder
• 10 g of traveling comptonia, reduced to powder

Note: you can easily reuse the proportions above for a piece of salmon of a different weight.

Directions

1. In a small bowl, mix the salt, sugar, smoked dune pepper and sweetfern.
2. Cut plastic wrap large enough to wrap the salmon with the spice mixture. On top of the film, coat the piece of salmon with a thick layer of the spice mixture. It is normal to have a good amount of the spice mixture, the aim being to cover the entire surface of the fish very well.
3. Close the plastic wrap to wrap the salmon. We recommend adding a second layer of plastic wrap to protect the gravlax from the air.
4. Place the piece of salmon on a plate in the refrigerator and add a weight on top. Don't skip the plate: it's there to collect the liquid that is expelled during the curing process.
5. Leave the salmon in the refrigerator for a curing period of 36 hours*, turning the piece of salmon every 12 hours.
6. When the salting period is over, remove the salmon gravlax from its packaging, put the remains of the spice mixture in the compost and rinse the piece of salmon well under running water until no spice mix is left.
7. After blotting up the gravlax, it is ready to be thinly sliced ​​and enjoyed!

*Curing time should be adjusted downward for a smaller piece of fish (or a very thin piece) and upward for a larger piece (or a very thick piece).

The gravlax can be kept in the refrigerator for a few days after its curing period.

We hope you love this recipe as much as we do! It is perfect to impress visitors with your homemade gravlax, to serve as an appetizer on a charcuterie or cheese platter and to accompany a cucumber gazpacho in summer.