Passed down from my grandmother to my mother and now to me. This recipe is an easy to follow and tastes amazing. Very Swedish tasting and goes great on toasted white bread with the mustard dill sauce on top. Submitted to preserve the recipe and share it with the world! Served traditionally at Christmas and Easter.
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Ingredients
Gravlax
1kg Salmon with skin on - in 2 pieces of even size (best are the middle pieces)
2 tbsp normal salt
3 tbsp normal white sugar
2 pinches of white pepper (careful with this, it's very strong!)
handful of fresh dill roughly chopped
cheap dark liquor to wash salmon (cognac, brandy, whiskey)
Mustard Dill Sauce (enough for 1kg of salmon)
1kg Salmon with skin on - in 2 pieces of even size (best are the middle pieces)
2 tbsp normal salt
3 tbsp normal white sugar
2 pinches of white pepper (careful with this, it's very strong!)
handful of fresh dill roughly chopped
cheap dark liquor to wash salmon (cognac, brandy, whiskey)
2 egg yolks (at room temperature)
4 tbsp milk mustard (yellow american hot dog style)
2 tbsp strong mustard (non-grainy Dijon)
4 tbps normal white sugar
2 pinches of salt
2 pinches of ground black pepper
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
Approximately 4 tbsp fresh dill finely chopped without stems
Splash of lemon juice
Method
STEP 1
Mix salt, sugar, and white pepper to form the seasoning mix.
STEP 2
Preparing storing dish (glass, metal, etc is fine - only has to hold wrapped up fish for 4 days in fridge) by placing a generous amount of aluminium foil on it.
STEP 3
Chop a handful of dill roughly and place 1/4 of it in the dish to form a bed for the salmon to sit on.
STEP 4
Take the two equal size pieces of salmon and wash over the sink with the dark liquor. Pat to dry and place aside.
STEP 5
Using half of the dry mix, rub the mix into one salmon piece to cover all sides. Use the remaining dry mix for the other salmon piece.
STEP 6
Place the first salmon piece skin down on the bed of dill. Place more dill on top and around the sides.
STEP 7
Place the second salmon piece (skin up) on top of the first piece to form a salmon sandwich with dill in between and all around both pieces.
STEP 8
Wrap tightly with the aluminum foil previously laid over the dish.
STEP 9
Place dish in the fridge with a heavy-ish cookbook on top of the wrapped up salmon. Make sure it will evenly distribute its weight over the packed salmon. This is to squeeze the liquid out of the salmon.
STEP 10
Wait two days, drain any liquid out of the dish, flip the salmon pack over and place back in the fridge with the book on top.
STEP 11
Wait another 2 days and voila! Unwrap the salmon and scrape off all the excess dill and dry mix. You now have gravlax ready to serve. Slice it thinly along the grain of the fish with a fillet knife (check youtube for technique).
STEP 12
To prepare the mustard dill sauce: Take all ingredients (except olive oil and dill) and whisk together in a bowl. Put olive oil in a container suitable for slowly pouring into the mixture. While whisking, slowing pour in olive oil to ensure it mixes well. Keep whisking. Add the finely chopped dill into the mixture (ensuring there are no stems in the dill). All done!