National Dishes of the World

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Gravlax
Photo: Esquilo, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

snack

Gravlax

Raw salmon cured for two days in salt, sugar and dill, thinly sliced and served with a sweet mustard sauce.

Eaten in: Norway, Sweden

Prep
20 min
Cooking
0 min
Resting
48 h
Total
48 h 20 min
Servings
8

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About the dish

Gravlax is the Scandinavian way with salmon: a raw fillet is rubbed with salt, sugar and pepper, covered generously with dill and left in the fridge under a weight for two to three days. The fish releases its juices, firms up and takes on a delicate sweet-and-salty flavour while staying moist. The name means ‘buried salmon’: in the Middle Ages fishermen buried the fish in the sand on the shore to ferment it lightly. Today gravlax is cut into thin slices and served as a starter with a mustard and dill sauce, dark bread or potatoes. In Sweden and Norway it is a classic of the festive table.

Main ingredients

  • salmon
  • salt
  • sugar
  • dill
  • white pepper
  • mustard

Norway: Called gravlaks in Norwegian, often served with mustard sauce and bread.

More: Wikipedia (en)

Recipe

Gravlax

https://foodmap.ominuvo.com/dish/gravlax

Ingredients

8 servings

8 servings

Method

  1. Pull out any pin bones with tweezers and pat the salmon dry with kitchen paper.

  2. Mix the salt, sugar and pepper. Scatter half the mixture in a dish, lay one fillet in it skin side down and cover thickly with dill and the rest of the mixture.

  3. Cover with the second fillet, skin side up, wrap in cling film, press down with a board and a weight and refrigerate for 48–72 hours, turning the fish every 12 hours and basting it with the juices.

  4. Make the sauce: mix the mustard with the sugar and vinegar, then whisk in the oil in a thin stream until it thickens. Add the dill and season with salt.

  5. Take out the salmon, scrape off the cure and dill and pat it dry.

  6. Slice the fish thinly on the diagonal with a sharp knife, cutting it away from the skin, and serve with the mustard sauce and dark bread.

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