Cured Salmon Swedish way

Gravad lax in Swedish or Cured salmon is a Swedish delicacy we eat on most big holidays in this country. A favorite of mine and must have.
June 24 was the Midsummer holiday in Sweden .The biggest and most important national holiday in Sweden where all people celebrate with good food and drinks.
The typical Swedish Smörgåsbord with lot of good dishes, snaps and songs. A joyful day for sure to celebrate the lightest day of the year in Sweden.

This table is not complete without the "Gravad lax".

This is the recipe for this fantastic dish:

- Salmon filet  
- Salt 
- White pepper crushed
- White sugar
- Whiskey ( optional )
- Dill

The bigger Salmon u can get the better . Need to be fat enough to get the best flavors and the right texture. Not a thin dry fish.

You start to fillet the fish if u don´t get it fillet already.
Make sure all the bones are removed. Pretty easy as the bones are big.
You should use both the fillets as big pieces as u want to use. If the Salmon hasn´t been in the freezer already u need to have it in the freezer first before u start curing the meat.
This is to make sure parasites dies if any.

Now it´s time for the curing.
We normally use about 1-1,5 kgs Salmon for one cure.

The salt and sugar mix should be around 50% each.
In this case 1 dl sugar and 1 dl salt.
We add this together with the crushed white pepper. Around 2-3 table spoons.
The files are now rubbed in with this mix. This can be done directly inside a big plastic bag so that u don´t waste any of the mix.
Don´t forget the dill. Make sure u cut some smaller pieces as this should also be rubbed on the meat.
Finally u add some bigger pieces of the dill in the plastic bag.
In the bag the both fillet pieces should be put together like a hamburger with dill in between.

You can also add a few table spoons with some Whiskey to lift the flavor to another dimension.
This can give a very good flavor to the Salmon. It´s like cooking with wine. The taste depends on the quality. In this case also.

Now u close the plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator for about 3 days. Turn it once in a while during the curing time.

Now it should be ready to be sliced and enjoyed.

In Sweden we have a thin hard bread . Some butter on the bred and a few slices of gravad lax and sprinkled with some white pepper. Wow this is so good!

You can enjoy the Salmon with a lot a variety as u like it.


Try it u won´t regret it!