Gravlax
Cooking fish with salt and time. No heat required.
20 min active, minimal dishes
Timing: 48 hours
Gravlax
Cooking fish with salt and time. No heat required.
20 min active, minimal dishes
Timing: 48 hours
Key move
Coat the salmon evenly with the salt-sugar cure, keep it weighted and refrigerated, and cure until the flesh feels firm all the way through before slicing it thin on the bias.
Cook mode keeps your place
Larger text, ingredients in reach, and saved step progress while you cook.
The Setup
- Cutting Board
- Chef's Knife
- Spatula
The Mise en Place
4Your prep station before cooking begins
The Protein (0/1)
The Spice Blend (0/1)
The Pantry (0/1)
Other (0/1)
My gravlax tastes way too salty.
Ah, that happens if it cures for more than three days or if you didn't rinse off all that salt properly.
The texture is a bit too soft and mushy.
That usually means the fish wasn't pressed down firmly enough, or perhaps the salmon you started with was a bit watery.
Chef's Notes
Press the salmon firmly to ensure even curing and a dense texture.
Serve thinly sliced with dill, mustard sauce, rye bread, or a squeeze of lemon.
Gravlax can be made up to 3 days ahead. The flavor deepens over time.
The Method
THE RUB
MIX salt, sugar, and crushed pepper. PAT the splash of alcohol onto the fish. PACK the cure (50 g) onto the flesh side like a sandcastle.
Uneven curing: Leaving gaps in the cure leads to uneven texture and potential spoilage.
Salt, sugar, and pepper are mixed. Alcohol is patted onto the fish. Cure is packed onto the flesh side.
THE BURIAL
Cover completely with dill. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
Loose wrapping: Air pockets prevent the cure from drawing out moisture effectively.
Fish is completely covered with dill and tightly wrapped in plastic wrap.
THE PRESS
Place in a dish. Put a smaller dish on top. Put soup cans (weights) on top of that. Refrigerate.
Uneven weighting: Ensure the weight is centered so the fish cures at a consistent thickness.
Fish is in a dish, with a smaller dish on top and weights (soup cans) placed on the smaller dish. It is then refrigerated.
THE FLIP
Every 12 hours, FLIP the fish over. Drain the liquid that accumulates in the pan. * ✅ Checkpoint (48 hrs): The flesh should feel firm, like the heel of your hand. If it's squishy, it needs more time.
Incomplete curing: If the center remains soft or squishy, it is not safe to slice.
The fish has been flipped every 12 hours, and the accumulated liquid has been drained. After 48 hours, the flesh feels firm like the heel of your hand.
THE SLICE
Rinse off the cure (50 g). SLICE paper-thin on a bias.
Dull blade: A dull knife will tear the delicate flesh rather than slicing it cleanly.
The cure has been rinsed off the fish, and it is sliced paper-thin on a bias.
