How to Cure Salmon at Home and Make Gravlax 

Fantastic advise

Do you still weigh it down?

​@@ay9955 If you can have it in a bag with no air its not really needed since the purpose of the weighing down is to keep it in contact with the cure as much as possible and the firmness of the fish will come really well with just curing. I usually cure salmon for Christmas and several years ago I started using vacuum bags and I found it so much easier this way. Also I usually do two sides of salmon at the same time and I put them flesh side to flesh side and put one tail end towards the head end of the other so they will be similar in thickness and then with all cure and flavours in-between. And although I almost always cure with dill I also do a couple of options like fennel, anised and sometimes beetroot at the last 24 hours of the cure and you get this amazing color on the fish. And although I never use alcohol when I cure I've tried cured salmon with whiskey, pernod and also with akvavit and they are all great but I really like mine really classic and with a clean flavour. I also use white suger since I think using brown suger makes it a little bit to much caramel flavour and I don't want it cloying in the flavour and I think the brown suger makes it to much of the rich flavour, but I really like fish so that might be my preference, The quantity of suger to salt I think is best at 1 part salt to 1,5 part suger and I think 90 gr of suger and 60 gr of salt to 1 kg of salmon with skin is a good amount and it is really good to grate some freshly grated white pepper as well in the cure, have fun and enjoy it.

@@ay9955 Yes.

@@llin1038 "Advice."

Martha is a celebrity NOT a chef hence the different.

Without dill it is called Lox, and with dill it is called Gravlax.

​@@Rob-xz6uv The prefix "grav" has nothing to do with dill. "Gravad Lax" meant buried (like a "grave") salmon, where the ground was used for temperature control during the curing process, though that traditional technique results in something more fermented than cured. The use of dill was generally because it was plentiful and resulted in a desired flavor and became traditional. In some places it's also served in a more modern way (in the in-use for few hundred years definition of modern) with a mustard sauce instead of a cream.

@@BillyHarvey - yep, I agree that the prefix itself does not mean dill. However, Gravlax (spelt many diff ways) does mostly involve dill, whilst Lox does not involve dill.

​@@johnlord8337Including Yogi?.....He is "smarter than the average bear!"🐻

@@johnlord8337 🤣🤣🤣

Grav is short for gravad. It doesn't mean grave or tomb, just buried under the ground.

A quick search says that peach or apple juice are good subs for brandy. HTH

@@sandrah7512 You can add lemon zest to the salt/sugar mixture, without causing a problem like juice would.

😅😂lol

No alcohol needed

Yes! Let’s discuss the difference between farmed vs not farmed.. I’m disappointed that ATK promotes farmed fish..Will they respond? Probably not. I’m so close to unsubing. They promote so much that is really not healthy. WTF?

@@georgerichardson5116 There's no evidence that farm raised salmon is unhealthy. That's not to say that I don't think wild salmon taste better, but I understand some people grew up with and prefer the taste of farm raised.

​@@georgerichardson5116 Actually,farm raised salmon has more health benefits than wild salmon because of the greater Omega 3 content. While I get wild salmon when possible, you are wrong about the health factors. I am a retired fishing vessel captain then retired wholesale and retail seafood market worker.

Just freeze it. Salmon without anisakis isn't a thing if you aren't eating farmed garbage (don't). Unless you are catching the salmon yourself, it's been frozen and you shouldn't need to worry.

@@brigabel8478 Actually, it's the opposite. Anisakis are found in wild salmons, not in farmed ones. Many fishmongers sell fresh salmon where I live, and freezing it below -20c at home is not possible. I don't feel comfortable eating cured salmon from lower quality frozen farmed fish for reasons other than Anisakis though? That's the dilemma.

@@SE013 that's what I said. There isn't a wild salmon on the planet that doesn't have anisakis. You can either freeze it to -20C or freeze it at home for longer. Anisakis is also almost exclusively found in the muscle of the abdominal wall so if you're that paranoid about it cut out the belly meat . Farmed salmon can also have and often do have anisakis especially if they are farmed in ocean pens

@@brigabel8478 Oops misunderstood the double negative, sorry :D and thanks

then it would just be cured salmon

Without sugar, it has a saltier taste. It is "cured salmon" if no dill, regardless of sugar or no sugar. Cured salmon is known as Gravlax, if dill is added.

Vodka.

Traditionally we only use sugar. Salt and dill. Of course, it is up to each and everyone to add personal flavours. However we always eat it with Hovmästarsås…

Traditionally you'd use aquavit or vodka but no booze is needed. I've made it many times with just salt, sugar and dill. After making it with and without aquavit I'm not at all sure it does anything for the gravlax.

I would use Aquavit, maybe vodka or gin, def not brandy.

Coconut rum.

You don't need the brandy, most gravad lax is cured without alcohol

Drambuie!

@@Rob-xz6uv ?

Yeah you can easily skip it and just literally do salt and sugar, still tasty

In the video, I believe she said 1 week in the fridge.

It would not be gravlax if it is cold smoked or add liquid smoke; salt, sugar, and liquid smoke would give you an imitation of cold smoked salmon.

Yes. That’s the whole point of this dish…don’t eat it if you have a restrictive diet

without the sugar you have lox, similar to gravlax but not the same result.

@@dchenkin02 Thankyou for a solid knowledgable answer. I like lox. I will try that.😀

you cannot cure things in artificial sweeteners

@@sabotabby3372 How much of the curing is actually being done by the sugar? It seems like the kosher salt is doing most of the heavy lifting for the process. And if sugar does have a part in it, Splenda brown sugar blend is part regular brown sugar (it also contains erythritol / sugar alcohol) So you still have a mix of brown sugar in it anyway. It could be that a blend like that would just mean curing would take a bit longer. I appreciate your reply. But I'll humbly wait for the America's Test Kitchen food scientists to chime in ...if they ever see this. 🙂

Cream freche is a cultured dairy product much like yogurt or sour cream but it has a higher fat content.

​@@_SurferGeek_ Or thin it down with a bit of buttermilk and heavy cream. Or just make your own by adding a bit of buttermilk to heavy cream and let it sit out for a day or so, until it has thickened.

Crème fraîche. it's french.

@@_SurferGeek_ Someone spending more than a day waiting for their gravlax to cure?

Ah, no!

​@@georgerichardson5116 Farm raised salmon has greater health benefits because of the higher Omega 3 content. Also,farm raised salmon are tested constantly for disease. Can't check free swimming salmon. Please know what you are talking about before you comment.

What's your evidence ?

I am retired from the commercial fishing and wholesale/retail seafood business and I have to say you are wrong. Seafood farming has come a long ways. Also the 1 year old salmon finally going out to Sea might get some external sea lice which might cause stress but when entering full salt water the lice die. And most farmed salmon are in man-made ponds quite a ways away from the rivers or oceans.

The flesh colour of farmed salmon is determined by the food they are fed. Wild salmon have a natural pink/red colour due to their diet. Salmon farmers can choose the flesh colour they want, from a colour card (!) supplied by the food manufacturer.

@@Rob-xz6uv I worked in the seafood but for 20 years and I can say you are wrong.

@@Lee-yy2lr Tasmania, an island south of mainland Australia (where I am) produces a huge amount of farmed Atlantic Salmon. If a colouring agent is not added to the food of salmon farmed in sea cages, the flesh is very pale (not as attractive).

Yes

You cannot readily get wild salmon Year round. Also the farm raised salmon has a much higher healthy Omega 3 content which is better for curing. Aqua farming has come a long ways over the year. You won't believe how much seafood is farmed nowadays.

I love farm salmon over wild because of its texture. If you are used to wild salmon you probably won’t like farmed because of its texture too. I won’t use wild salmon to make Gravlax because it’s only cured, but even cold smoked. It’s been known many people had gotten liver problems, including liver cancer later on because of parasites in wild salmon sashimi. (parasites can go any where in your body including to your brain and under your skin, it’s absolutely gross!)

You obviously didn't research it properly. I am a seafood expert and nowadays farmed salmon is fine. Let us make a little list. All being farmed: Salmon, catfish, shrimp, redfish, cobia, halibut, trout, sturgeon, tilapia, oysters,clams, mussels, crawfish, some pompano, some flounder,beef, pork,elk, pheasant, quail, turkey, chicken, edible seaweed,sea urchins and so many more land and sea products. And by the way,wild salmon may contain mercury being a migratory species.

Yeah, eating fish that has to exist in its own poop is healthy. WTF?

​@@georgerichardson5116 They don't swim in their own poop. Landlocked pens are continually flushed, filtered and replaced 24/7 while much of your farmer salmon is in pens in the mouths of rivers where there is also constant water flow. While I do prefer wild salmon,farm raised salmon has greater health benefits because of the higher Omega 3 content.

Ahem sushi? What do you think sushi is lol.

good question that I bet more people wonder about.

@@_SurferGeek_ I know it's cured. Hence my surprise when the guy asks if it's raw. It makes no sense.

You won’t taste the brandy but it helps with the curing process.

Actually most of the sugar gets lost in the liquid, same with the salt. Sugar and salt curing actually doesn't make the salmon sweet.

Then don’t it eat or don’t get diabetes

@@chili-rye123"simply don't develop liver problems" you are a tar pit

Second

Turd

Then don’t eat it.

Better for your health than eating the fish rotten. These techniques have existed for centuries for a reason.

What did you do to make the seasoned cream cheese?

@@JK-zq2tn Soften cream cheese. Lemon zest, lemon juice, fresh chopped parsley, black pepper, chopped capers, red pepper flakes 😋😋 Use your imagination.

they probably filmed these things all the same day, it *is* a studio