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Ok, tried making grvalax for the first time, and something went wrong. The recipe I followed told me to use wild salmon, combine equal parts of salt and brown sugar, along with a 1/4th as much pepper, finally topped with a stack of fresh dill, wrapped tight in plastic wrap and weighted and flipped regularly for two days. I then rinsed it off and soaked it in fresh water for ten minutes, then let it dry for an hour on a rack. The color and texture were good but the flavor was like eating straight dill!! I used half as much as the pictures show, but the flavor is over powering. Should I have left it out? If I smoke it heavy, will it balance it out? Any thoughts?

Gravlax is supposed to have a heavy dill taste, so I don't think you did anything wrong. It's oftenmost served with a sweet mustard sauce and even more dill. However, traditionally, white sugar is used.

I use about 3 tablespoons of dill to 3 tablespoons of sugar and 2 or salt, along with masses of freshly ground black pepper (I don't measure that) and cure as you did but for 3 or 4 days lean wils or organic farmed salmon. I then only scrape off the cure and do not wash the product so that pepper and dill are still on the edge of each slice. Perhaps the pepper combats the dill to an extent, I don't know but it always very edible judging by how quickly the plate empties.

I use much less pepper, about ½ tsp to one kilo fillet. But it's a matter of taste, I guess.

The proportion salt/sugar also varies between recipes. Anything from 70/30 salt/sugar to the opposite. It's also a matter of taste. Salt makes the fish firmer but too much will make the fish unpalatable.

André

What's the optimum amount of dill during the curing?

Phil

I don't know. All the Swedish recipes I've seen call for "a large bunch" (gravlax is a Swedish dish for you who didn't know. Grav means grave and lax is salmon. What the salmon has to do with the grave, I have no idea). I think "a large bunch" is a good description that needs no further scrutiny.

I use only the dill stems and chop them up, enough amount to cover the fillets. I save the leaves in the refrigerator for later use in the classic gravlax sauce. My recipe for gravlax sauce is here http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopi ... 5863#75863

grisell wrote:What the salmon has to do with the grave, I have no idea

My understanding is that the "grave" is because, originally, you folks in the frozen north used to bury the lax in the cold or frozen ground to keep it fresh whilst it cures. But then again ............... all that could be an "old wife's tale"

Ruralidle wrote:

grisell wrote:What the salmon has to do with the grave, I have no idea

My understanding is that the "grave" is because, originally, you folks in the frozen north used to bury the lax in the cold or frozen ground to keep it fresh whilst it cures. But then again ............... all that could be an "old wife's tale"

Yes, I've heard that too. That's probably the case. Thanks for the remark.

Thanks Grisell

Phil