Gravlax with Hovmästarsås Smörgås (speaking of salmon...)

[Johnny]

It sounds as if there are a number of salmon-lovers here, so I may as well post a recipe for Gravlax with Hovmästarsås Smörgås.

Gravlax and Hovmästarsås

Gravlax

• 6 tbsp brown sugar
• 4 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 bunch fresh dill
• 1 lb salmon filet

Use two similarly-sized salmon filets, or cut one larger filet in half. Combine the sugar and salt, and completely cover flesh-side of the filets. Top with fresh dill. Put one filet on top of the other, skin-sides out. Wrap tightly in cling film. Put the ‘salmon sandwich’ into a baking pan and top with a weight. (I use a bacon press with a small, wrapped, anvil in it.) Put into the coldest part of the refrigerator for three days, turning every 12 hours. When cured, rinse the filets and slice on the bias.

Hovmästarsås

• ¼ cup Dijon mustard
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp sugar
• Pinch each of salt and pepper
• 3 tbsp fresh dill, finely-chopped

Mix the mustard, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper together well in a medium-sized bowl. Slowly whisk in the oil. Stir in the chopped dill, adjust seasoning and serve chilled.

Smörgåsar
Serve gravlax and hovmästarsås on a smörgås. Smörgåsar are open-faced sandwiches. Spread butter on rye bread. Top with Spring greens, gravlax, and hovmästarsås. Garnish with finely-chopped dill and thinly-sliced lemon. Eat with a knife and fork.


As someone said a few months ago when I was looking for gravlax advice, it's hard to mess up gravlax. You can vary the ratio of sugar and salt (I used 60% sugar and 40% salt), and many people like to drizzle some gin or vodka over the filets before wrapping them. Others like to use a little liquid smoke. I haven't used alcohol or liquid smoke, because I like the nice clean taste of the way I make it.


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[Zuul]

This sounds awesome, though like you I probably wouldn't add liquid smoke. I've always found it has too harsh of a flavor and tends to overpower delicate things like fish. Actually smoked fish tends to be more subtle in flavor.

I take it the fillets you start with are raw and only cured, never cooked?

[Johnny]

I take it the fillets you start with are raw and only cured, never cooked?

That is correct.

I wonder if the butter has softened at all? I'm getting hungry for a smörgås. (I pulled the gravlax I made a couple of months ago out of the freezer and sliced it up.)

[Nrblex]

Ah, fish. My one true love. All of this makes me very happy.

[Hatshepsut]

Now my mouth is watering. I'm definitely buying salmon on my next trip to the grocery store. I can't get kosher salt, though. How about if I substitute some alea red sea salt? (Which of course you can't buy here either, but we bring it back from Hawaii in our suitcases when we go home.)

[Johnny]

Why isn't kosher salt available there? I know there is a large Muslim population in Indonesia; maybe you do have kosher salt, but under a different name?

Kosher salt

The term "kosher salt" derives not from its being made in accordance with the guidelines for kosher foods as written in the Torah (nearly all salt is kosher, including ordinary table salt), but rather due to its use in making meats kosher, by helping to extract the blood from the meat. Rather than cubic crystals, kosher salt has a flat platelet shape. This is done in some salts by adding yellow prussiate of soda (sodium ferrocyanate). Because kosher salt grains are larger than regular table salt grains, when meats are coated in kosher salt the salt does not dissolve readily; the salt remains on the surface of the meat longer to draw fluids out of the meat.

The term "kosher salt" is largely restricted to North America; in the UK it is usually called "koshering salt", and in other parts of the world, "coarse salt" or "cooking salt". In North America, the term "koshering salt" has been proposed as more accurate and is sometimes used in industry (e.g. The Salt Institute), but it is rarely used in everyday language.

So maybe you have it there, but it's called 'coarse salt'?

Sea salt is less pure than kosher salt or table salt. I doubt it would make much of a difference. Since you bring it back from Hawaii, it seems a waste to use it for curing. You could use table salt to cure the salmon, but you'll have to adjust the ratio because table salt will make it much more salty. I don't know what the ratio would be. A quick search has one person saying that one unit of table salt equals about two units of kosher salt (2:1 kosher salt to table salt). Another says the ratio is 1.5:1. One and a half units of kosher salt to one unit of table salt seems to be the most common.

But if you can get 'coarse salt' there, that should be the same thing.

[vison]

Coarse salt is also called pickling salt.

I sometimes buy coarse salt at an Indian grocery - I think it would work.

[Sarahfeena]

Thank you for this recipe! Another fun project for the holidays. :-)

[Revs]

I'm generally not a big fan of fish and seafood but I think I may give this a shot for our Christmas day family gathering. That recipe sounds fantastic.

[Johnny]

I'm generally not a big fan of fish and seafood but I think I may give this a shot for our Christmas day family gathering.

That's the spirit!

Don't forget a weight. There are recipes online that say it isn't needed, but a weight will make the texture nice and silky. As I said, I use a bacon press with a little anvil between the plate and the handle. Last time I made gravlax I made a double batch (ooh, I can't wait 'til lunch!) and the weight didn't cover both 'salmon sandwiches'. I have a pair of 9" x 13" baking tins. I put the fish in one, and put the other on top; then put the weight on that. If you don't have a little anvil, you can use some canned foods for weight. If you don't have a duplicate baking tin, you can use a dinner plate or some other flat, rigid thing that fits in the tin and put canned food on top of that. The fish packs inevitably leak. I pour off the liquid when I turn them every 12 hours.

Sarahfeena: You're welcome. :smile:

[Revs]

I don't have a bacon press or anvil, but I'm pretty sure I will be able to come up with something. Why did they have to name something that sounds so good with such an unappetizing name?

[Johnny]

Why did they have to name something that sounds so good with such an unappetizing name?

Gravlax

During the Middle Ages, gravlax was made by fishermen, who salted the salmon and lightly fermented it by burying it in the sand above the high-tide line. The word gravlax comes from the Scandinavian word grav, which means literally "grave" or "hole in the ground" (in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Estonian), and lax (or laks), which means "salmon", thus gravlax is "salmon dug into the ground".

Today fermentation is no longer used in the production process. Instead the salmon is "buried" in a dry marinade of salt, sugar, and dill, and cured for a few days.

[Hatshepsut]

I'm not sure why we can't get kosher salt here, but although I'm generally satisfied with the range of things we can buy (obviously, we have an excellent Asian selection) there are plenty of things that are unavailable, probably because demand is insufficient to make it worthwhile for importers to go through the hassle of procuring. Good idea to widen my horizons and look for something besides "kosher" salt, though.

I suspect that alea salt and kosher salt are made via the same process - the texture is very similar (rock-like, rather than fine grains). If I recall correctly, kosher salt is actually created by smushing salt together into big chunks. Despite the fact that alea salt is "sea salt," I think they must do the same thing in order to get the clay in. It's certainly not a melt-in-your-mouth sea salt, that's for sure. I've got tons, so don't mind using it on salmon.

[Walpurgis]

Ooooh, that's the good stuff. I'll be stuffing my face with gravlax when I go home for the holidays! Johnny - I can recommend gravlax on knäckebröd (crispbread) if you have any available. Actually, it's even better if you happen to have some boiled potatoes handy. Crispbread + sliced boiled taters + gravlax + hovmästarsås on top = heaven. If you can keep the whole thing from disintegrating, that is. Wonderful way to snarf down the leftovers.

[Johnny]

I'm out of knäckebröd, but they carry it at the local supermarket. I have to go there anyway, since I'm also out of hovmästarsås and I need to get some dill to make some more. (Hm... As long as I'm getting dill, maybe I should get some more salmon filets...?)

I've never tried it with potatoes, though I know it's traditional. I'm having boiled potatoes with Christmas dinner (prime rib and Yorkshire pudding). Since there's no one to help me eat it, I'll have leftovers -- including boiled potatoes.

[Hatshepsut]

Okay, I made this 3 days ago and just ate some! I used Hawaiian alea salt for the kosher, and fennel rather than dill, because that was what they had at the market. I ate the gravlax on toasted homemade whole grain bread with just a dab of hot English mustard.

It was very yummy. The salmon and fennel flavors are remarkably clean and clear, even though it is extremely salty. Mmmmmm.

[Johnny]

Next time try increasing the sugar-to-salt ratio and see if it's still too salty.

[Hatshepsut]

I don't mind the saltiness, actually. I'd be grossed out by eating raw fish that's been sitting in my fridge for days if I couldn't remind myself that it isn't really raw anymore, it is salt-cured. So salty is reassuring!

[Johnny]

I made a double batch last time. The first half, I started eating as soon as it was cured. The second sat in the freezer for a couple of months. It was tasty, but I would have preferred it less salty. Next time I'll rinse it off before storing it.

Next time... Hm... I think that time is not going to be far off.