GRAVLAX
1 whole salmon filet (3 1/2-to-4 lb) with skin left intact.
We get Atlantic Salmon at ShopRite. Farm raised is fine. Ask for a fat one, an inch or more at it thickest. We get a side of salmon and have the store cut it in half the short way. You want to see the fish first and be sure the meat doesn’t open when you flex it. The more it opens, the older it is.
(OK, we've often bought skinless farm-raised salmon at Costco. It's fine. Having the skin on makes it easier to cut after it's done, especially near the tail. OTOH, the skinless Costco fillets don't have any brown fat along the lateral line. Most people prefer not having that part, though. I happen to like it.)
This mix is for one full side of Salmon (1 half salmon).
8 tablespoons peppercorns (OK, LARGE, coarse, crushed pepper, via the supermarket) but not ordinary ground pepper
10 tablespoons sugar
8 tablespoons kosher salt or sea salt (coarse)
3 bunches dill. Or 4.
1. Carefully run the fingers over the boned surface of the fillet, especially over the center line. Use a pair of tweezers to pull out and remove any bones that may remain. Discard the bones. We rarely find any bones.
2. Put the peppercorns on a flat surface and crush them coarsely with a mallet or the bottom of a clean skillet, or crush them in a mortar. If you have a peppermill that grinds coarse pieces, use that. Put the pepper in a small bowl and add the salt and sugar. Mix. Of course you can simply BUY coarse ground pepper. That's what WE do.
3. Take the two slabs of salmon and place them skin side down side by side in one layer. COAT LIBERALLY the two pieces of fish with the salt-pepper-sugar mixture.
4. Find a roasting pan or tupperware large enough to hold the larger half of the fish. Line it with aluminum foil that’s more than twice the size of the pan (you’re going to wrap the fish in it). Put a layer of dill on the foil.
Laurie also coats the skin side with the mix and pushes it in with her fingers before putting it onto the dill that you put in the pan. On the top, coat the fish and then put dill in the top before starting to close it up.
Put the larger fillet skin down on the dill. Put another layer of dill on the top (flesh side of the fish that’s coated with the mix). Now put the other fillet flesh down on the dill, and add a bit more dill on the skin side that’s now on top and facing you. Close the foil around the whole thing.
5. It’s going to leak! (Your fingers will smell soooooo nice.) Take the foil pack out of the pan and wrap it up in plastic film like Saran Wrap, then freezer paper, and seal with masking tape. NOW wrap THAT in a plastic grocery bag, squooshing out the air. Seal IT with masking tape or similar. Yeah, it'll still leak. Put it back in the pan. Get something flat, like a cutting board, and put it on the package. Get a brick, or free weights, or even a couple of cans from the pantry, and put it on the flat thing, so that the fish is being pushed down. NOW PUT IT IN THE REFRIGERATOR.
6 Turn the fish package in the morning and evening at the very least, so you are weighting down each side two or three times a day. If you can schedule the turn every 8 hours, fine. OTOH, some people say that the turning is unnecessary. Perhaps, but then, you wouldn't FEEL like you're actually doing anything, so, TURN THE DAMN THING!
Emeril says that 24 hours does it, but we go 2 1/2 days. I think that's a half day too long, but the boss insists. The longer it goes, the drier it gets. Why fight? It's still wonderful. Aim for two days.
7. Wash everything off (we wash off most of the pepper) and dab dry with paper towels before slicing thin-thin-thin at an angle. Lately, I've been cutting the filets in half (the long way, down the fish's lateral line) before slicing. The resulting pieces are smaller and it's much easier to cut than going all the way across. The pieces are also closer to bite-size and fit nicely on crackers, plus the smaller slices plate nicely.
Use a long, flexible thin-bladed knife. Sharpen it first. The sharper it is, the thinner your slices can be. Cut one filet down the lateral line. If you’re having a crowd, slice up the entire half. Freeze the other half. I wouldn’t keep it frozen longer than a couple of weeks.
Oh. I use blue painters tape to close everything up.
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