Make Gravlax at Home

Did you know you can easily make Gravlax at home? And you can make it for a fraction of the cost? You only need about 4 ingredients and some patience to make your own lox bagel or fancy appetizer.

Gravlax, also known as lox, is a Nordic dish made of salmon that has been cured with salt, sugar and often times dill or other spices. It is not to be mixed up with smoked salmon which is hot smoked after being cured or brined. You can also cold smoke Gravlax after curing it but this is an optional step. Traditionally it was made by fishermen who would salt and bury salmon in sand to preserve it (pre-refrigeration days). Actually, the word Gravlax roughly translates to “graved fish” eluding to this process.

A lox bagel is one of my favorite foods (among many but still). So when I realized how easy it was to make Gravlax at home, I was hype! I could take a break from spending $4 to $6 on 3oz of smoked salmon at the grocery store. If you are like me and obsessed with gravlax, here is your chance to save some money and make it yourself. I will also post the recipe for these bagels soon so you can make them at home as well 🙂

Some things you should know before you start:

• The type of salmon to use: Do not use wild caught salmon for Gravlax! Wild caught salmon is more prone to parasites and Gravlax is essentially raw fish. It is best to use a very fresh preferably sushi grade salmon. In other words, the salmon was frozen at 0ºF for 7 days to kill any parasites. I can’t say I took the effort to make sure my salmon was the freshest or sushi grade, but I am fine. At the same time, if you get poor quality salmon and get sick, don’t blame o!
• The quantity of salt and sugar: Typically, you want your salt and sugar to both be 15% each of the weight of your salmon. So whatever the weight of your salmon is, multiply that by .15 and that is how much sugar and salt you will need. I did not do this; I just made sure my salmon was buried in the salt and sugar mixture. If you don’t care to be technical, you can do this too. I included measurements below but again, just make sure your salmon is covered.
• The aromatics to use: Dill is the typical herb for Gravlax. I didn’t use it in this recipe, but I have included it below so you can add it. If you want a different flavor, you can use lemon zest, black pepper or any other herb/spice of your choice. You can even use liquid smoke if you want it to have a bit of a smoked salmon flavor. Coarse salt is better if you want to avoid your gravlax being too salty but regular table salt works fine as well. Drizzling some gin or a similar liquor directly on the salmon helps bring out some of the flavors in the cure. This is optional though.
• How to store your salmon: Before refrigeration, put your wrapped salmon in a dish then weigh it down. Weighing it down helps drain out the juices from the salmon so it is firmer in the end. You can place something flat on the salmon first then top it with canned food or something similar.
• How long to cure your salmon: For a soft cure, leave it refrigerated for 24 hours. For a medium cure, about 36 hours. And for a hard cure, for 48 hours or even up to 72 hours. The longer it cures, the the firmer, more salty and more aromatic it will be. You can press it with your fingers after 24 hours to see if the firmness is to your liking.

Now you are ready to make Gravlax at home!