Gravlax
The name means ‘buried salmon’ — in the Middle Ages salted fish was buried in cool sand, where it fermented lightly. The modern version is safer and simpler: salt and sugar in equal parts draw out water and preserve the fish without cooking. The sugar softens the saltiness and keeps the flesh firm and silky rather than hard.
Your own work in that: 10 min.
- Curing 20 min
- Maturing 2880 min
- Sauce 10 min
- Slicing 10 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneCheck the fish and pull the pin bones
Buy sashimi-grade salmon, ideally previously frozen: freezing protects against parasites (at -20°C for at least 24 hours right through; in a home freezer, which usually runs at about -18°C, a week is safer). Run a finger along the fillet and pull the pin bones with tweezers. Do not serve raw cured fish to pregnant women, young children, the elderly or anyone with weakened immunity.
Ingredients: 1000 g salmon fillet · 120 g coarse salt · 120 g sugar · 2 bunches dill · 2 tsp black pepper · 2 tbsp vodka
Mix salt and sugar in equal parts
Combine the salt and sugar one to one and add the crushed pepper. That ratio is the basis of the recipe: more salt gives hard, over-salted fish, more sugar gives it bland and too soft.
Ingredients: 1000 g salmon fillet · 120 g coarse salt · 120 g sugar · 2 bunches dill · 2 tsp black pepper · 2 tbsp vodka
Pack the fish in the cure and dill
Sprinkle the fillet with vodka, pack on a thick layer of the cure and all the chopped dill, pressing it down with your palm. The layer must be thick and cover every part of the surface — missed patches do not cure and stay raw.
Ingredients: 1000 g salmon fillet · 120 g coarse salt · 120 g sugar · 2 bunches dill · 2 tsp black pepper · 2 tbsp vodka
A thick layer, pressed on, covering everything.Wrap and weight it in the fridge
Wrap tightly in film, set in a dish skin down and weight it with a plate and tins. The weight compresses the flesh and speeds up the drawing out of water — without it gravlax comes out loose and watery.
Ingredients: 1000 g salmon fillet · 120 g coarse salt · 120 g sugar · 2 bunches dill · 2 tsp black pepper · 2 tbsp vodka
Weighted with a plate — liquid gathers underneath.Cure 48 hours, turning the fillet
Keep it refrigerated for 48 hours, turning the fillet every 12 and pouring off the liquid that collects. The fish gradually firms and darkens. After a day it is edible, but only after two does the flavour reach the centre.
Ingredients: 1000 g salmon fillet · 120 g coarse salt · 120 g sugar · 2 bunches dill · 2 tsp black pepper · 2 tbsp vodka
Wipe off the cure, do not rinse
Wipe the cure off with kitchen paper, without rinsing under water. Water would wash away the dill layer and put back the moisture you just drew out. Leave the green trace of dill on the surface.
Ingredients: 1000 g salmon fillet · 120 g coarse salt · 120 g sugar · 2 bunches dill · 2 tsp black pepper · 2 tbsp vodka
Make the mustard sauce
Mix the mustard with the honey and vinegar, pour in the oil in a thin stream while whisking until it thickens like mayonnaise, and stir in the dill. This is the classic Swedish hovmästarsås, the best partner for gravlax.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp mustard · 2 tbsp honey · 1 tbsp vinegar · 100 ml oil · 3 tbsp dill
Slice very thinly at a shallow angle
Slice with a long sharp knife at a shallow angle, lifting the slices off the skin. They should be almost translucent. Thickly cut gravlax simply tastes salty — all its finesse lies in the thickness of the slice.
Ingredients: 1000 g salmon fillet · 120 g coarse salt · 120 g sugar · 2 bunches dill · 2 tsp black pepper · 2 tbsp vodka
A shallow angle, slices almost translucent.
Before you start
Five days in the fridge
Cured gravlax keeps up to 5 days in the fridge, wrapped in film. Slice just before serving — sliced, it dries and loses its sheen within hours. It can also be frozen in a piece for three months.
Beetroot and citrus
Popular variants add grated beetroot to the cure (the fish gains a deep red edge) or orange and lemon zest. The salt and sugar rule stays untouched — everything else is aromatics.
Thinner fillet, shorter cure
48 hours suits a fillet about 3 cm thick. Cure a thinner tail piece for 24–30 hours, a thick centre cut for as long as 60. Test with a finger: cured fish is firm and springy right through, not soft in the middle.