I used to make this twice a week for the restaurant where I worked. We often used lime slices, pink peppercorns, crushed juniper berries amongst other variations. We’d take a whole salmon, fillet and trim it then add the cure and lay one fillet on top of the other turning two or three times a day for two to three days.
24 hr is enough and i always make two fillets . i also mix my salt, sugar and spices in a large jar ready to use when i need it that way the spices really flavor the salt.
hey, its just gravlaks here in norway, but the real deal is rakfisk, made from trout or ørret (in norwegian), or arctic char (røye). that is a way more inter sting and imo better flavoring fish. I do like the grav-technique, but it's just as good with i. e. reindeer heart or moose heart, or different pieces from other kinds of game. but its important to remember that "graving" is just autolyse while "raking" is lacto fermentation. when we do rakfisk we usually eat it with sour cream, onions, and either flatbread, potato mash or potato lefse, a soft potato flatbread
That was 10 years ago, ever since the fish farms killed all the natural fish there is no more gravlaks or rakfisk. Its all meat heldt toghter chemically by toxins no human should consume. Forget theese traditions, capitalism killed them..
I never ever EVER comment on stuff (and this vid is kind of old so you probably will never see this), but I love all of your videos and you are so inspiring. Smoked salmon is one of my absolute favorite things and I have been wanting to make it for YEARS, but I was always too intimidated until I watched this video. I cured a whole 2.5 lb filet, smoked it with alder and oak chips, and then proceeded to eat the whole thing by myself over a few days. Literally life changing stuff. Thank you for this video!!!
As a norwegian it thoroughly warms my heart to see you making this dish. I also reccomend warm smoked salmon, which imo is far better then the much more known cold smoked variant.
@@cactus7198 think they meant being more versed and skilled in cooking than the average viewer, that the video is so good even a chef can enjoy the subject of the video.
Thanks for the mention of the precautions with the fish, I think some people don’t think about those things. Glad to see your channel growing you do very well from the filming, editing to the great explanations and recipe choices. Keep up the great progress Joshua, I’ll definitely be watching!! 😎
I always do my own Gravad Lax for Christmas. This Christmas I couldn't find any salmon that had been frozen (I only had 2 days lol) so I used tuna fish instead. Well worth trying. And sugar/salt/coarsely ground white pepper and dill only is legio for true Scandinavian Gravad Lax. I only put it in a glass baking dish (no plastics!) and don't use too heavy pressure on it. Both gravad and smoked lax are delicious to quickly sear/broil in a pan (whole), leaving the core uncooked. Serve with potato rice with melted butter over (use a potato ricer). A totally new taste experience.
In Swedish it's either called "gravad lax" as two words or "gravlax" as one word, I've never seen "gravadlax" as one word. "Lox" is definitely wrong though, I don't think it's spelled that way in any Scandinavian language.
My all-time favourites are dill and coriander seeds. Mustard-dill sauce goes very well with it (Dijon mustard, honey, rapeseed oil, dill, coriander seeds).
My mother would make this when I was little, we called it Gravlax, pronouncing the a’s like the word “at” is pronounced in American English. I have no idea if this is correct, but now you got me missing my moms cooking. I’m gonna make this, thanks.
I live in a fishing town in Scotland. My parents can remember when salmon was so expensive, it was a real luxury item. Now it’s available for most people to buy at a good price. No matter how good the farmed salmon is, it can never beat fresh/wild salmon. I’m lucky enough to have a father in law who fished for these in the wild, and now and again I get a smoked side. Nothing beats it-NOTHING! And I need to give him credit-he’s damn good at fishing. Go for wild salmon every time if you can.
I just stumbled on this video last week - bought a cold smoking gun and made the lox over the weekend - it was hands down the best lox I've ever had. A thousand thank yous for doing this video.
Bro you inspire me to dig deeper into my culinary roots. My father and grandfather were both culinary experts and I'm headed that way also. Love all your content.
Somehow I stumbled upon your croissant video, and I cannot get enough of your vibe. You’re great at giving directions, you’re hysterical, and I’m looking forward to more videos! Love and good vibes from central Maine
I know it's very late requesting a Christmas Themed receipe. It's just a request which may happen or not but I shall wait but not insisting. I stand corrected. I very much like Joshua's approach even toward a simple receipe, very scientific and explecit. It demonstrates his hard work, detailing and copius amount of research. I am truly appreciative and trust his renditions. I totally admire his work and wish him well. That's all.
I got 2, 1.5lb king salmon center cut filets and followed both the standard and smoked recipes and used the optional gin in both. I also add some juniper berries, red peppercorns and red pepper flakes. I let them cure for 2.5 days. The results are amazing. The fish is almost creamy and it slices sooo nicely (assuming you use a very sharp, thin blade). I do not have a smoke gun, so I set the fish on a rack over a bowl filled with ice, then put that on top of my smoker and placed a large bowl over the smoke stack and the fish. I let that go on and off for a total of 45 minutes. The smoke and the addition of curing salt set this over the top. The flavor is outstanding. I've decided that when I do this again, I'm going to heavily smoke the salt I use to cure the fish. It may be overkill on the smoke flavor, but I think its worth a shot.... Thanks Josh for the great recipe and instruction, this one is another winner.
Somebody has probably mentioned it already but. Lax translates to salmon and grav or in icelandic graf comes from að grafa which means to dig down. So, essentially salmon that has been dug down by spices. Anywho, great content, great video!
Gravlox is a brand of instant gravy powder here in Australia so I was like 'oh dope he's gonna make instant gravy powder from scratch.' Then I saw the salmon and thought to myself, 'Aye, what's he doin?' Was giggling to myself for a solid minute, was awesome to learn a recipe from a different culture though. Thank you Joshua, Very Cool.
Don’t use fresh dill, use dried dill, dill seed, fennel seed and black pepper. If you want to make it like we make it here in Scandinavia, don’t smoke your gravlax (please don’t). Do make smoked salmon, but don’t smoke the cured kind. Serve gravlax with a sauce made out of mustard (sweet or dijon), honey, a little rapeseed oil and dried dill.
Hey thank you very much for the recipe! I agree to the fact that not many sites talk about the salmon itself and how to treat it to get rid of parasites. But i still have a couple of questions and i really wish you could help me in finding some answers: - If I store the salmon in the refrigerator at an adequate temperature for one week (following FDA guidelines), how should i defrost it before starting to cure it? Is it ok to leave it outside the freezer and then put it back in the fridge for 48h? - How quick should i eat it once cured? / In how many days can it be safely eaten? I just discovered you and I really enjoyed the video! i'm looking forward to seeing all your other recipes :) Have a nice day
My father used to work at a salmon butchery where they made ''Gravlaks'' and he learned to cure it in root bear and a mixture of salt and sugar as you showed in the video. He usually makes it during these christmas times. i must recomend you to eat it as we do, with some mashed potatoes and mustard sauce. ( he also puts alot of dried dill ontop of the salmon afther the cure) Great video!
as a chef based in finland, i’d say you should try this with whitefish! add grated beetroot or smashed blueberries when curing the whitefish, so you’ll get some beautiful colours (will work with salmon as well, but the taste of whitefish boosted with beetroot is a-ma-zing)! add some orange zest as well!
First time I made cured fish was a Russian way with a whole gutted rainbow trout. Clean and pat dry trout with a paper towel Sprinkle non iodised salt inside the cavity and outside the fish on both sides very generously. Rub salt right into the flesh Get a clean dry tea towel and wrap fish up super tightly like a spring roll Place in the coldest part of the fridge for 2-4 days ( as if the fish would be buried in snow) . Unroll and Check on the curing after day 2 and add more salt inside and outside of needed Rinse, fillet and slice in small pieces. Filetting, deboning a tough salted fish is going to be a challenge FYI Not sure if its the right way but I was taught by a Russian and took his word for it. Been doing it the scando way ever since as it was way easier with better results.
My father-in-law fishes on the devein river in the north of Scotland. When he catches a wild salmon, once it’s smoked. It’s the best thing ever, I can eat a whole side over two days 🙅🏻♀️🤦♀️ 🎣 It’s just delicious but they are few and far between, probably a good job too!
I`ve been eating and making gravlax since I was a kid. Here we do it without sugar and you can pretty much spice it up with anything, dill of course is almost mandatory. As for the amount of salt gravlax is quite forgiving. There just needs to be quite a lot of it. In a warmer country with less strict food safety regulation you ofc need to be more careful when curing things.
I set mine on the top rack of my pellet grill and instead of running the grill I use a smoke tube (metal tube you can fill with wood pellets that will smoke for hours) with a bourbon pecan pellet blend (only works in the winter months obviously)
Awesome! One of my supervisors likes to salt cure crappie. He packs them in salt and air dries them for...a few days? When they're dried to his liking, he keeps them in the refrigerator. It's very good, goes great with beer (or vodka - he's Russian).
i love everything about you and your videos, so thorough, great editing, articulate, and yum af content! dont forget me when you become hella famous ; )))))
I recommend adding horseradish to the cure mix and serving with creamy aioli. It's so delicious and has a nice kick to it. It's also more festive and modern if the traditional dill isn't really your thing. We also often use whitefish instead of salmon. Serve with freshly boiled potatoes seasoned with dill and a butter-onion sauce.
You should definitely try gravlax together with something called hovmästarsås (which means waiter sauce I think?? Maybe butler sauce?? Idk..) Which is essentially a mustard sauce with dill. Perfect condiment for the perfect fish and pairs beautifully with new potatoes 😍
First I want to let you know that I love your videos. Secondly, I think there is a way to take cotton cloth and melt wax over it that will make it reusable, washable and environmentally friendly. There are some RUclipsrs that show how to do this. And 3rd please keep making your videos, even if I don’t make anything I still watch them all!
try to get two same baking mold, we have two small one to exacly fit salmon, just make a bed go with the salmon and make a quilt, then just some food wrap, then you put on this another baking mold and wheight it down, we use rubber bands to squeeze together both baking molds. For seasoning try to use cilantro and fresh dill, well chopped. We can send you an fhoto :))
Great recipe.Thanks. One quick question, you mention adding pink curing salt if smoking, but I'm not sure why. Is there a specific rational behind this addition? I smoke a lot of different foods and can't think of any chemical change that would produce additional bacteria that the pink salt would address, especially, if you cold smoke it in a cold environment (ie outside in the winter). Thanks again. I really enjoy your videos and don't mean this as a criticism, just looking for understanding.
Ordinary Swedish Gravlax (cured salmon) is only with 50/50 salt & sugar + coarsely grounded white pepper. Nothing more. Always use 2 equally big pieces. Cut away thinner side- and tail pieces, because these will be too salt! (Weigh them now if you want). The both pieces would be eqally in thickness. Mix these three (salt, sugar, pepper) carefully and rub in the two salmon pieces, both skinside and meatside. Cover flor in the bowl with fresh dill. Put 1 piece, with the skin down, in a long narrow bowl. Cover it with A LOT OF fresh dill (chosable how much) and put the other salmon piece up-side-down with the meatside down (meat to meat and tailside to headside). Cover the last salmon piece with fresh dill. Now the WHOLE piece of salmond(s) should be only skin on the outside. Dont bother if the salmons is a bit higher than the bowl, because we will use a weight to press it down. In two days it will be half as thick. Put something long flat on top (ex cutting board) and something heavy up on that (ex 1/2 US gallon of milk or soda). Leave in fridgerator for app 48-36 hours (depends on how thick the salmon was). Salt penetrates fish with 1 cm (0,39") per 24 hours, so if the salmon pieces are as thick as in this video, use 36 hours. The amount of salt and suger in this video, is ok, but dont forget the pepper. And forget about that strange 0.15%. I ha e never heard before and I have been working as a Swedish kitchen shef. "Cured" in this case you can thing more like "marinated", but in salt, suger and pepper. It will be a salty solution later. After half the time you must turn it once, otherwise 1 of the salmon will be very salt and the other no salt. When time is out it will be sticky. Clean the both salmon pieces from dill and smal pepper grain (NO WATER!) Save it in fridge. Itcan last for 2 weeks. Serv it in thinner and wider slices than i this video and together with Swedish Mustard-dill-sauce: www.whats4eats.com/sauces/hovmastarsas-recipe Smoked (warm smoked or cold smoked is 2 totally different methods. You dont use both at the same time! Eather or. Bon Appetit!
Old fashioned cling film would be waxpaper. You can diy that easily too. Paper+beeswax with which you can seal the edges off with beeswax then tie it up to give additional strenght so it doesnt open up. Its allot more work though. Instead of needing to have smoking equiptment you can also use something like danish smoked salt 💪🏻
I'll chop the dill and add a tablespoon of honey and a half shot of aquavit, mix it together and apply evenly on the fish together with the salt/sugar. Gives a great taste and is my favourite for x-mas here in Norway. And don't forget the cold mustard sauce...
First of all, as a swede, thank you for showing the world our culinary culture, also, I love fish :) Second, and this is more for just some knowledge and not a critique, languages are hard :) In Sweden when we talk about this dish in every day life we call it 'Gravad lax', I've only every heard the word 'gravlax' on its own when I went abroad :) The only time we say 'gravlax' is when we say it in the word for the sauce for gravad lax, we would say 'gravlaxsås', which means sauce for gravad lax :) Also, 'Lox' is not a word, we never say 'Gravlox' :) Also, we use dill to this, like always, I have never had a Nordic gravad lax without dill
i used to do a similar product with a frozen berry mix on the meat side. and then cure. and what would turn out was a gradual change from blue to purple to salmon pink meat. then slice thinly. it was quite beautiful and tasted great
Hey Dude Its pronounced "gravad laks" in Denmark - Usually served With Fox-sauce (rævesauce) and bread : Ingredients: 6 tablespoons brown sugar 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar 8 tablespoons oil (use a neutral oil - not olive oil) dill, finely chopped salt & pepper to taste Direction: Whisk sugar, mustard and vinegar together and add the oil in a thin stream to make the emulsion. Stir in the dill and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Wild salmon from botnia or vänern is oftentimes very lean compared to the farmed norweigian type. The farmed ones dont swim very far and are given feed that aims to optimize fat gain. However, wild salmon is only caught for a few weeks every summer.
Very nice, you are good at explaining, and showing. The name in Norwegian is Gravlaks, meaning buried salmon, since they digged it down in the earth to keep could (before refrigerators). Just a little thing, the pink salt. I’m never using this, and it’s one of the reasons I make my own food, to not get exposed to this. The only thing it does (in meat), is to give a red colour and some days extra before it goes bad. In my opinion, it’s not worth it. One thing you should try, is to warm smoke the salmon. Then you are truly lost. Regards Sevre
That's not true. The pink salt has nitrite if its #1, and has nitrite and nitrate if its #2, the reason curing salt is important is because botulism can survive in a saline only environment, but the nitrite is even better at knocking it out. Having said that, I've never understood why smoking it makes the difference in whether or not you need it.
Joshua, Thanks for the demo....my wife and me have been been making gravlox for a number of years. I trick we do to make sure it's safe is we buy fresh not pre frozen and thawed stuff and after curing we slice it and wrap it with cling wrap 2 servings at a time and freeze it as a safety measure. We thaw it out as and when required the freezing should take care of any bad bacteria that might have been on the salmon. As to looking for a more environmentally product perhaps parchment paper would work and it's compostable.
Here in Belgium, it's called Gravad lax. I have worked in a lot different restaurants and I can tell you you're just gonna get smoked salmon with toast and a mustard-dill dressing/sauce. Just because its cheaper, less work and no one complains.
Use two pieces of salmon in a zip lock bag with the skin to the outside. Turn the bag over every half day. The weight of the opposing piece of salmon is sufficient to draw off liquid. Maybe cure with a little pepper and a little fresh dill too. After two days or so, the gravlax is done. Don't throw away the curing liquid. Save it to pickle onions.
I love gravlax! I've been making it for 15 years. it appears that the salt/sugar amounts are very subjective across the cooking spectrum. I have great results using 8% salt and 4% sugar, so the amounts you used did look like too much to my eye, but if it works for you that's great! I personally hate sweet tasting meats, so prefer the higher salt ratios. and of course, the original versions would have had no sugar at all!! I've hot smoked it with good results too, in a very smoky grill with the lowest heat possible until almost cooked. it loses some of the gravlax texture, but is still excellent, sort of a salmon ham or salmon bacon. keep up the good work!
What kind of fish do you use (farmed or wild caught), if I may ask? And do you freeze it for a certain amount of time beforehand? I'm a bit nervous of having some parasites in there.
@@erinvittoriamusic, I may be a foodie, but I'm not a gourmand, so I can't taste any difference between wild and farmed, so I almost always buy farmed, or whatever is on sale. YMMV, so try both and see which you like. I don't freeze my salmon. almost all fish sold at a supermarket has been commercially flash frozen and any parasites are dead. IF I someday purchase from a fish market where the likelihood of the fish being fresh is higher, I might freeze it. I hope this helps??
It is called graflax. No nordic nation writes it: "Lox"! :-0 And yes that means: 1. Bury it into the ground. 2. Grafa- also means to preserve in salt. P.s. I'm Icelandic and you got the recipe spot on.
Wonderful, I really appreciate. Love it. Joshua, I have lately become a huge fan of yours. I like to request you, kinda insisting, if I may, to do a Real Real Christmas Fruitcake, the real deal with no shortcuts and authentic. Thanks a lot.
@@JoshuaWeissman Thanks Joshua, for your consideration. Living on 8th & Grand in LA for a decade, cakes in Walmart and Costco, Panaderia etc. did not stir me. I thought there has to be something, the aroma, the ripening, the moist goodness, the thing. Shuttling between India (my native place) and LA, always on lookout didn't help either and the elusive Fruit Cake remained. I am not crazy, I have several Degrees and Master Degree. I taught Food Technology classes to support myself to become a Computer Professional with Masters. But my passion for food did not ebb but grew more and more than Computer so I know what I am talking. I requested late coz I knew you would be busy with Christmas common edible goodness for your weekly RUclips editions. And now you would be somewhat free. Thus this request now. I see light now, your passion toward your work tells me this quest is at an end. Thanks for what you are doing, your puritan approach and love for food, I appreciate it. Thanks.
It is called gravad lax "buried salmon' often abreviated to gravlax. A long time ago this dish was made by burying salmon with salt letting some hardy lactic acid bacteria ferment the fish. This produced something much closer to surströmming than gravlax. This is the cause of the name
Gravad means cured with sugar and salt mix so it’s the method + type of meat, lax in this case which means salmon. You can do it to most high quality meats like sirloin etc. traditionally we use dill as a seasoning but citrus zest is good too and we have a xmassy variant in our family too. The cold smoked variant is best with just sugar and salt. Any gravad product is great with cream cheese, various onions and horseradish. 😋👍🏻
Gravlax!... I personally use 600 gr sugar and 400 of salt... I love to add some lemon and orange peeled skin and Harlequin pepper. As a chef I must say, that I love your channel, keep the good work on buddy... congrats on the new year!
this is so much more complicated then I've ever done it XD I just pour some salt, sugar, pepper and dill in a plastic back and then put the fish in the back and wait for few days. done :D
I recommend those who need to freeze their salmon to do it after curing. Thereby you can take it out when you need it, and it makes it easy to get some really thin slices if you do it when the salmon is semi-frozen.
Ppl shouldn't be surprised that undertaking terminologies appear among the names of courses and some traditional stuffs, coz they are just kinda commonplaces especially back to ages ago especially in some certain regions regarding their cultures or history. Just for instance here, there's a Southeast Chinese course literally named casket.
Hi Joshua Thank you for quality content! I think it would be nice if the audio volume was even throughout the entire video. I am constantly adjusting it (music too loud, voice too low).
Large sheets of paper bathed in beeswax until nicely saturated and then folding tricks are the way to get the seal set up, and then a match or lighter can make the wax form the seal itself.
Danish "Gravad laks" is with salt, sugar and dill. Always. What you make we would just call cold smoked salmon. But that is good too, and the swedes might make it without the dill too.
Some very thin cucumber slices take a gravlax sandwich to the next level. It almost doesn't seem like you should be able to taste the cucumbers with all of those other strong flavors going on, but it just works.
I used to make this twice a week for the restaurant where I worked. We often used lime slices, pink peppercorns, crushed juniper berries amongst other variations. We’d take a whole salmon, fillet and trim it then add the cure and lay one fillet on top of the other turning two or three times a day for two to three days.
Thats smart. So the weight of the fish actually helped to weigh it down.- Going to give this technique a try!
24 hr is enough and i always make two fillets . i also mix my salt, sugar and spices in a large jar ready to use when i need it that way the spices really flavor the salt.
That's how it's done😎 And you flip it every once in a while?
Can you tell me more of your recipes so I can make them for family meal?
Gravad lax isn't the most famous scandinavian food, it's IKEA meatballs
Surströmming??
@@Lil_Phag IKEA meatballs for actual consumption.
Surströmming is the most infamous
@@Rickshaw_Bohammer “Ah, Dusty! Infamous is when you're more than famous! This guy El Guapo is not just famous, he's IN-famous!”
Youre funny 🤣 Emil
hey, its just gravlaks here in norway, but the real deal is rakfisk, made from trout or ørret (in norwegian), or arctic char (røye). that is a way more inter sting and imo better flavoring fish. I do like the grav-technique, but it's just as good with i. e. reindeer heart or moose heart, or different pieces from other kinds of game.
but its important to remember that "graving" is just autolyse while "raking" is lacto fermentation.
when we do rakfisk we usually eat it with sour cream, onions, and either flatbread, potato mash or potato lefse, a soft potato flatbread
Wow, super super interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Ahh, rakfisk... Perfect for when you can't decide between gravlax and surströmming, so you go for something in the middle.
No isnt sørstumming the stinking fish arghhhhhhh
That was 10 years ago, ever since the fish farms killed all the natural fish there is no more gravlaks or rakfisk.
Its all meat heldt toghter chemically by toxins no human should consume.
Forget theese traditions, capitalism killed them..
Reindeer heart...🤤
I really appreciate the "from scratch" approach. Knowing what is in your food and how it is made is central to healthy eating.
I never ever EVER comment on stuff (and this vid is kind of old so you probably will never see this), but I love all of your videos and you are so inspiring. Smoked salmon is one of my absolute favorite things and I have been wanting to make it for YEARS, but I was always too intimidated until I watched this video. I cured a whole 2.5 lb filet, smoked it with alder and oak chips, and then proceeded to eat the whole thing by myself over a few days. Literally life changing stuff. Thank you for this video!!!
Gravlax reminds me of beautiful summer days in Sweden. When we had this for breakfast with all kinds of herbs and flowers from the garden.
As a norwegian it thoroughly warms my heart to see you making this dish. I also reccomend warm smoked salmon, which imo is far better then the much more known cold smoked variant.
hang on - there is a guy coming down the sidewalk that gives a shit
@@recoswell Damn, Didn't have to do him like that
Alt varmtrøget fisk er bare det bedste
@@recoswell how about cold smoked chill pill for you
I just stumbled upon your channel a few days ago and as a chef, I am loving the content and clarity of your videos. Bravo.
Stephanie Bogdanovic i dont think you need to be a chef to enjoy his quality and content
@@cactus7198 think they meant being more versed and skilled in cooking than the average viewer, that the video is so good even a chef can enjoy the subject of the video.
Thanks for the mention of the precautions with the fish, I think some people don’t think about those things. Glad to see your channel growing you do very well from the filming, editing to the great explanations and recipe choices. Keep up the great progress Joshua, I’ll definitely be watching!! 😎
I think that's true, however a lot of people worry too much, considering how low the risks are.
I always do my own Gravad Lax for Christmas. This Christmas I couldn't find any salmon that had been frozen (I only had 2 days lol) so I used tuna fish instead. Well worth trying. And sugar/salt/coarsely ground white pepper and dill only is legio for true Scandinavian Gravad Lax. I only put it in a glass baking dish (no plastics!) and don't use too heavy pressure on it. Both gravad and smoked lax are delicious to quickly sear/broil in a pan (whole), leaving the core uncooked. Serve with potato rice with melted butter over (use a potato ricer). A totally new taste experience.
Lax, with an a
Edit. I see 'lox' is used in American English. I stand corrected then. European versions (Scandinavian, German) are with an a.
In English it's usually lox and gravlax (not gravlox, but that is an alternate spelling.) I haven't seen lax.
Lax is correct. Take it from nordic guy.
@Fat Earther það mun vera skrifað lax á íslensku líka. Or, in Icelandic as well. Dont always leave us out. ;)
Gravlaks, in norwegian. The swedes like the letter X, but it' s a "no, no" in most norwegian spelling.
Directly translated from norwegian its called "grave salmon". And here its called gravlaks, not with an x
It takes a WEISSMAN to make such a proper, high quality instructional video.
FYI, in Swedish, its called "Gravadlax" Grav=grave, Lax=salmon. Gravadlax basically means buried salmon.
In Swedish it's either called "gravad lax" as two words or "gravlax" as one word, I've never seen "gravadlax" as one word. "Lox" is definitely wrong though, I don't think it's spelled that way in any Scandinavian language.
Hmmm, I've never heard of Gravadlax aka "buried salmon." Very interesting!
@@jonasnicklas Yea you are right about the spacing, sloppy writing on my part.
Gravlaks in Norwegian :)
Yup lox is wrong in any language haha
My all-time favourites are dill and coriander seeds. Mustard-dill sauce goes very well with it (Dijon mustard, honey, rapeseed oil, dill, coriander seeds).
My mother would make this when I was little, we called it Gravlax, pronouncing the a’s like the word “at” is pronounced in American English. I have no idea if this is correct, but now you got me missing my moms cooking. I’m gonna make this, thanks.
I live in a fishing town in Scotland.
My parents can remember when salmon was so expensive, it was a real luxury item. Now it’s available for most people to buy at a good price. No matter how good the farmed salmon is, it can never beat fresh/wild salmon.
I’m lucky enough to have a father in law who fished for these in the wild, and now and again I get a smoked side. Nothing beats it-NOTHING! And I need to give him credit-he’s damn good at fishing.
Go for wild salmon every time if you can.
I just stumbled on this video last week - bought a cold smoking gun and made the lox over the weekend - it was hands down the best lox I've ever had. A thousand thank yous for doing this video.
Bro you inspire me to dig deeper into my culinary roots. My father and grandfather were both culinary experts and I'm headed that way also. Love all your content.
Somehow I stumbled upon your croissant video, and I cannot get enough of your vibe. You’re great at giving directions, you’re hysterical, and I’m looking forward to more videos! Love and good vibes from central Maine
I know it's very late requesting a Christmas Themed receipe. It's just a request which may happen or not but I shall wait but not insisting. I stand corrected.
I very much like Joshua's approach even toward a simple receipe, very scientific and explecit. It demonstrates his hard work, detailing and copius amount of research. I am truly appreciative and trust his renditions. I totally admire his work and wish him well.
That's all.
Vijay Gray Thank you so much for the kind words! That really means a lot to me! :)
Here in norway, the way my grandma makes it doesn’t even use something to push it down. Just flip it one time every day, and you’re good
thanks for the tip!
I just enjoyed the results of the optional cold smoke method and it was heavenly. Thank you for this!
Hey brotha. Great work here. Just found your channel. I appreciate your style. If you’re ever in NY, you’re always welcome in my kitchen.
I watch your channel as well. You are an inspiration!
Would love to see this collaboration!
You deserves more likes and subscribers
Ur an amazing Chef and deserve a million subs by July
he’s gotten over 3 mill now 😭
I got 2, 1.5lb king salmon center cut filets and followed both the standard and smoked recipes and used the optional gin in both. I also add some juniper berries, red peppercorns and red pepper flakes. I let them cure for 2.5 days. The results are amazing. The fish is almost creamy and it slices sooo nicely (assuming you use a very sharp, thin blade). I do not have a smoke gun, so I set the fish on a rack over a bowl filled with ice, then put that on top of my smoker and placed a large bowl over the smoke stack and the fish. I let that go on and off for a total of 45 minutes. The smoke and the addition of curing salt set this over the top. The flavor is outstanding. I've decided that when I do this again, I'm going to heavily smoke the salt I use to cure the fish. It may be overkill on the smoke flavor, but I think its worth a shot.... Thanks Josh for the great recipe and instruction, this one is another winner.
Somebody has probably mentioned it already but. Lax translates to salmon and grav or in icelandic graf comes from að grafa which means to dig down. So, essentially salmon that has been dug down by spices. Anywho, great content, great video!
Thanks for the recommendation about the portable smoker. I didn't know they existed. Bought one on Amazon. Thanks!
It’s a relief to have some good new channels to watch regularly
Gravlox is a brand of instant gravy powder here in Australia so I was like 'oh dope he's gonna make instant gravy powder from scratch.' Then I saw the salmon and thought to myself, 'Aye, what's he doin?'
Was giggling to myself for a solid minute, was awesome to learn a recipe from a different culture though.
Thank you Joshua, Very Cool.
This was a cool story *mate*
Caught 4 salmon in northern canada this summer, theyre in my freezer, im gonna try this out
Don’t use fresh dill, use dried dill, dill seed, fennel seed and black pepper. If you want to make it like we make it here in Scandinavia, don’t smoke your gravlax (please don’t). Do make smoked salmon, but don’t smoke the cured kind. Serve gravlax with a sauce made out of mustard (sweet or dijon), honey, a little rapeseed oil and dried dill.
Made this every other week since early Feb. Wonderful!
Hey thank you very much for the recipe! I agree to the fact that not many sites talk about the salmon itself and how to treat it to get rid of parasites. But i still have a couple of questions and i really wish you could help me in finding some answers:
- If I store the salmon in the refrigerator at an adequate temperature for one week (following FDA guidelines), how should i defrost it before starting to cure it? Is it ok to leave it outside the freezer and then put it back in the fridge for 48h?
- How quick should i eat it once cured? / In how many days can it be safely eaten?
I just discovered you and I really enjoyed the video! i'm looking forward to seeing all your other recipes :)
Have a nice day
My father used to work at a salmon butchery where they made ''Gravlaks'' and he learned to cure it in root bear and a mixture of salt and sugar as you showed in the video.
He usually makes it during these christmas times. i must recomend you to eat it as we do, with some mashed potatoes and
mustard sauce. ( he also puts alot of dried dill ontop of the salmon afther the cure) Great video!
as a chef based in finland, i’d say you should try this with whitefish! add grated beetroot or smashed blueberries when curing the whitefish, so you’ll get some beautiful colours (will work with salmon as well, but the taste of whitefish boosted with beetroot is a-ma-zing)! add some orange zest as well!
First time I made cured fish was a Russian way with a whole gutted rainbow trout.
Clean and pat dry trout with a paper towel
Sprinkle non iodised salt inside the cavity and outside the fish on both sides very generously. Rub salt right into the flesh
Get a clean dry tea towel and wrap fish up super tightly like a spring roll
Place in the coldest part of the fridge for 2-4 days ( as if the fish would be buried in snow) .
Unroll and Check on the curing after day 2 and add more salt inside and outside of needed
Rinse, fillet and slice in small pieces. Filetting, deboning a tough salted fish is going to be a challenge FYI
Not sure if its the right way but I was taught by a Russian and took his word for it. Been doing it the scando way ever since as it was way easier with better results.
My guy going to hit a million subs in no time
Chewedgaming nice
My father-in-law fishes on the devein river in the north of Scotland.
When he catches a wild salmon, once it’s smoked. It’s the best thing ever, I can eat a whole side over two days 🙅🏻♀️🤦♀️ 🎣
It’s just delicious but they are few and far between, probably a good job too!
I`ve been eating and making gravlax since I was a kid. Here we do it without sugar and you can pretty much spice it up with anything, dill of course is almost mandatory. As for the amount of salt gravlax is quite forgiving. There just needs to be quite a lot of it. In a warmer country with less strict food safety regulation you ofc need to be more careful when curing things.
Every time Joshua says let's make this from scratch I think he's going to make another universe and make it evolve
I've officially binged your entire channel. Two things please make a video of cheap college food and a video on drinks.
I set mine on the top rack of my pellet grill and instead of running the grill I use a smoke tube (metal tube you can fill with wood pellets that will smoke for hours) with a bourbon pecan pellet blend (only works in the winter months obviously)
Awesome!
One of my supervisors likes to salt cure crappie. He packs them in salt and air dries them for...a few days? When they're dried to his liking, he keeps them in the refrigerator.
It's very good, goes great with beer (or vodka - he's Russian).
i love everything about you and your videos, so thorough, great editing, articulate, and yum af content! dont forget me when you become hella famous ; )))))
It's always the best when I have an idea to make something and pappa has a video on it. Nice little surprise.
I recommend adding horseradish to the cure mix and serving with creamy aioli. It's so delicious and has a nice kick to it. It's also more festive and modern if the traditional dill isn't really your thing. We also often use whitefish instead of salmon. Serve with freshly boiled potatoes seasoned with dill and a butter-onion sauce.
First, I’m addicted to this channel!
Same.
Me too!
same, its very simular to "Binging with Babish".
xDEx_TriC yes I’m addicted to that too I watched his whole live stream the other day 😂
You should definitely try gravlax together with something called hovmästarsås (which means waiter sauce I think?? Maybe butler sauce?? Idk..) Which is essentially a mustard sauce with dill. Perfect condiment for the perfect fish and pairs beautifully with new potatoes 😍
Craving this food this morning, and I came right to your channel for a recipe
First I want to let you know that I love your videos. Secondly, I think there is a way to take cotton cloth and melt wax over it that will make it reusable, washable and environmentally friendly. There are some RUclipsrs that show how to do this. And 3rd please keep making your videos, even if I don’t make anything I still watch them all!
Every time I watch your video ... I get hungry. You are a master my friend ... keep it up.
try to get two same baking mold, we have two small one to exacly fit salmon, just make a bed go with the salmon and make a quilt, then just some food wrap, then you put on this another baking mold and wheight it down, we use rubber bands to squeeze together both baking molds. For seasoning try to use cilantro and fresh dill, well chopped. We can send you an fhoto :))
Great recipe.Thanks. One quick question, you mention adding pink curing salt if smoking, but I'm not sure why. Is there a specific rational behind this addition? I smoke a lot of different foods and can't think of any chemical change that would produce additional bacteria that the pink salt would address, especially, if you cold smoke it in a cold environment (ie outside in the winter). Thanks again. I really enjoy your videos and don't mean this as a criticism, just looking for understanding.
Ordinary Swedish Gravlax (cured salmon) is only with 50/50 salt & sugar + coarsely grounded white pepper. Nothing more.
Always use 2 equally big pieces. Cut away thinner side- and tail pieces, because these will be too salt!
(Weigh them now if you want). The both pieces would be eqally in thickness.
Mix these three (salt, sugar, pepper) carefully and rub in the two salmon pieces, both skinside and meatside. Cover flor in the bowl with fresh dill.
Put 1 piece, with the skin down, in a long narrow bowl. Cover it with A LOT OF fresh dill (chosable how much) and put the other salmon piece up-side-down with the meatside down (meat to meat and tailside to headside). Cover the last salmon piece with fresh dill.
Now the WHOLE piece of salmond(s) should be only skin on the outside. Dont bother if the salmons is a bit higher than the bowl, because we will use a weight to press it down. In two days it will be half as thick. Put something long flat on top (ex cutting board) and something heavy up on that (ex 1/2 US gallon of milk or soda). Leave in fridgerator for app 48-36 hours (depends on how thick the salmon was).
Salt penetrates fish with 1 cm (0,39") per 24 hours, so if the salmon pieces are as thick as in this video, use 36 hours. The amount of salt and suger in this video, is ok, but dont forget the pepper. And forget about that strange 0.15%. I ha e never heard before and I have been working as a Swedish kitchen shef.
"Cured" in this case you can thing more like "marinated", but in salt, suger and pepper. It will be a salty solution later.
After half the time you must turn it once, otherwise 1 of the salmon will be very salt and the other no salt.
When time is out it will be sticky. Clean the both salmon pieces from dill and smal pepper grain (NO WATER!)
Save it in fridge. Itcan last for 2 weeks. Serv it in thinner and wider slices than i this video and together with Swedish Mustard-dill-sauce:
www.whats4eats.com/sauces/hovmastarsas-recipe
Smoked (warm smoked or cold smoked is 2 totally different methods. You dont use both at the same time! Eather or.
Bon Appetit!
I am enjoying some Chicken Tika Masala (lunch break) and *still* I'm drooling from this video!!
Old fashioned cling film would be waxpaper. You can diy that easily too. Paper+beeswax with which you can seal the edges off with beeswax then tie it up to give additional strenght so it doesnt open up. Its allot more work though.
Instead of needing to have smoking equiptment you can also use something like danish smoked salt 💪🏻
Love the way you hot box your lox
I'll chop the dill and add a tablespoon of honey and a half shot of aquavit, mix it together and apply evenly on the fish together with the salt/sugar. Gives a great taste and is my favourite for x-mas here in Norway. And don't forget the cold mustard sauce...
First of all, as a swede, thank you for showing the world our culinary culture, also, I love fish :)
Second, and this is more for just some knowledge and not a critique, languages are hard :) In Sweden when we talk about this dish in every day life we call it 'Gravad lax', I've only every heard the word 'gravlax' on its own when I went abroad :) The only time we say 'gravlax' is when we say it in the word for the sauce for gravad lax, we would say 'gravlaxsås', which means sauce for gravad lax :) Also, 'Lox' is not a word, we never say 'Gravlox' :) Also, we use dill to this, like always, I have never had a Nordic gravad lax without dill
i used to do a similar product with a frozen berry mix on the meat side. and then cure. and what would turn out was a gradual change from blue to purple to salmon pink meat. then slice thinly. it was quite beautiful and tasted great
Hey Dude
Its pronounced "gravad laks" in Denmark - Usually served With Fox-sauce (rævesauce) and bread :
Ingredients:
6 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
8 tablespoons oil (use a neutral oil - not olive oil)
dill, finely chopped
salt & pepper to taste
Direction:
Whisk sugar, mustard and vinegar together and add the oil in a thin stream to make the emulsion. Stir in the dill and season with salt and pepper to taste.
i've been wanting to learn how to do this for awhile now!! thanks dude 🙌🏾
Don´t be dissapointed, in Sweden i´ve never heard of a category of "lean" salmon. It´s just salmon, a fish with a lot of fat and we love it
Wild salmon from botnia or vänern is oftentimes very lean compared to the farmed norweigian type. The farmed ones dont swim very far and are given feed that aims to optimize fat gain. However, wild salmon is only caught for a few weeks every summer.
Very nice, you are good at explaining, and showing.
The name in Norwegian is Gravlaks, meaning buried salmon, since they digged it down in the earth to keep could (before refrigerators).
Just a little thing, the pink salt.
I’m never using this, and it’s one of the reasons I make my own food, to not get exposed to this.
The only thing it does (in meat), is to give a red colour and some days extra before it goes bad. In my opinion, it’s not worth it.
One thing you should try, is to warm smoke the salmon. Then you are truly lost.
Regards Sevre
That's not true. The pink salt has nitrite if its #1, and has nitrite and nitrate if its #2, the reason curing salt is important is because botulism can survive in a saline only environment, but the nitrite is even better at knocking it out.
Having said that, I've never understood why smoking it makes the difference in whether or not you need it.
@@zachariahkindle8926 True, when it comes to salami and other chopet/grounded meat/fish. Does not apply to bacon or salmon, hole pices of meat/fish.
Joshua, Thanks for the demo....my wife and me have been been making gravlox for a number of years. I trick we do to make sure it's safe is we buy fresh not pre frozen and thawed stuff and after curing we slice it and wrap it with cling wrap 2 servings at a time and freeze it as a safety measure. We thaw it out as and when required the freezing should take care of any bad bacteria that might have been on the salmon.
As to looking for a more environmentally product perhaps parchment paper would work and it's compostable.
Here in Belgium, it's called Gravad lax. I have worked in a lot different restaurants and I can tell you you're just gonna get smoked salmon with toast and a mustard-dill dressing/sauce. Just because its cheaper, less work and no one complains.
We also take thicker cuts and sear or broil and serve warm of Gravlax its pretty nice it increases the salt even more
Use two pieces of salmon in a zip lock bag with the skin to the outside. Turn the bag over every half day. The weight of the opposing piece of salmon is sufficient to draw off liquid. Maybe cure with a little pepper and a little fresh dill too.
After two days or so, the gravlax is done. Don't throw away the curing liquid. Save it to pickle onions.
I love gravlax! I've been making it for 15 years. it appears that the salt/sugar amounts are very subjective across the cooking spectrum. I have great results using 8% salt and 4% sugar, so the amounts you used did look like too much to my eye, but if it works for you that's great! I personally hate sweet tasting meats, so prefer the higher salt ratios. and of course, the original versions would have had no sugar at all!! I've hot smoked it with good results too, in a very smoky grill with the lowest heat possible until almost cooked. it loses some of the gravlax texture, but is still excellent, sort of a salmon ham or salmon bacon. keep up the good work!
What kind of fish do you use (farmed or wild caught), if I may ask? And do you freeze it for a certain amount of time beforehand? I'm a bit nervous of having some parasites in there.
@@erinvittoriamusic, I may be a foodie, but I'm not a gourmand, so I can't taste any difference between wild and farmed, so I almost always buy farmed, or whatever is on sale. YMMV, so try both and see which you like. I don't freeze my salmon. almost all fish sold at a supermarket has been commercially flash frozen and any parasites are dead. IF I someday purchase from a fish market where the likelihood of the fish being fresh is higher, I might freeze it. I hope this helps??
@@timothywiener5977 This totally helps, thank you!
It is called graflax. No nordic nation writes it: "Lox"! :-0
And yes that means: 1. Bury it into the ground. 2. Grafa- also means to preserve in salt.
P.s. I'm Icelandic and you got the recipe spot on.
Amazing way to prepare salmon, gravad lax means ”gravad” = cured or ”marinated” and lax = salmon, so it basically translates to cured salmon
Wonderful, I really appreciate. Love it.
Joshua, I have lately become a huge fan of yours. I like to request you, kinda insisting, if I may, to do a Real Real Christmas Fruitcake, the real deal with no shortcuts and authentic.
Thanks a lot.
*insists on Christmas themed video on January 5th*
Vijay Gray great recommendation! I can absolutely look into this. Thank you! :)
@@JoshuaWeissman Thanks Joshua, for your consideration. Living on 8th & Grand in LA for a decade, cakes in Walmart and Costco, Panaderia etc. did not stir me. I thought there has to be something, the aroma, the ripening, the moist goodness, the thing.
Shuttling between India (my native place) and LA, always on lookout didn't help either and the elusive Fruit Cake remained. I am not crazy, I have several Degrees and Master Degree. I taught Food Technology classes to support myself to become a Computer Professional with Masters. But my passion for food did not ebb but grew more and more than Computer so I know what I am talking. I requested late coz I knew you would be busy with Christmas common edible goodness for your weekly RUclips editions. And now you would be somewhat free. Thus this request now.
I see light now, your passion toward your work tells me this quest is at an end.
Thanks for what you are doing, your puritan approach and love for food, I appreciate it.
Thanks.
You could use Banana Leaves, they are also great for cooking in too!
One day earlier and this would have been the anniversary. Happy Belated Anniversary before things started going down the crapper.
It is called gravad lax "buried salmon' often abreviated to gravlax. A long time ago this dish was made by burying salmon with salt letting some hardy lactic acid bacteria ferment the fish. This produced something much closer to surströmming than gravlax. This is the cause of the name
Gravad means cured with sugar and salt mix so it’s the method + type of meat, lax in this case which means salmon. You can do it to most high quality meats like sirloin etc. traditionally we use dill as a seasoning but citrus zest is good too and we have a xmassy variant in our family too. The cold smoked variant is best with just sugar and salt. Any gravad product is great with cream cheese, various onions and horseradish. 😋👍🏻
I'd love some cold smoking videos!
Gravlax!... I personally use 600 gr sugar and 400 of salt... I love to add some lemon and orange peeled skin and Harlequin pepper.
As a chef I must say, that I love your channel, keep the good work on buddy... congrats on the new year!
Curing with tarragon is lovely!
this is so much more complicated then I've ever done it XD I just pour some salt, sugar, pepper and dill in a plastic back and then put the fish in the back and wait for few days. done :D
I recommend those who need to freeze their salmon to do it after curing. Thereby you can take it out when you need it, and it makes it easy to get some really thin slices if you do it when the salmon is semi-frozen.
Love this ! and all your videos...Im cold smoking so I'm thankful you covered pink cure salt I'd like to learn more of the pink cure in this
Honestly I'm just here to hear how much Joshua like food from my country
"we're gonna make this from scratch. So here's timmy he is our trout"
Gravad lax might be my least favourite type of salmon... But it's fun to see others making it ☺️
Ppl shouldn't be surprised that undertaking terminologies appear among the names of courses and some traditional stuffs, coz they are just kinda commonplaces especially back to ages ago especially in some certain regions regarding their cultures or history. Just for instance here, there's a Southeast Chinese course literally named casket.
Def going to make this with steelhead trout!!! Once I dehydrated some lox, it was like salmon bacon🤤... Delicious
Hi Joshua
Thank you for quality content!
I think it would be nice if the audio volume was even throughout the entire video. I am constantly adjusting it (music too loud, voice too low).
You should definitely touch on the cutting in regards to the fish fibres ! Which is another topic that's not too widely talk about in recipes.
Large sheets of paper bathed in beeswax until nicely saturated and then folding tricks are the way to get the seal set up, and then a match or lighter can make the wax form the seal itself.
Your videos are great
Awesome 😎 editing
And great recipes
Keep it up
As a Swede I've never heard of Gravlox :) Gravlax however is amazing!
If you cold smoke Gravlax it is usually called Najadlax instead.
Danish "Gravad laks" is with salt, sugar and dill. Always. What you make we would just call cold smoked salmon. But that is good too, and the swedes might make it without the dill too.
in Norway we call it «gravlaks» or «gravesalmon» it refers to burying the salmon in a small hut like structure which has a fire that smokes it.
Gravad lax, grav lax.
sweden approves
Gravlox though? 😦
@@bogmaerke Sweden disapproves.
Gravlax*
Coldsmoked gravlax is called Najad-lax in Sweden and hot smoked gravlax is called jungfrulax / maidens salmon or Neptunlax.
Some very thin cucumber slices take a gravlax sandwich to the next level. It almost doesn't seem like you should be able to taste the cucumbers with all of those other strong flavors going on, but it just works.
That b roll had me with tears in my eyes 🙌
A lovely subtle cure which I really enjoyed.
If you want to add great color and flavour you can also add grated cooked beetroot and orange zeste. Really delicious!