COPPERGravlaks recipe
Raw salmon buried under salt, sugar and dill for two to three days until it firms and turns translucent.
Ingredients
- 1000 g salmon fillet with skin
- 80 g coarse salt
- 70 g sugar
- 2 bunch fresh dill
- 1 tbsp crushed white pepper
- 3 tbsp sweet mustard
- 3 tbsp neutral oil
How to make Gravlaks
- Take 1 kg of very fresh salmon fillet with the skin on, lay it flesh up and pull out every pin bone with tweezers.
- Mix 80 g of coarse salt, 70 g of sugar and 1 tbsp of crushed white pepper.
- Rub the cure over the flesh, then pack 2 bunches of roughly chopped dill on top.
- Lay the fillet skin down in a dish, cover it, set a plate on top and weigh it down.
- Refrigerate 48 to 72 hours, turning it once a day and spooning the brine that runs out back over the fish. There is no shortcut here: the salmon is cured, never grilled or cooked.
- Scrape off the cure and the dill, pat the fillet dry and slice it thinly on the diagonal, leaving the skin on the board.
- Whisk 3 tbsp of sweet mustard with 3 tbsp of neutral oil and a little chopped dill, and serve it with the salmon and dark bread.
What is Gravlaks?
Gravlaks is a traditional dish from Norway, grilled, and takes about 2 days and 12 hours from start to finish. It is built around salmon fillet with skin and coarse salt. The recipe below uses 7 ingredients and is written out step by step.
How long does Gravlaks take?
At 3615 minutes it is slower than 98% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. The method runs to 7 steps.
Any tips for making Gravlaks?
Despite the name, this salmon is cured, never grilled: weigh it down in the fridge, turn it once a day and spoon the brine back over it.
How Gravlaks compares
At 2 days and 12 hours, Gravlaks is among the 20 longest of the 586 dishes Copper documents. Hard to find elsewhere: salmon fillet with skin (1), crushed white pepper (1) and sweet mustard (1).
Cooked with the same thing elsewhere
Other traditional dishes built on dill, from other countries.
- Byrek 🇦🇱 Albania
- Dovga 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
- Smørrebrød 🇩🇰 Denmark
- Lohikeitto 🇫🇮 Finland
- Saltibarsciai 🇱🇹 Lithuania
- Sarmale 🇲🇩 Moldova
Copper documents Norway alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.