Salmon rations

Gravlax in small bites

By Liz Crain

May 27, 2008

Wild salmon populations are down worldwide, thanks to overfishing, global warming, and loss of river water to agriculture. In some areas, commercial salmon-fishing seasons have been restricted and even canceled.

If you still want to enjoy salmon but — mindful of the environment and your wallet — know that you need to buy less of it, making gravlax is a great way to enjoy a small amount of fish. Gravlax is nothing more than cured fish; it’s typically served thinly sliced on bread with a cold mustard-dill sauce.

Although gravlax was traditionally cured in Scandinavia for weeks and sometimes months in a hole in the ground, most modern gravlax recipes take just a day or two to cure in the refrigerator with the help of salt, sugar, pepper, dill, and sometimes a little liquor.

The Passionate Cook, aka Johanna Wagner, recently home-cured her own gravlax, adapting a recipe from Marcus Wareing’s cookbook One Perfect Ingredient, Three Ways To Cook It.

Other recent takes on gravlax can be found at the food blogs Old Stove and Rosa's Yummy Yums. And Culinate’s version incorporates flat-leaf parsley and lemon zest.