Gravlax/Lox at home

Gravlax is incredibly easy to make at home. It is simply a skin-on salmon filet left in a salt/sugar/herb mixture for a day. No cooking is required but you will absolutely need a razor sharp knife to serve it. Making gravlax at home also gives you the opportunity to tune the sweetness to taste.

2-3 lb piece of salmon with belly removed but skin intact.
10% the weight of salmon in sea salt
10% the weight of the salmon in white granulated sugar
bunch of fresh dill (about 3 cups chopped)

Rinse the salmon and pat dry. Run your hand lightly over the filet to make sure that all the pin bones have been removed.
Put half the dill in a container that will hold the entire filet
Combine the salt and sugar. Rub half the mixture into the skin. Rub the other half into the flesh.
Put the salted salmon into the container and cover with the remaining dill.
Cover and refrigerate 24 hours.
Remove the salmon, rinse and pat dry.
Taste. If you want it saltier you can put it back in the brine.
Remove the skin and serve, cutting at a 45 degree angle to the grain.
Bow deeply as you receive the applause of your family and friends.

You can personalize this recipe by adding gin or vodka or pepper but I like this simple. If you want it sweeter, add more sugar next time.

Thank you very much Jon. Could not be easier as you say. I'll do this.

What is hiding under the salmon on toast points?

St-Viateur bagel from Montreal. Montreal bagels are wood fired from non-boiled dough. They are denser and chewyer than a NYC bagel.

A word of caution that if you are used to commercial lox, this recipe is much less salty and sweet. You could double the amount of sugar and salt if that is what you want but then the salmon gets overpowered IMO.

Great recipe...i would recommend using a filet knife. I have bunches as I fish, but if you need one Cabelas, Bass Pro Shop, Canadian Tire, or any one of a zillion stores with outdoor stuff have them. Anywhere from 7-15 bucks. You don’t need a top shelf one. It isn’t just the sharpness (and many of the cheap ones have a stone built into the case), it is the flex of the blade.

And living in NY and Montreal...NY is better bagel-wise. Oh, and the wood fired is going to be interesting any day now as the Montreal city law about no wood burning during the frequent smog alerts is going to apply to the 70 commercial establishments making pizza and bagels etc any minute now.

Jonathan...thanks again for a recipe that’s gonna be made this weekend somewhow. I am also kinda noodling in my brain that this might be done with a steelhead filet as there is one sitting in the fridge looking to be eaten.