Gravad Lachs Gravlax or this recipe for cured salmon is a Nordic recipe from centuries back. In the Baltic you have the Nordic people that depended on fish. Salmon was a prized fish and could be rare. To preserve it they would wrap it in birch bark and bury it in the sand near the ocean, Hence the name Grav which means buried and Lax is the word for salmon. Why didn’t they use salt….because it was rare back then. The bark is slightly acidic and there is a bit of salt in the sand so it did cure a bit but the idea was to keep as much oxygen off as possible so it would ferment as opposed to rot. Many think that this is risky and you can get poisoned, making it an extreme culinary sport, However if it is a question of food poisoning or starving, the answer is easy.
This recipe is adapted from Chef Bernamoff from the Mile End Deli that specializes in some good Kosher food classics. The Kosher Deli’s in New York were the fore runners of popularizing Lox in the United States.... “It should taste like salmon — fresh vibrant salmon that’s been out of the water for not very long, cured just enough so you’re not eating sushi,” says Bernamoff, whose restaurant prepares gravlax weekly and serves it in a bagel sandwich called “The Beauty.” Some Gravlax recipes call for putting a weight on this, Chef Bernamoff feels that this method gives superior flavor. |
