Curing is used as a way of preserving meat or fish to prevent spoilage. The technical term for this kind of preparation called GRAVLAX which stands for grave ("to dig ") and lax means salmon. So lets check the fantastic recipe of Chef
So before we start the recipe chef Jitender ( Jr. Sous Chef Lodhi Hotel, New Delhi ) share his knowledge about the dish so according to him the dish is from long time back and made by the fisherman , they put salt on the salmon and then buried it under the sand . Now a days the fish is buried in a dry marinade of salt, sugar and dill and then kept for long time for curing . Here in this recipe I cured the salmon for 48 hours which is basically a hard cure method .
ACCOMPANIMENTS - Usually cured salmon can eat with a simple green salad, wedges of lemon, rye bread with a touch of mustard.
The benefit of making home cured salmon is you can control on the salt as you want and whatever flavour you want to add , you can add which is bit difficult to get it in a packed one .
Ingredients
For Curing :
1. Fresh Salmon - 01 kg
2. Sugar - 70 gm
3. Sea Salt - 30 gm
4. Orange Zest - 3 no.
5. Lemon Zest - 3 no.
6. Dill - 100 gm ( Chopped )
For Granish
1. Roasted Sesame - For Sprinkle on top
2. Salmon Roe - 01 tsp
3. Roasted Beetroot - 3 pcs ( Slice )
4. Roasted Onion Pearl - 02 no.
5. Aged Balsamic Vinegar - 10 ml
METHOD -
1. Take the salmon, clean it, wash it and pat dry .
2. Now combine salt, sugar , dill , orange zest and lemon zest .
3. Place two large pieces of cling wrap on a work surface , slightly overlapping. Spread half the the mixture in the shape of salmon.
4. Place the salmon on salt mixture, skin side down and then put rest of the mixture on top of the salmon.
5. Wrap it with cling film and then put it in a long container and put something flat on top of the salmon like small cutting board .
6. Refrigerate it for 12 hours then turn the salmon because there will be liquid in the dish and then do it for four times every 12 hours .
7. After 2 days ,unwrap the salmon, scrape off the excess salt, dill then rinse and pat dry.
8. Slice thinly on an angle , do not cut the skin with the slice , serve with lemon, toasted bread, garnish with sesame seeds, salmon roe , pearl onion, balsamic vinegar and dill leaves
**************HAPPY COOKING *****************