Salmon with rich fat is marinated or smoked, and the flavor is fuller and more refreshing, and the bright and beautiful color is appetizing just by looking at it. There are also many ways to eat it, whether it is sliced into thin slices for delicate appetizers, dang bagel filling, and fresh and crispy salads, it is an all-purpose ingredient that can be kept in the refrigerator at any time.

But if you buy it, you know that good quality smoked or pickled salmon is not cheap. If the market price puts you off, it's not hard to do it yourself, so let's talk about gravlax with dill pickled salmon this time!

Before we get into the main topic, did you know that pickled salmon is not a general term? What other close relatives are there in the salmon? Basically, there are three types:

Salted Salmon: The word Lox is derived from the Yiddish word laks, which means salmon. The traditional method is not smoked, only raw salmon is soaked in concentrated salt water, and fish maw is mainly used.

Salmon marinated with dill: Gravlax is made with salt, sugar and dried dill, a traditional Swedish method; The Norse word grav- means to dig and -lax means salmon, which refers to salmon that has been buried in the soil and pickled, showing the earliest practice of burying salmon in the beach and fermenting it. Juniper berries, horseradish, aquavit, or vodka are sometimes added to taste.

Smoked salmon: Smoked salmon is similar to lox in that it is salted, but there are two major differences. First of all, not only the fish maw, but the whole fish can be used; In addition, as the name suggests, there is an additional smoking procedure, which can be divided into cold smoke, which can be divided into cold smoke, which maintains the taste of raw food, such as lox or gravlax, and the latter is firmer and crumbly. In addition, in fact, smoked salmon is the product of later generations, and "Cooking is Fun" mentions that New York's famous smoked fish bagel (bagle & lox) was smoked and sandwiched in lox at that time, and a smoked version of lox was born.

Can't wait to learn how? Before you start, it's best to buy fresh salmon with raw food grade, then find the salt-to-sugar ratio and seasoning method, and wait patiently for two or three days to be done. Let's take a look at the production points:

Salt sugar ratio

Salmon marinated with dill is easy to make, and the ratio of salt to sugar is naturally the key to deliciousness. Technically, salt and sugar work by sucking out the salmon's water through osmotic pressure. With less water, it is naturally more difficult for microorganisms to grow. In addition, salt can block bacteria and avoid accelerated spoilage.

The proportion is in personal taste, if you like to be sweet, add more sugar, and if you like to be salty, you will sprinkle more salt. However, in the spirit of experimentation, we tested three ratios: 1 to 0.0 to salt, 0.0 to 0, and equal to salt. It is best to use the weight when measuring, because the weight and volume specific gravity of salt and sugar are different, and different brands are also different, and the use of a measuring spoon is easy to cause errors.

The results came out, and everyone agreed that they all liked the ratio of salt to sugar 1.0:0 the most. The result is a finished product that is salty enough with a hint of sweetness. However, the high proportion of sugar content tastes obviously sweet and salty. One to one, it tastes very bland and tasteless. There is also a difference in texture, with a high salt content that is firm and a high sugar content that resembles a sashimi.

Marinating and preservation time

Since it is only slightly salted, this pickled salmon does not last long. How long it can be stored depends on how fresh the fish is and whether it is properly preserved and handled. On average, a fishy smell occurs about five days after it is made. Therefore, it is necessary to finish the salmon as soon as possible after it is finished, and do not eat it once it smells bad.

Add flavor

In addition to salt and sugar, dill is also an essential ingredient, and white pepper is also common. If you don't like the smell of white pepper, black pepper works pretty well.

These are sufficient, but if you're looking for a layered look, caraway seeds, coriander seeds, and anise seeds are all great options. The recipe below uses the first two spices to complement the flavor of dill.

In addition, if you don't have dill at hand, you can also switch to herbs such as tarragon and fennel leaves. If you have great powers to get pine needles, such as the Douglas cold shirt, you can also cool recreate the old technique.

Some recipes add additional citrus slices or juices, but this is not recommended, as the acidity will cook the fish, as is the case with Peruvian ceviche, and if you want to get the citrus aroma, grinding some citrus peel is a good idea.

It is also common to add some alcoholic beverages, such as aquavet, brandy, vodka, etc. According to the heavy salt recipe of the above experiment, a few spoonfuls of aquavit were added to every half pound of salmon, but it was found that the taste was not obvious. The flavor of brandy may be more distinct, but if you only want to achieve the aroma of caraway seeds used to make sake, it is better to use the spice directly.

Perfect sauce

The classic way to eat Gravlax is to drizzle with dill mustard (hovm?stars?s), and some recipes are sweet and not suitable for oily marinated salmon. If you're also a fan of savoury dishes, consider the sauce recipe ratio below, where only a little sugar is used to bring out the acidity of the vinegar and mustard, but it doesn't show an overly sweet flavor, but instead brings a hint of freshness.

Swedish dill marinated salmon recipe

Pickled salmon:

For two-pound salmon with skin, use raw grade salmon and carefully remove the bones

1 teaspoons caraway seeds

1 teaspoons coriander seeds

40 g salt, plus some for salmon cleaning

25 g sugar

2/0 teaspoon white or black pepper

2 A lot of weeds

Sauce:

3 tbsp of white vinegar

2 tbsp dill leaves, lightly chopped

5 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp of sugar

4/0 cup canola or olive oil

Rattan salt and pepper

Rye bread, sliced

< Practices >

1. 以大碗裝滿冷水，加上鹽，讓鹹度約莫等於海水後，將鮭魚浸泡十分鐘。

2. Stir-fry caraway seeds and coriander seeds in a pan over high heat until the aroma comes out, about a minute. Grind with a spice grinder or pestle mortar to fine.

3. In a small bowl, mix well with salt, sugar, the grinding spices from step 2 and the white pepper.

4. Remove the salmon and pat dry with a paper towel. Place the salmon skin side up on the countertop, sprinkle the mixture and use your fingers to evenly coat all corners.

5. Spread half of the dill in a large enough dish, salmon skin side down, and cover with the other half of the dill. After wrapping in plastic wrap, press on a heavy object, such as canned beans, etc. Refrigerate for a day.

6. Remove the salmon again and place it in reverse, then repeat the steps of covering with dill, wrapping in plastic wrap and pressurizing with weights. This stage will complete the salting of the salmon, which can be refrigerated for two days if you only want to marinate it lightly for one day, or if you want a firmer texture and a stronger salty flavor.

7. Then mix the sauce, use any blender to mix the vinegar, dill, mustard and sugar, beat until the dill is very finely chopped, then add oil until emulsified, season with salt and pepper.

8. Remove the marinated salmon, remove the dill, peel it with a very sharp knife and cut it diagonally into thin slices. Spread on rye bread and drizzle with dill mustard for a classic taste.

It's interesting to see how different foods are preserved around the world due to different climates, products, and cultures.

Proofread by Zhuang Wu