Tom Valentis Low Salt Gravlax Recipes

Steps:

• Mix the salt, sugar, dill, lemon zest and grapefruit zest together in a bowl. Line a platter or small baking pan with plastic wrap and spread about a third of the salt mixture on top of the plastic in the general size and shape of the salmon. Lay the salmon on top and make 5 to 6 shallow slits into the flesh using the tip of a paring knife, then rub the orange liqueur on top. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining salt mixture and wrap the plastic over the fish to cover it completely. Place the wrapped salmon inside a ziptop bag, remove as much of the air as possible and seal the bag. Put a plate on top of the wrapped fish and weigh it down with a small can or something similar. Refrigerate for 24 hours (the fish will release some liquid as it sits).
• After 24 hours, scrape the salt mixture off the top of the fish and wipe the surface with a damp paper towel. Serve immediately or wrap in plastic and keep refrigerated up to 5 days.
• When ready to serve, use a very sharp knife to make thin slices on a bias. Serve with the Lemon Creme Fraiche, toast points, red onions and lemon wedges.
• Combine the creme fraiche, lemon zest and juice and chives in a small bowl; season with salt.

Steps:

• Place salmon, skin side down, on a large sheet of plastic wrap, and sprinkle it with the vodka or aquavit. Mix together the salt and sugar, then sprinkle onto the flesh side of the salmon. Mix together the bay leaves, dill, shallots, pepper, caraway seeds, tarragon and green peppercorns. Cover the flesh side of the salmon with this mixture, making sure to coat it completely.
• Wrap the fish well, and refrigerate for about 48 hours.
• Unwrap the salmon, and rinse off the cure. Dry, then slice on the bias. Serve plain or with lemon wedges, creme fraiche, sour cream or a light vinaigrette. (Mr. Valenti serves it atop a chickpea pancake, with caviar and mustard oil, at his restaurant.)

Steps:

• Pat the salmon dry with kitchen paper and run your hands over the flesh to see if there are any stray small bones - if there are, use a pair of tweezers to pull them out. Set the salmon fillets aside.
• Tip the salt, sugar, peppercorns, lemon zest, juniper and dill into a food processor and blitz until you have a bright green, wet salt mixture or 'cure'. Unravel some cling film but keep it attached to the roll. Lay the first fillet of salmon skin-side down and then pack the cure over the flesh. Drizzle with gin, if using and top with the 2nd fillet, flesh-side down. Roll the sandwiched fillets tightly in cling film to create a package.
• Place the fish in a shallow baking dish or shallow-sided tray and lay another tray on top. Weigh the tray down with a couple of tins or bottles and place in the fridge for at least 48 hrs or up to 4 days, turning the fish over every 12 hours or so. The longer you leave it, the more cured it will become.
• To make the sauce, tip all the sauce ingredients into a blender. Blitz until you have a thickened dressing.
• To serve, unwrap the fish and brush off the marinade with kitchen paper. Rinse it if you like. You can slice the fish classically into long thin slices, leaving the skin behind, or remove the skin it and slice it straight down. Serve the sliced fish on a large platter or individual plates with pumpernickel bread, dill and mustard sauce.

Steps:

• Drape plastic wrap over a glass baking dish. Cut salmon in half lengthwise, and place one half in dish, skin side down. Mix together salt, brown sugar and pepper. Sprinkle half of mixture over salmon in the dish, cover with the chopped dill, and pour the vodka over the whole mixture.
• Sprinkle the remaining salt mixture over the remaining half of salmon. Place over the salmon in the dish, skin side up. Fold the plastic wrap snuggly over the entire salmon. Place a board over the fish and weigh it down with a heavy object.
• Refrigerate fish for 24 to 36 hours, turning every 12 hours. To serve, separate the filets, and carefully brush off the salt, sugar and dill. Cut into very thin slices with a sharp knife.

Steps:

• Combine the sugar, salt, peppercorns, and coriander seeds in a small bowl. Set aside. Place the salmon fillets on a parchment-lined work surface, and remove any remaining bones.
• Cover the flesh side of each with the spice mixture, gently rubbing it onto the flesh.
• Spread the dill on top of the spices; pour the aquavit or vodka over the dill.
• Place one fillet on top of the other, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
• Place the wrapped fillets in a glass or enamel pan. Place a heavy object, such as a canned good, in a smaller pan, and place on top of the fish. Transfer both pans to the refrigerator, and chill for 12 hours. Remove the fish from the pan; pour off the liquid that has accumulated in the pan and discard. Turn the fish over, and place the weighted pan back on top of the fish. Continue to refrigerate for 3 more days, turning the fish over every 12 hours.
• After 3 days, remove and discard the plastic wrap. Scrape the dill and spices from the surface of both fillets. To serve, slice each fillet on the diagonal, as thinly as possible. Wrap the remaining gravlax in plastic wrap, and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Steps:

• Fillet the salmon or have the fishmonger do it; the fish need not be scaled. Lay both halves, skin side down, on a plate.
• Toss together the salt, brown sugar and pepper and rub this mixture all over the salmon (the skin too); splash on the spirits. Put most of the dill on the flesh side of one of the fillets, sandwich them together, tail to tail, and rub any remaining salt-sugar mixture on the outside; cover with any remaining dill, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Cover the sandwich with another plate and top with something that weighs a couple of pounds -- some unopened cans, for example. Refrigerate.
• Open the package every 12 to 24 hours and baste, inside and out, with the accumulated juices. When the flesh is opaque, on the second or third day (you will see it changing when you baste it), slice thinly as you would smoked salmon -- on the bias and without the skin -- and serve with rye bread or pumpernickel and lemon wedges.

Steps:

• Cure the salmon: Lay salmon skin-side down, flesh-side up in a glass or stainless-steel baking dish. (A large lasagna dish works well.) In a small bowl, toss together the salt, sugar and pepper until blended. Sprinkle the mixture over the salmon evenly, with abandon, until fully covered, as if under a blanket of snow. Use all of it.
• Spread all the chopped dill on top of the cure-covered salmon to make a thick, grassy carpet.
• Lay plastic wrap or parchment paper over the salmon to cover and press down, then place a heavy weight - such as a 2-gallon zip-top bag filled with water - on top, to weigh heavily on the curing fish. Refrigerate just like this, without disturbing, for 5 days, turning the salmon over midway through the cure - on Day 3 - then covering and weighting it again.
• To serve, mix together the softened butter, dill, shallot and mustard until well blended.
• Remove salmon from the cure, which has now become liquid, brushing off the dill with a paper towel, then set fillet on a cutting board.
• With a long, thin, beveled slicing knife tilted toward the horizon, slice salmon thinly, stopping short of cutting through the skin. Generally, you begin slicing a few inches from the tail end and you slice in the direction of the tail, moving your knife back, slice by slice, toward the fatter, wider belly portion of the fillet. The last slices are always hard to get. Once you have shingled the fillet, run your knife between skin and flesh, releasing all the slices, then transfer them to parchment until ready to serve.
• Spread the compound butter on bread, then drape sliced gravlax on top, and eat as open-faced sandwiches.