Spruce Tips Gravlax
Homemade Gravlax or Lox is one of my FAVORITE things to make when the salmon season gets underway here in Alaska. I use my favorite recipe year after year, it's a good one made with vodka, lemons, and dill, and it's ALWAYS fabulous. This is a foraged riff on that old fave!
Servings: 24 servings
Ingredients
- 1 Red Salmon cleaned, filleted, trimmed, pin bones removed
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- 3/4 cup kosher salt
- 1/4 cup cracked peppercorns
- 1 cup spruce tips cleaned, picked over
- 2/3 cup vodka
Instructions
- lay the salmon skin side down in a non-reactive pan
- mix the sugar, salt, and peppercorns together
- sprinkle the mix evenly over the salomn fillets
- pour the vodka over the salmon, slowly so it doesnt just wash off the salt and sugar mix
- lay the spruce tips over one of the fillets
- top with the other fillet, meat side down
- wrap the pan in plastic wrap and a layer of foil over that
- place it in the fridge and place a cutting board with a couple of heavey cans on top of it
- let it cure 2-3 days
- turn every 12 hours, wrap in fresh plastic wrap and foil
- after 48 hours slice a small piece off and taste it if it takes silky smooth and like lox then it's ready, if not keep turning for 24 more hours--3 days is probably the longest you want to cure this salmon for
- I cut each fillet in half and vacuum pack those and freeze them until we need a bit of fresh salmon, thaw before using
- to serve, use a sharp fillet knife and slice down through the salmon to the skin, turn the knife sideways, away from you and slice the salmon off the skin Always slice as thinly as possible
Notes
- you can slice a lemon and add it between the fillets if you like lemony flavors