Gravlax or smoked salmon?

Technically, they are not the same thing, but their names are often used interchangeably. I quickly found this out when searching for a recipe to make my own smoked salmon and kept coming across recipes that used "smoked salmon" as an ingredient, but not how to make it on my own. Then Chow.com published an article on Gravlax v. Lox and accompanied it with a recipe on cured salmon by Traci Des Jardins. Perfect timing!

After searching through tons of sites and my cookbooks at home, I picked a recipe and started curing. I decided to try Traci's recipe first, as it was the most basic. Helpful Hint: When perfecting a new recipe, try a basic recipe first. Once you are comfortable with that recipe, read through other recipes to get ideas on how you would like to make it your own. For suggestions on making changes to your recipe, check the comments section on recipe websites. For this recipe I used wild, previously frozen coho salmon. It's the wild salmon that always seems to be at Whole Foods, and it was even on sale this week. YAY! When I made Traci's recipe, I found it to be a little sweet for my liking, which may be from packing it in the salt/sugar mixture, and I couldn't taste the meyer lemon I had bought especially for the occasion (boo). One step I found that is key, REMOVE THE PIN BONES. I was lazy and didn't do this, and wasn't able to get nice, thin slices.

For my next batch, I used Alice Waters gravlax recipe from her Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook. This recipe called for A LOT less sugar and salt, still in a one-to-one ratio, which I think helped it to be less sweet. It also called for all-spice and dill, but I think the ratio of all-spice to the salt/sugar mixture was too much and it over powered the salmon, especially the tail end. Lesson learned, always use the center cut. The tail-end peices cure way too fast. I did take out the pin bones this time, though, and it made a hug difference when slicing it. I also had issues with weighting the salmon. I used a baking dish on top of the salmon and found that the weight was not evenly distributed, so the texture was not consistent across the fish. Another lesson learned.

My latest batch, which I started on Sunday, I mixed both of the above recipes to come up with my own.

Ingrdients:
3 TBS of salt
3 TBS of sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 TBS of crush white peppercorns
3 stems of dill
1.5 lbs of center cut wild coho salmon cut in half

Mix the first 4 ingredients well, then sprinkle 1/4 of the mixture on the bottom of the dish. Put the first piece of salmon on top, skin side down. Rub a 1/4 of the mixture on top of the salmon. Put the dill sprigs on top. Then rub 1/4 of the mixture on the flesh side of the other peice of salmon and quickly put it flesh side down on top of the dill. There should be enough moisture in the salmon that the mixture should stick. Rub the remaining mixture on the skin side and rub extra mixture into the sides of the salmon so that every inch was covered. Cover the top of the salmon closely with plastic wrap. To add pressure and weight to the top of the salmon, I used a ziplock bag of rice and stacked a couple of cans on top of that. I find that rice is good because it forms around the salmon and the weight is more evenly distributed. Let this sit in the fridge for 24 hours. Drain any additional liquid that has come off the salmon, and flip the salmon over, so the piece that was on top, is now on the bottom. Let the salmon sit in the fridge for another 24 hours. At this point, drain off any additional liquid, and rinse of the mixture. Pat dry and the slice to serve.

I took this batch out of the fridge last night, and I have officially decided that I am curing my salmon too long. It still tasted a too sweet on the outside, but was just right on the inside. On a positive note, I really enjoyed the lemon-y flavor, which the first 2 batches did not have. Next time, I will be curing it for less time, but with the same recipe. I'll keep you posted...