Gravlaks
Fjord salmon cured with dill, salt and sugar until silky and translucent, served with a sweet mustard sauce.
Food-safety callout · Raw cured fish
Read before preparing this recipe
Salt and sugar curing does not cook fish or reliably destroy parasites or Listeria.
- Use fish supplied for raw consumption, with documented parasite controls, or follow the FDA freezing schedule in the linked source.
- A typical domestic freezer may not hold −20°C (−4°F); 24 hours of freezing is not an adequate general rule.
- Keep at 4°C (40°F) or colder. Pregnant, older, or immunocompromised guests should choose cooked fish instead.
Review status: Qualified reviewer pending · editorial safeguards added
A named, qualified food-safety owner has not yet signed off. Sources below support the callout; they do not turn this page into a validated commercial process.
Cultural Context & History
The name gravlaks means "buried salmon" — medieval fishermen along the western fjords fermented salmon in the sand above the tide line. The modern version swaps burial for a gentle salt-and-sugar cure, but the principle of transforming raw fish through time and salt endures.
It has become the quiet star of the Norwegian koldtbord, the cold table that anchors every festive gathering from Vestlandet to Oslo.
Ingredients
- 1 kg salmon fillet, skin on, pin-boned
- 80 g sea salt
- 80 g caster sugar
- 1 large bunch dill, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp crushed white peppercorns
- For the sauce: 3 tbsp Dijon, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp vinegar, 100 ml oil, dill
Recommended Tools
- Fish tweezersRemoves pin bones cleanly before curing.
- Non-reactive curing trayGlass or ceramic keeps the cure from tainting.
Product suggestions are editorial references only; no purchase or affiliate links are currently configured.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- 1
Mix salt, sugar and pepper. Lay half the dill on a tray, place the salmon skin-side down, and pack the cure over the flesh with the remaining dill.
- 2
Cover with cling film, weight with a board and tins, and refrigerate for 48 hours, turning once.
- 3
Scrape off the cure, pat dry, and slice thinly on the diagonal.
- 4
Whisk the mustard sauce ingredients until emulsified and serve alongside.
Chef's Tip
Use salmon sold for raw consumption with documented parasite controls. Otherwise follow an authority-validated freezing schedule; 24 hours in a typical home freezer is not a safe general rule.
Keep exploring
There are 76 more stories waiting in the index — from Arctic cures to viral bakes.
Browse all recipes