Sunday, April 20. 2008
Gravlax – start your own church
Note: this entry is the first of a series of three. Look for Miniature Potato Cakes (for your gravlax) and Slicing Gravlax, which will be coming as soon as the potato cakes are made and the gravlax is ready to be sliced.
Erik’s gravlax has a cult following.
A customer of his even took out a URL so that Erik would make it available to buy online. It's his most popular hors d'oeuvre. We're making a gravlax salad for a food event in Davis, California. It's freak'n everywhere.
Over the years, Erik has made a sturgeon gravlax, a halibut gravlax, a salmon gravlax and, most recently, a steelhead gravlax. Sturgeon is a little cost prohibitive these days but if you can afford it, try it. But steelhead seems to be the second favorite. Down in Napa, under the direction of Chef Rick Warkel, we’ve made potato pancakes with gravlax topped with crème fraiche and caviar. Napa Valley eats to its own budget.
The steelhead takes a gravlax cure well. The texture of the final product is easy to slice, fold and manipulate onto tiny toasts and pancakes.
The salt, sweet and spice elements of this cure allow room for the fish flavor to take a subtle lead. We’ve put gravlax on pumpernickel (my favorite flavor), rye toasts (from Trader Joe’s), and miniature fennel and potato pancakes. A horseradish crème fraiche makes an intriguing garnish.
Once you start making your own Gravlax, you'll find that others will follow you around waiting for your next batch. Be prepared.
Gravlax Recipe: A recipe sans exact measurements. Erik throws his ingredients in and leaves it up to the spices to decide amongst themselves who is going to do what and when. The result is a nice example of cooperation. I’ve noticed that the gravlax has a shove of herbaceous-ness when Erik adds a little more brown sugar.
The timeline: Six to Seven days.
The fish: You need a tail-to-neck Steelhead (sans head), cleaned, boned out and scaled but with skin.
Wet Cure (make a total of half a cup):
A sprig of fresh dill
Equal parts:
Hard booze (aquaveet is traditional)
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Dry Cure (make a cup total):
Brown Sugar
Kosher Salt
White Pepper
Allspice
The Process:
Brush each half of the inside of the fish down with the wet cure. Rub the flesh with the dry cure. Make sure to rub less on the tail more on the head.
Wrap the fish in cheesecloth.
Place it on cooling rack with a drip pan underneath.
Put a weight on the fish: a ceramic casserole dish with a box of inept chicken broth works well.
Turn the fish over every 24 hours for 6 days.
The fish will be ready after 6 days.
Wipe off the dry rub.
Slice. (Tips on that coming soon.)
Erik’s gravlax has a cult following.
A customer of his even took out a URL so that Erik would make it available to buy online. It's his most popular hors d'oeuvre. We're making a gravlax salad for a food event in Davis, California. It's freak'n everywhere.
Over the years, Erik has made a sturgeon gravlax, a halibut gravlax, a salmon gravlax and, most recently, a steelhead gravlax. Sturgeon is a little cost prohibitive these days but if you can afford it, try it. But steelhead seems to be the second favorite. Down in Napa, under the direction of Chef Rick Warkel, we’ve made potato pancakes with gravlax topped with crème fraiche and caviar. Napa Valley eats to its own budget.
The steelhead takes a gravlax cure well. The texture of the final product is easy to slice, fold and manipulate onto tiny toasts and pancakes.
The salt, sweet and spice elements of this cure allow room for the fish flavor to take a subtle lead. We’ve put gravlax on pumpernickel (my favorite flavor), rye toasts (from Trader Joe’s), and miniature fennel and potato pancakes. A horseradish crème fraiche makes an intriguing garnish.
Once you start making your own Gravlax, you'll find that others will follow you around waiting for your next batch. Be prepared.
Gravlax Recipe: A recipe sans exact measurements. Erik throws his ingredients in and leaves it up to the spices to decide amongst themselves who is going to do what and when. The result is a nice example of cooperation. I’ve noticed that the gravlax has a shove of herbaceous-ness when Erik adds a little more brown sugar.
The timeline: Six to Seven days.
The fish: You need a tail-to-neck Steelhead (sans head), cleaned, boned out and scaled but with skin.
Wet Cure (make a total of half a cup):
A sprig of fresh dill
Equal parts:
Hard booze (aquaveet is traditional)
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Dry Cure (make a cup total):
Brown Sugar
Kosher Salt
White Pepper
Allspice
The Process:
Brush each half of the inside of the fish down with the wet cure. Rub the flesh with the dry cure. Make sure to rub less on the tail more on the head.
Wrap the fish in cheesecloth.
Place it on cooling rack with a drip pan underneath.
Put a weight on the fish: a ceramic casserole dish with a box of inept chicken broth works well.
Turn the fish over every 24 hours for 6 days.
The fish will be ready after 6 days.
Wipe off the dry rub.
Slice. (Tips on that coming soon.)
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