Ice Fishing, Gravlax, and alcohol

[el Ducko]

A Canadian friend once explained to me that ice fishing is much safer than other types of fishing, particularly in polluted waters. "Each time you pull a fish out of the water, you stick it head-down in a snow bank," sez he. "Then, when sunset nears, as it gets colder and you're packing up to leave, the mercury goes down, you cut the heads off the fish and you're good to go, eh?"

...haven't found a good gravlax recipe here in our forum. Is it because gravlax is so easy to make? Fermentation used to be a part of the process. Has anyone thought about it in light of fermented sausage techniques?

...and, should alcohol be an integral part of gravlax production too, or confined mainly to the ice fishing phase? ...eh?

[Swallow]

A Canadian friend once explained to me that ice fishing is much safer than other types of fishing, particularly in polluted waters. "Each time you pull a fish out of the water, you stick it head-down in a snow bank," sez he. "Then, when sunset nears, as it gets colder and you're packing up to leave, the mercury goes down, you cut the heads off the fish and you're good to go, eh?"

..
...and, should alcohol be an integral part of gravlax production too, or confined mainly to the ice fishing phase? ...eh?

It works! we been doing it that way fer years, sorta the same thing in the summer, juz in da summer we hangs em heads up an around four AM it's chop chop. An if'n we is poaching an the warden drops by we juz tell em it was the Mercury that killed the fish. Course when we is using dynamite fer bait it don't work so good.

Up here in the Great White North Alcohol and fishing sorta go hand in hand, or is that bottle in hand, Whatever.

Swallow
And what is this Gravlax of which you speak? Is it like Ex-lax but with Grit?

[el Ducko]

Here ya go: my version, pirated from a couple of cookbooks and on-line versions
* 2 large salmon fillets
* 2 tablespoons coarse salt
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1/2 tablespoon coarse-crushed black pepper
* Fresh dill (optional) (Scandinavian version)
* Liquid smoke (optional)(German/Texas version)
Combine salt, sugar, and pepper in a small dish, then rub into flesh of each fillet, making sure to spread mixture uniformly. Layer dill over 1 fillet, then replace the other fillet on top. Put stacked fillets in a flat-bottomed dish large enough to allow fillets to lie flat. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and place another dish on top of the fillets. Place a 3 to 5 pound weight on top to compress fillets. Place in refrigerator.

Once a day, flip fillets, replace the plastic wrap and weight, then return to refrigerator. After 4 to 5 days, the gravlachs is ready. Eat as you would smoked salmon.

...looks an awful lot like salt curing, doesn't it?

[Swallow]

...looks an awful lot like salt curing, doesn't it? [/quote]
It does and it also reads a lot like the way that the Scandinavians up here and in Minnesota do craw-fish, cept for the liquid smoke and the addition of lots of vinegar .

Swallow.

[el Ducko]

There's an Emeril Lagasse version with vodka. ...doesn't seem to change the taste much, tho. I prefer to consume some vodka, then the fish, then more vodka.

[story28]

Here is a pretty informative excerpt from Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking pg. 235:

According to food ethnologist Astri Riddervold, Scandinavian fermented fishes -- the original gravlax, Swedish surlax and sursild, Norwegian rakefisk and rakorret were probably the result of a simple dilemma facing medieval fisherman at remote rivers, lakes, and coastlines, who landed many fish but had little salt and few barrels. The solution was to salt the cleaned fish lightly and bury them where they had been caught, in a hole in the ground, perhaps wrapped in birch bark: gravlax means "buried salmon." The low summer temperature of the far northern earth, the airlessness, minimal salt, and added carbohydrates (from the bark, or from whey, malted barley, or flour), all conspired to encourage a lactic fermentation that acidified the fish surface. And enzymes from the fish muscle and bacteria broke protein and fish oil down to produce a buttery texture and powerful, sharp, cheesy smell: The SUR in SURsild and SURlax means "sour".

The book also mentions that traditional gravlax was made with pine needles. However, dill has taken its place in modern day preparation.

[Swallow]

There's an Emeril Lagasse version with vodka. ...doesn't seem to change the taste much, tho. I prefer to consume some vodka, then the fish, then more vodka.

It would probably work with Rye Whiskey as well or Scotch or Schnapps or Tequila or Rum white or dark or Beer even. Yeah it would work with beer, but yuh gots to measure out those ingredients real careful like. Two salmon fillets with whatever and one twelve pack of Beer for the cure.

Swallow

[ssorllih]

James Beard's New Fish Cookery prescribs this recipe for GRAVID LAX
4-5 pounds dressed and boned salmon
2/3 cup of salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon coursely ground black pepper
a pinch of salt peter. (now we know one reason it is no longer used)
I would substitute a scant teaspoon of cure#1
fresh dill
Cut the salmon into two even pieces
Combine the salt, sugar, pepper, and cure #1 and rub it into all sides of the fish
Line glass cassarole with dill sprigs and lay the salmon skin side down on the sprigs and sprinkle the rest of the spice mixture on the salmon. Layer one piece skinside up on the other piece with more dill in between. place a weighted board on top of the fish and refrigerate for 24 hours or more.

Edit to add; James Peterson uses similar porportions but sometime uses basil or tarrigon in place of the dill and he uses no cure.

[Devo]

Smoked Gravlax

Ingredients:
2 one lbs. center cut Salmon fillets pin bones removed skin on.
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup kosher salt, (substitute non-iodized table or pickling salt)
1 tablespoon coriander seed, just crushed
1-tablespoon white peppercorns just crushed. (Substitute black peppercorns)
1/4 cup aquavit or vodka,
2 ounces chopped fresh dill, (out of season I use dried dill).

Directions:

Mix sugar, salt, coriander seed, and peppercorns.
Place fillets, skin side down, on plastic wrap & cover flesh side with spice mix.
Spread dill over spice mix & pour half of aquavit (or vodka) on each fillet.
Place one fillet on top of other, thick back of one fillet over thin belly of other.
Wrap sandwich tightly with plastic wrap, wrap again for several layers.
Put fillet sandwich in large enough glass pan.
Place smaller glass pan on top of fillet sandwich and weight with a 6-pack of ?
Place in refrigerator.
Every 12 hours turn fillet sandwich, top to bottom. Keep refrigerated and weighted.
After 3 or 4 days unwrap fillets and rinse off.
Dry in refrigerator for a few hours
Cold smoke, 40 minutes, vent almost closed.
Before serving age for a day or so--freeze for later use.
To serve slice thin, close to horizontal, cutting towards where fish head used to be.

[JerBear]

This is the recipe from a restaurant I worked at in Pocantico Hills, NY.

1 qt sugar
1 ea Baleine Sea Salt
1 Tbl coriander, toasted and cracked
1 Tbl Black peppercorns, toasted and cracked
zest of 2 limes
zest of 2 lemons
zest of 2 oranges
1 qt fennel fronds, chopped
2" piece ginger, fine chopped
2" piece lemongrass, find chopped
1 cup gin

Mix all ingredients together (except the gin) and spread half of cure in a thick layer on a sheet tray. Using your fingers sprinkle half the gin over the cure. Place down salmon fillet. Top with remainder of cure and using your fingers again sprinkle over the remaining gin.

I'm not a big fan of salmon but this is a pretty rockin' recipe!

[ssorllih]

This is the recipe from a restaurant I worked at in Pocantico Hills, NY.

1 qt sugar
1 ea Baleine Sea Salt
1 Tbl coriander, toasted and cracked
1 Tbl Black peppercorns, toasted and cracked
zest of 2 limes
zest of 2 lemons
zest of 2 oranges
1 qt fennel fronds, chopped
2" piece ginger, fine chopped
2" piece lemongrass, find chopped
1 cup gin

Mix all ingredients together (except the gin) and spread half of cure in a thick layer on a sheet tray. Using your fingers sprinkle half the gin over the cure. Place down salmon fillet. Top with remainder of cure and using your fingers again sprinkle over the remaining gin.

I'm not a big fan of salmon but this is a pretty rockin' recipe!

1 ea Baleine Sea Salt. How much is this in cups?
And how much fish is cured by this recipe?

[JerBear]

Sorry, restaurant quantities can be funky sometimes. It's one canister of the fine sea salt which is 750 g or 26.5 oz. Sorry, I don't know how much that would be in cups, because different salts will measure different volumes depending on crystal size. Maybe about 2-2.5 cups but this is a finer ground sea salt. Weight is the best options if you can do it.

You can substitute normal kosher salt but if you wanted La Baleine you can get it from Amazon and some well-stocked grocers carry it. I remember it just curing a single side of salmon but I don't see why you couldn't do a full fish if you doubled it and did a layer of cure, fish, cure, fish and more cure. If you did two fillets I'd put head to tail for more equal cure contact between the two fillets.