- Gravlax
Gravlax or gravad lax (Swedish, Danish), gravlaks (Norwegian), graavilohi (Finnish), graflax (Icelandic) is a
Scandinavia n dish consisting of rawsalmon cured insalt ,sugar , anddill . Gravlax is usually served as anappetizer , sliced thinly and accompanied by "hovmästarsås" (also known as "gravlaxsås"), a dill and mustard sauce, either on bread of some kind, or with boiled potatoes.During the
Middle Ages , gravlax was made by fishermen, who salted the salmon and lightly fermented it by burying it in the sand above the high-tide line. The word "gravlax" comes from the Scandinavian word "grav", which means literally "grave" or "hole in the ground" (in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Estonian), and "lax" (or "laks"), which means "salmon", thus gravlax is "salmon dug into the ground".Today fermentation is no longer used in the production process. Instead the salmon is "buried" in a dry marinade of salt, sugar, and dill, and cured for a few days. As the salmon cures, by the action of
osmosis , the moisture turns the dry cure into a highly concentratedbrine , which can be used in Scandinavian cooking as part of asauce Harv|Ruhlman|2005|pp=51-52. This same method of curing can be used for any fatty fish, but salmon is the most common. Modern variations on the marinade can includefennel andPernod ,black pepper andcoriander seed, orhorseradish Harv|Ruhlman|2005|p=51.Commercially prepared gravlax is sometimes smoked, and as such is incorrectly termed "gravlax". Salmon is often served in Scandinavia also raw and uncured, not unlike
sashimi , but calling it "gravlax" is also incorrect.ee also
*
Lox (salmon)
*Surströmming
*Rakfisk
*Hákarl
*Sashimi References
* Citation
last1=Ruhlman
first1=M.
author1-link=Michael Ruhlman
last2=Polcyn
first2=B.
title=Charcuterie
publisher=W.W. Norton & Company
place=New York, NY
edition=1st
year=2005.External links
* [http://www.aopy00.dsl.pipex.com/recipes/gravlax.shtml Recipe for gravlax and gravlaxsås]
* [http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe.php?id=132&title=Gravlax Cooking For Engineers: Gravlax] - recipe with step-by-step pictures
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