Gravlax salmon with beet recipe

The classic Scandinavian recipe of gravlax of vintage salmon with beets: sublime red pink color on the plates and to taste.

Here is a delicious very colorful variant of the famous Nordic dish, gravlax or Gravadlax salmon.
No worries, the pink color fuchsia -rouge permeates the salmon, giving it a very elegant side which allows you to give free rein to its imagination for beautiful dressings, but the taste remains subtle and balanced, it does not take over.

To prepare the gravlax salmon, you must first marinate for several hours raw salmon in a dry marinadethat is to say without adding a liquid ingredient, With 3 main ingredients: salt with sugar, grated raw beet. To this can be added herbs most often dill, pepper or 5 berries, lemon zesta line of vodka or gin … here we add grated raw beet.
After a rest time with the marinade from 24 to 48 hours,, we rinseleave a little rest so that the flesh firm up for 24 hours again. So prepare the countdown.
So start 2 days in advance For a marinade like me 24 hours.

Gravlax beet salmon is often served in thin slicesaccompanied by toast or blinis bread and a cream and/ or white cheese sauce seasoned with lemon zest, a little pepper or Espelette pepper and chopped dill.
My other suggestion is my white cheese sauce, Savora mustard, lemon and dill that we love at home, to be used in toast on blinis or toast.
The recipe is provided here for 4 people at a starter or more if served as an aperitif.

This recipe is also rich in nutrients.
Salmon is an excellent source of protein, omega-3 fatty acids and B12 and D vitamins. Beet is rich in fiber, vitamin C and minerals such as iron and potassium. The beet gravlax salmon is therefore a healthy and nutritious dish.

Origin of gravlax salmon

For the record, here is what I have read, but as much for information on French gastronomy I have many resources and rely more on my books than to Wikipedia, as much for what is out of our borders, I synthesize what I understood, by putting conditional because nothing beats the expertise of a room.

I mainly refer here to what says Swedish chef Magnus Nilsson. After having made its classes in France, in particular at Arpège, its restaurant, Fäviken Closed since 2019, eu two stars in the Michelin guide and was ranked among the best restaurants in the world. He wrote several books on Nordic cuisine.

Gravlax salmon is a northern ancestral dish. Gravlax is actually both a dish and a “cooking” method. It comes from Sweden where The word gravlax means in Swedish “burying”. But throughout Scandinavia we find under other names: Gravlaks in Norway, from Graavilohi to Finland, from Gravad Laks to Denmark…
In the Middle Ages, Swedish fishermen used to bury the fish in the sand to make it ferment and keep it during the winter months.
Gravad Lax therefore meaning the buried salmon. At the start the method, today the method giving its name to the flat. Over time, this method has evolved to become the dry marinade technique that we know today.

The original recipe was probably very sober, contenting itself with briefing the fish without using other seasonings. It was not until the 18th century that dill and white pepper began to be added. Chef Magnus Nilsson explains that even if: “At the beginning, it was just a piece of salmon in quarters and today it is a piece of salmon marinated in a mixture with a third of salt and two thirds of sugar.”

There are now many variants. My friend Birgit of the Cookingout blog who has Nordic origins explains that her family recipe is traditionally made with dill, jamaica pepper, cloves, salt and sugar. In Norway, it would often be added juniper and marade mustard. In Finland, you would sometimes use maple syrup to replace sugar.

The version of Salmon Gravlax with beets is much more recent. Birgit talks about having seen this recipe for the first time in the 2010 Delicious magazine.

So what is the gravlax method?

This Nordic technique implies the preparation of a mixture of salt and sugar, embellished with herbs, spices, even alcohols (such as gin, vodka, whiskey … depending on the preferences).
The food is then coated with this marinade and lets rest in the fridge for at least 24 hours before being rinsed to be desalcated.
Recipes often give approximate time speaking from 24 to 48 hours. I find that 24 hours is good.

What types of food can be treated like Gravlax? Although the gravlax was initially developed for fish such as salmon, this technique can also be applied to other ingredients.
In addition to fish, favoring those with fatty flesh, this method can extend to meats, thus offering an interesting alternative to cold meats.

The choice of salmon

For this recipe, it is recommended to use very fresh and quality salmon. It is important to choose a salmon with A firm texture and a bright color.
Ideally choose a red label salmon or from Alaska, Norway, Scotland or Finland

Avoid the too fatty pieces with a lot of white parts. Choose a fairly homogeneous thickness For a better result.
Ask your fishmonger to Disadvant. Otherwise arm yourself with patience and tweezers, pass your finger along the net to well identify the edges and remove them one by one.
It is also advised to remove the skinsalting will be all the more effective and the color well impregnated.

Should we freeze the salmon and why?

It is recommended to freeze the salmon for 72 hours before preparing the gravlax. This allows you to kill the parasites that can be present in raw fish. Freezing does not change the quality of the salmon, but it guarantees optimal food security. Let it thaw in the refrigerator rather than room temperature. It is optional but allows you to avoid any risk.

The ingredients of the dry marinade

Preparation of beets

Beet is the key ingredient for this recipe. You have to choose raw beets. You can test with cooked beets, but it will make more juice you want and the marinade will be less effective because let’s not forget that the salt is there to cook the salmon.
Beet must be finely grated And mixed with salt, sugar and herbs. Be careful, it stains!

Which salt to choose

Of coarse salt Rather than fine salt. And ideally sea saltit is less aggressive than mineral salt.

Sugar

Ideally brown sugar.
Why add sugar when preparing the gravlax? Sugar will promote the opening of the “pores” of the fish, thus facilitating the faster penetration of salt inside, while balancing salinity without attacking the flesh of the fish too much. It also gives a softer flavor to salmon.

Herbs

Ideally fresh rather than driedthey are tasty, but both may be suitable. Gravaldax salmon is traditionally made with dill. It is true that it agrees wonderfully well. I have never tested other fresh herbs.

Pepper

The pepper makes it possible to note a little the flavors of the Gravalax salmon, even more softened than normal with the addition of beets which has a fairly sweet flavor. There are lots of varieties of peppers. The 5 bay mixture Associating peppers, pink berries … is ultimately what I prefer and recommend you in this recipe. I coarsely crushed it with a pestle.

Citrus zest

Here A lime and lemon mixture, finely grated With a microplane grater, a grater that allows you to make very fine zest.
Otherwise, using a zest peel the lemon, taking care to take only the colored upper part and not white, which is called the Ziste. This part of the zest would bring bitterness. In short, make strips of zest and mince them finely in one direction then in the other.
You can also test with orange zest.
And as always when you use the zest or the skin of a fruit or vegetable, Choose BIOSor at least in reasoned agriculture or the zero pesticide residue label.

Why a little gin or vodka?

So there I did not understand what it brought. Personally I don’t put it, that’s why I have noted that as optional. But most of the recipes you will find on the net or in magazines put. I give you a little update here as soon as I have pierced this riddle.