Rialto Restaurant & Bar

Char Gravlax

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 literally means “grave” or “to dig” (in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch and Estonian), and lax (or laks), which means “salmon”, thus gravlax means “buried salmon”. This is a preserving method still used for preparing hákarl (“putrified shark”) in Iceland, for rakfisk (“rotten fish”) in Norway, and for surströmming (“soured herring”) in Sweden.

 

¼ cup kosher salt

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 tablespoon cracked white pepper

1 teaspoon each fennel, coriander and mustard seeds, toasted, cooled and crushed

Zest of 1 orange, chopped

Zest of 1 lemon, chopped

2 boned char fillets, skin on, about 1 pound each

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

½ cup basil leaves, washed and dried

¼ cup fennel greens or dill

 

Combine the salt, sugar, pepper, ground spices and zests in a small bowl and mix together well. Rub the fish pieces all over with the mixture. Set one piece of fish, skin side down in a pan. Cover with the thyme, basil leaves and fennel greens. Put the second piece of fish on top, flesh to flesh. Cover with a sheet of plastic. Set a second pan directly on top of the fish. Place weights in the pan, such as bricks or cans. Refrigerate. Allow to cure 2 days, flipping the fish once

The salmon is cured when the flesh is translucent and firm.

Remove the herbs and excess spices and salt from the fish. Put the fillets on a cutting board. Using a very sharp knife on a diagonal, cut the fish into very thin slices, 1/8th inch thick.

Serve on brown bread, crostini or crackers with capers, crème fraiche and a squeeze of lemon.