Gravlax with Mustard Sauce

Ingredients

• 800 g very fresh salmon fillet, skin on, pin-boned
• 90 g coarse sea salt
• 70 g caster sugar
• a very large bunch of dill
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns, crushed
• 3 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp honey
• 4 tsp white wine vinegar
• 90 ml neutral oil
• rye bread, to serve

Method

1. Buy fish you would eat raw

   This is cured, not cooked. Use sashimi-grade salmon, or salmon that has been frozen at -20°C for at least 24 hours, which is what kills any parasites.

2. Mix the cure

   Combine the salt, sugar and crushed peppercorns. Roughly 1.3 parts salt to 1 part sugar is the ratio — more salt and it turns leathery, more sugar and it stays slack.

3. Pack and weight it

   Lay half the dill in a dish, sit the salmon on top skin-down, pack the cure over the flesh, and pile the rest of the dill on. Cover, weight it with tins, and refrigerate.

   5 min

4. Cure for 48 hours

   Turn it every 12 hours and pour off the brine that collects. It draws out a surprising amount of liquid, and the flesh goes from soft to firm and translucent. Forty-eight hours is right for a thick fillet; 24 if it is thin.

   12 h

5. Make the hovmästarsås

   Whisk both mustards with the honey and vinegar, then trickle in the oil to emulsify, and stir through a handful of chopped dill. It should be thick and sweet-sharp.

6. Slice thin

   Scrape off the cure, pat dry, and slice on a long diagonal as thinly as you can, leaving the skin behind. Serve on rye with the mustard sauce. It keeps a week wrapped in the fridge.