Salmon is a versatile and tasty fish. Sushi, salmon baked with lemon and dill butter, salmon cakes, smoked salmon shavings topping oysters and Gravlax are just a few examples.

I stumbled onto making Gravlax, cured salmon, as a way to satiate my lox obsession. Lox, of course, is salmon that has been smoked. Since I lack the equipment at home, not to mention space, to smoke my own making Gravlax was a great alternative. It is also much more economical then purchasing those little packets of the smoked salmon.

The cure essentially “cooks” the salmon so you don’t need to worry about eating raw fish. It is very easy to make, all you need are lemon juice, salt, sugar, salmon, room in the fridge and patience. The final item being the most difficult for me to procure!

You can make this in as small or large amounts as you wish. All you need to remember is for every 3 pounds of salmon you need 1 pound of cure.

Cure: 2 parts sugar to 1 part salt. IE 4 cups of sugar and 2 cups of salt etc.

1 salmon fillet, bones removed. Pour fresh lemon juice over the fillet covering both sides.

Lay down a piece of plastic wrap large enough to wrap the salmon in. I suggest enough wrap around the fillet twice.

Allowing enough space to be able to begin wrapping salmon, distribute ½ the cure to equal the size of the fillet on the plastic wrap. Place the fillet on top of the bed of cure and place the rest of the cure on top side of the salmon. There should be about a ½ inch of cure surrounding the fish. Wrap the fillet tightly in the plastic wrap, flattening as you go. With a pin, poke about 5 holes on each side of the fillet. Place fillet between two plates or small cookie sheets and weigh down in the refrigerator.

Leave in the refrigerator for 3 days total (72 hours); turning the salmon every 12 hours. At the end of the curing time, remove the salmon from the wrap and lightly rinse any cure that is stuck to the fillet off with cold water. Slice the fillet as you would smoked salmon and enjoy!