Beetroot and Blueberry Cured Salmon (Gravlax) for Breakfast Buffet

If you are bored of smoked salmon, try this gorgeous looking alternative- GRAVLAX. It's vibrant in colour, easy to make using basic ingredients, subtle in flavour and absolutely delicious.

Cured salmon is a bit like a cross between sashimi and smoked salmon, albeit with a firmer texture and more flavour.

I'm presenting two different versions- beetroot and blueberry cured salmon. Beetroot adds earthy notes and blueberry adds sweetness. Not a lot, nothing too overpowering, just a small amount, but enough to vow your guests and make any breakfast buffet a memorable experience.

Few things to note:

It's cheaper than smoked salmon. I usually buy 100g smoked salmon for £3, but I can buy 500g raw salmon for £7.
You can use fresh or frozen salmon.
It takes 2 days to cure.
It will keep for 3-5 days in the fridge.

Supplies

Basic recipe for curing fish is pretty simple and tested for centuries: salt & sugar. But we are making a fancy looking salmon you won't find in the supermarket, thus we need a few more ingredients.

Here's the thing- each ingredient adds something extra to the flavour, but if you are short of lemon zest or don't have fresh dill, you can always experiment and omit some things or replace lemon zest with lime, fresh dill with other herbs. Also, if you are absolutely against alcohol, you can use water instead. It's not much alcohol to begin with and it will be rinsed later on, so it can be served to underaged people.

You can scale the recipe up or down.

Blueberry cure for 500g of salmon:

150g blueberries or blackberries- fresh or frozen
150g white sugar (about 2/3 cup)
200g table salt (about 2/3 cup)
Handful of dill (if you bunch it loosely together, it should be the size of a fist)
Zest of one orange or two lemons
50ml gin or vodka

Beetroot cure for 500g salmon:

200g beetroot (about 4 golf ball-sized beets)- raw are best and produce more vibrant colour, but already steamed will work too
150g white sugar (about 2/3 cup)
200g table salt (about 2/3 cup)
Handful of dill (if you bunch it loosely together, it should be the size of a fist)
Zest of one orange or two lemons
50ml gin or vodka

Lets talk about salmon for a second.

In theory, you can use any size you want. Small(120g) fillets, multiple small fillets, larger (500g) fillets or a whole side salmon. It really depends on how many people you serve. 500g of salmon only lasts 2 days in my 3 person household.

If you plan on serving gravlax immediately and predict it will be gone within the same day, you don't have to worry about anything.

However, if you plan on making a large portion and enjoy it over several days, we have to talk about over-curing.

The thicker the salmon cut, the longer it will be succulent in the middle. Thinner parts, closer to the tail are prone to over-curing, especially since everyone always starts slicing the fish from the thickest part. Unfortunately, the curing process doesn't stop and it's especially noticeable on the tail side of the salmon. What it means, basically, is that by the time you get to the tail portion of the gravlax, 1 or 2 days after making it, the meat on that side will be more cured, more leathery, more salty and sort of chewy. It will still be good-ish, but not the best.

So, there are two ways you can prevent over-curing:

Method 1: Cut the tail part off, cook if or freeze it and only use the thickest part for gravlax. I usually buy two 500g fillets, cut off both tails, freeze them for later and cure the rest.

Method 2: Cure the whole fillet and start cutting from the tail side. That way, by the time you get to the thickest part, it will still be succulent.

Step 1: Salmon Preparation

There are many recipes that advise to keep the skin on, but I prefer to skin the salmon beforehand. That way, salt and sugar mixture gets everywhere, colour is distributed evenly and I don't have to worry about having scales in my food.

You will need a sharp knife, preferably for filleting, and some knowledge on how to remove the skin without cutting through the meat. I recommend watching some YouTube videos for guidance. The bigger the fish, the harder it is, as shown in the picture. I completely massacred the skin, but the end result was the same- minimum harm was done to the meat and all skin was removed. Appearance doesn't matter much as this side won't be visible later on.

Rinse the salmon under cold water and pat dry with kitchen towels.

******(Just in case you are confused later on- I run out of salmon and instead of using two 500g fillets I had to cut one in half and used each half for different flavour. That's why they appear smaller in later pictures. They don't shrink, they are just half portions.)

Step 2: Two Different Flavours- How to Cure

For this step you will need a food processor of any kind, as long as it's capable of blending blueberries and/or beetroot. At a push, if you don't have anything like that, you could mash the blueberries with a potato masher or a fork and grate the beets with a fine grater.

How to make the blueberry cure:

Mix sugar and salt together, add grated zest.
In a food processor, blend blueberries, alcohol and dill.
Mix blueberry puree and sugar-salt mixture together.
That's it. Finished ;)

How to make the beetroot cure:

Mix sugar and salt together, add grated zest.
Peel beetroot (use gloves if possible and don't get any juice on your clothes).
Blend beets with alcohol and dill.
Mix beetroot puree with salt- sugar mixture.
Finished.

Beetroot mixture is a bit thicker and more coarse than blueberry one, it's to be expected. And each flavour has a different colour, beetroot is dark pinkish and blueberry is dark purple.

Step 3: Container

Find appropriate containers, small enough to keep salmon tight, but not too small, you don't want the salmon to be squashed or bend.

Line your containers with two layers of cling film, leave some of it hanging from the sides.

Pour a small amount of cure mix into the container, just enough to cover the bottom fully and place salmon on top. Pour the rest of the mixture on top of the fish.

Cover with cling film and seal tightly with a lid or more cling film.

Step 4: Curing Times, Rinsing and Resting

Put the salmon in the fridge and leave it be. Curing process takes 48 hours.

After 2 days, unwrap and rinse the cure from the fish.
Use cold water, be quick and efficient.
Pat the salmon dry with kitchen towels and place it back in the fridge. Ideally you'd want to leave the salmon uncovered, but cover it with cling film if there is any chance your fridge has an odour or other strong smelling food that could potentially permeate the salmon.

Leave for 6-12 hours to cure some more.

Taste the salmon 1-2 hours before serving, just in case it's too salty for you. I've been using this recipe for years and end results are pretty consistent, but on two occasions, for unknown reasons, my salmon turned out way too salty. If this happens to you, you can submerge the salmon in a bowl of cold water and leave it for 30-60 min. Change the water a few times. Taste again after 30 min, if it's still too salty, keep it submerged longer. Pat dry afterwards.

*Submerging in water might wash the colour out a little bit.

Step 5: Slicing

Use a sharp knife and slice it. It's great whether you slice it as thin as smoked salmon or as thick as sashimi. Up to you.

Step 6: Colour Differences

You can very clearly see the difference in colour. Beetroot cure dyes gravlax deep red, blueberry one dyes it almost purple.

Once sliced, you can see how beautifully the beetroot cure bleeds through the flesh and creates a gradient of reds, while blueberry cure stains everything darker purple, including the inside of the salmon.

Step 7: Condiments and What to Serve It With

Just a few examples of what to serve it with if you plan on making a breakfast buffet:

Cucumber- slices or ribbons
Radish- thin slices
Avocado
Eggs
Lemon wedges
Cream cheese
Sour cream
Capers
Dill sauce
Horseradish sauce or wasabi
Horseradish or wasabi mousse (less spicy)-> 1cup heavy cream whipped to stiff peaks (no sugar) mixed with few teaspoons of horseradish or wasabi.
Lightly pickled red onion-> 1TBS sugar and 1TBS salt dissolved in 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup white wine vinegar; poured over thinly sliced onion; left to pickle for 2 hours.
Bagels, dark rye breads, toasted breads, blinis, crackers

Step 8: Arranging the Buffet

If you are not a pro at charcuterie and don't have any huge wooden boards or serving trays you can do what I usually do and serve the buffet directly on top of the table or a sideboard. Protect your surfaces with a few sheets of aluminium foil and cover that with a large piece of coloured paper, A1 or A2, and then arrange your food directly on top. You could also use brown baking paper.