Gravlax

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Gravlax on crisp bread, garnished with pepper and lemon

Gravlax or Gravad lax (Swedish, Danish), Gravlaks (Norwegian), Graavilohi (Finnish), Graflax (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian appetizer consisting of thin sashimi-like slices of salmon cured in salt, sugar and dill.

Gravlax is traditionally served on bread with gravlaxsås, a dill and mustard sauce.

During the Middle Ages, gravlax was made by fishermen by salting the salmon and lightly fermenting it by burying it in the sand above the high-tide line. The word gravlax comes from the Scandinavian words grav, which means literally "grave" or "hole in the ground" (in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish), and lax (or laks), which means "salmon", thus gravlax is "buried salmon", or, more literally, "entombed salmon".

Today fermentation is no longer used in the production process. Instead the salmon is "buried" in a dry marinade of salt, sugar and dill, and cured for a few days. Marinades can also be made with vodka, pureed beet, molasses, maple syrup, port, etc.