Gravlaks - Cured Salmon

This is a dish I DO like and I am sure a lot of you will too. It's the sushi of the North, as it is raw fish, but we have cured it for a couple of days first. We normally buy it already made, but it's easy to make yourself if you get good salmon. And good salmon does not need to come from Norway. I think I would prefer Irish salmon (if I had a choice, which I don't), since they seem to produce their salmon in more open water than we do, and which should guarantee that the fish get fresh water all the time, and in spite of this, it seems to be sold at half price in comparison to the Norwegian salmon in most places I have visited. And that, my friends, has nothing to do with the quality of the fish. It's because the salaries of the Norwegians who produce our fish is so much higher than the salaries of the Irish who produce their fish. However, if you have a posh moment, go for the Norwegian fish by all means, just remember that we will not starve if you chose the Irish - we have other stuff in our waters besides fish!

You need:
 1 fillet of salmon divided in two across
3 tablespoons of sugar
3 tablespoons of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper
brandy, or aquavit (optional)
lots of fresh dill (or dried, but here fresh is better) finely chopped.

Wash the salmon well and scrape off the shells on the skin side. Put one piece with the skin side down in a dish, (at this point you drip brandy/aquavit over it)  rub in half the salt/sugar/pepper mixture into it, and do the same with the other half. Put the dill over the first fillet, the other fillet over and this time with the skin up. Put the whole dish in a plastic bag, and put something flat over, such as a cutting board. Put something heavy on top of that, as it needs a bit of pressure. Now you just leave it in the fridge for three days. Once per day take it out and turn the fish over.

Here is a Swedish guy who shows you how to do it on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzIrYFbLC-U

And if you can't be bothered, I hate to say it again: IKEA!

After three days your fish is done and you slice it in as think slices as possible, and at an angle, so that you get as big pieces of it as possible. When serving I use either Pumpernickel bread or buttered toast. On top of that I put a lettuce or two, then the gravlaks which is garnished with a lemon wedge and a twig of dill. For this we have

Mustard sauce

Mix together  1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon of honey and 1 tablespoon of chopped dill (dried is fine here). Add drops of oil to the mixture while you stir, like as if to make maionaise. When the sauce seems to be like .... sauce, you are done.