Salt curing salmon and it's a little raw still.

Hi! I am salt curing salmon. Following two recipes from Cured (Wildsmith) and Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It (Solomon). I heavily salted said salmon and wrapped it tightly in plastic wrap. It sat for three days in the frig, per the recipes. So I unwrapped it and rinsed it and it is still mostly raw. Does any one have any experience with curing? I was thinking that I would just salt it again and let it sit for a day or two longer. Any thoughts? Thanks!!

Allingwelsh
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4 Comments

Allingwelsh
Allingwelsh April 28, 2011
Thanks! These answers do help. Gravlax tastes wonderful.

 
usuba D.
usuba D. April 28, 2011
I have cured and smoked salmon in my former years. I only cured the salmon for 24 hours, but finished the drying through the smoking process. I found anything over 24 hours made the fish too salty. If you are curing only, I feel that you still need to air dry the product to firm up the fish. I have never made gravalax, but a Danish chef friend of mine also cured his for only 24 hours and it was a fantastic product.
 
edamame2003
edamame2003 April 28, 2011
i made gravlax, but did not heavily salt it. used a mixture of salt and sugar, spices and fennel. evenly layer the bottom of the container--place the fish skin side down and lightly cover the top with the preserving mixture. the fish should release a bit of liquid and feel firm, not squishy. I left a 1 pound piece in the fridge for about 2 days before it was ready. hope that helps...
 
prettyPeas
prettyPeas April 28, 2011
The texture of cured salmon is not really like that of cooked salmon, it is still fairly tacky, but with less water content (firmer) than ucured salmon.
When I've made gravalax the salmon has been encased in 2 T salt and 2 T sugar per pound, plus seasonings, which is more of an encrusting than heavily salting. It is usually done in about two days in the refrigerator.
Also, it's safest to use commercially frozen salmon for this--freezing for over seven days kills the parasites that could be in the fish.
 
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