Home-Cured Beetroot Gravadlax

A vivid pink, beetroot and gin-cured salmon gravadlax, finished with a herb and horseradish cure — needs two days of curing but only 20 minutes of hands-on work.

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Recipe Info
Servings: 6
Prep: 30m
Cook: 48h
Total: 48h 30m
Ingredients
  • 2 large fresh beetroot, peeled and quartered
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • Zest of 2 lemons
  • 2 juniper berries, bashed
  • 6 tbsp rock salt
  • 2 tbsp demerara sugar
  • 50ml gin
  • 1 x 800g side of salmon, from sustainable sources
  • Small bunch fresh dill, finely chopped
  • Small bunch fresh tarragon, leaves picked and finely chopped
  • 4 tbsp freshly grated horseradish
  • 50ml gin (for the herb cure)
  • 1 loaf brown bread, to serve
  • A few handfuls watercress, washed and spun dry, to serve
  • 1 lemon, cut into wedges, to serve
Instructions
  1. This recipe needs about two days for the flavours to sink into the salmon properly, but only around 20 minutes of actual hands-on curing. Try to get a side of salmon as close as possible to 800g.
  2. For the first cure, blitz the beetroot, orange and lemon zest, and bashed juniper berries in a food processor until you get a fairly smooth paste. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the rock salt and sugar. Pour in the gin and mix well.
  3. Lay the side of salmon skin-side down on a large baking tray and slowly pour over the beetroot cure, using a spatula to spread it all over the flesh. Once well covered, wrap the salmon in a double layer of greaseproof paper, then wrap tightly with cling film, and refrigerate for 24 hours.
  4. The next day, unwrap the salmon carefully and rinse off the cure using 100ml of cold water or gin, poured a splash at a time over a baking tray, using a spoon to gently push the beetroot cure off the fish. Set the rinsed salmon aside.
  5. For the second cure, mix together the chopped herbs, grated horseradish and gin. Put the salmon back into a clean tray, skin-side down, and pack the herb cure onto the flesh with your hands, covering it completely. Wrap again with a double layer of greaseproof paper, then cling film, and refrigerate for another 24 hours.
  6. The salmon will now be perfectly cured. There’s no need to rinse off the second cure — simply slice the salmon as finely as you can on an angle for thin slices of pink, herb-topped gravadlax. Serve with buttered brown bread, watercress and lemon wedges.
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