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Cured Salmon with Fennel

  • baking dish, large enough for salmon
  • plastic wrap
  • pan
  • canned good or a brick for weighing down
  • butcher's paper or parchment paper
  • large bowl
  • 2-3 Popsie Sockeye Salmon Fillets (skin on, pin bones removed)
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 cup sugar (light brown, packed)
  • ¾ cup kosher salt
  • ¼ cup pernod ((anise-flavored liquor))
  • 1 bulb fennel, with stalks and leaves (thinly sliced)
  • ½ cup fennel seeds (toasted)
  • 2 Tbsp white peppercorns (toasted and cracked)
  1. Mix the sugars and salt well. Sprinkle 1/2 of the sugar/salt mixture over the bottom of the baking dish

  2. Place salmon on the mixture.

  3. Sprinkle both sides of the salmon with the pernod, then cover with the remaining salt mixture.

  4. Layer the sliced fennel over the top, followed by the fennel seeds and the white peppercorns.

  5. Cover with plastic wrap.

  6. Place a large pan on top of the salmon and weigh it down with canned goods or brick between 4-8 pounds.

  7. Refridgerate salmon for 48 hours.

  8. (After 48 hours, the salmon should be firm to the touch. If it stills feels raw and squishy, cover and leave to cure for 24 more hours.)

  9. When salmon is fully cured, discard the spices, rinse the salt and sugar off.

  10. Pat dry. To store, wrap butchers paper.

To toast peppercorns or any small spices, heat them gently in any small skillet.

Optional Preparations:  Substitute any of the following for fennel for flavor variations.

Traditional Grav Lox: Generous bunch of dill

Citrus: orange and lemon zest.  

Pastrami style: Black pepper and coriander

Horseradish: grated fresh horshradish

 

 

Appetizer, Salad
Scandanavian
Alaskan Salmon, Cured Salmon, gravlax, kosher salt, lemon zest, Salmon Fillet, Salmon Lox, Sockeye Salmon Fillet, The Popsie Fish Company, Wild Alaska Salmon