{{Short description|Nordic dish consisting of raw salmon cured in salt, sugar, and dill}} {{refimprove|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox prepared food | name = Gravlax | image = Laxrätter.jpg | caption = Salmon dishes: gravlax in the middle, cold-smoked on the left and warm-smoked on the right | alternate_name = Gravad lax, grav(ad)laks, gravad laks | country = Nordic countries | region = | creator = | course = Hors d'oeuvre | type = | served = | main_ingredient = salmon, salt, sugar, dill/spruce | variations = | calories = | other = }} thumb|Gravlax with hovmästarsås (a mustard and dill sauce)
'''Gravlax''' ({{IPA|sv|ˈgrɑ̂ːvlakːs|lang}}), '''gravad lax''', '''gravlaks''' or '''graved salmon''' is a Nordic dish consisting of salmon that is cured using a mix of salt, sugar and dill. It is garnished with fresh dill or spruce twigs<ref>{{cite book |title=Nya stora kokboken |trans-title=New Big Cookbook |first=Karin |last=Fredrikson |publisher=Wezäta |location=Gothenburg |year=1963 |page=229 |lang=sv}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Bonniers kokbok |trans-title=Bonniers cookbook |lang=sv |first1=Birgit |last1=Hemberg |first2=Fredrik |last2=Eriksson |publisher=Bonnierförlagens Press |date=16 August 2005 |page=267 |isbn=9789100103781}}</ref> and may occasionally be cold-smoked after it is cured. Gravlax is usually served as an appetizer, sliced thinly and accompanied by a dill and mustard sauce known as {{Lang|sv|hovmästarsås}} (also known in Sweden as {{Lang|sv|gravlaxsås}}, in Norway as {{Lang|no|sennepssaus}}, literally 'mustard sauce', in Denmark as {{Lang|da|rævesovs}}, literally 'fox sauce', in Iceland as {{Lang|is|graflaxsósa}}, and in Finland as {{Lang|fi|hovimestarinkastike}}, literally 'butler's sauce'), either on bread or with boiled potatoes.
==Etymology== The word {{Lang|sv|gravlax}} comes from the Northern Germanic word {{Lang|gmq|gräva/grave}} ('to dig'; modern sense 'to cure (fish)') which goes back to the Proto-Germanic {{Lang|gem-x-proto|*grabą}}, {{Lang|gem-x-proto|*grabō}} ('hole in the ground; ditch, trench; grave') and the Indo-European root {{Lang|ine-x-proto|*gʰrebʰ-}} 'to dig, to scratch, to scrape',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://g3.spraakdata.gu.se/saob/show.phtml?filenr=1/88/46.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304200115/http://g3.spraakdata.gu.se/saob/show.phtml?filenr=1/88/46.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 |work=Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Swedish Academy Dictionary] |title=GRAV |lang=sv}}</ref> and {{Lang|sv|lax}}''/''{{Lang|no|laks}}, 'salmon'.
==History== During the Middle Ages, gravlax was made by fishermen, who salted the salmon and lightly fermented it by burying it in the sand above the high-tide line. Perhaps the oldest reference is found in 1348 in ''Diplomatarium Norvegicum''<ref>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=25 January 1348 |title=Diplomatarium Norvegicum |url=https://www.dokpro.uio.no/cgi-bin/middelalder/diplom_vise_tekst.cgi?b=2541&s=e&str= |access-date=23 January 2026}}</ref> as the nickname of a man named Óláfr, who was a delegate in a salmon fishery.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lidén |first1=Evald |title=Äldre Nordiska Tillnamn |journal=Studier I Nordisk Filologi |date=1910 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=21–22 |hdl=2027/uc1.$b418982 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.$b418982 |access-date=15 November 2024}}</ref>
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 between twelve hours and a few days. As the salmon cures, osmosis moves moisture out of the fish and into the salt and sugar, turning the dry mixture into a highly concentrated brine, which can be used in Scandinavian cooking as part of a sauce.<ref>{{cite book |title=Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing |first1=Michael |last1=Ruhlman |author1-link=Michael Ruhlman |first2=Brian |last2=Polcyn |first3=Yevgenity |last3=Solovyev |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |date=10 September 2013 |isbn=978-0393240054 |pages=51–52}}</ref> This same method of curing can be employed for any fatty fish, but salmon is the most commonly used.
==See also== {{Portal|Food}} {{div col|colwidth=30em}} * {{annotated link|Cured fish}} * {{annotated link|Carpaccio}} * {{annotated link|Gwamegi}} * {{annotated link|Hákarl}} * {{annotated link|List of hors d'oeuvre}} * {{annotated link|List of raw fish dishes}} * {{annotated link|Lox}} * {{annotated link|Rakfisk}} * {{annotated link|Sashimi}} * {{annotated link|Surströmming}} {{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Wiktionary}} {{Cookbook}} {{Commons category|Gravad lax}}
{{Salmon dishes}} {{salmon}} {{seafood}}
Category:Danish cuisine Category:Finnish cuisine Category:Icelandic cuisine Category:Norwegian cuisine Category:Salmon dishes Category:Swedish cuisine Category:Scandinavian cuisine Category:Swedish words and phrases Category:Hors d'oeuvres