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Salmon rations

(article, Liz Crain)

Wild salmon populations are down worldwide, thanks to overfishing, global warming, and loss of river water to agriculture. In some areas, commercial salmon-fishing seasons have been restricted and even canceled. 
 
If you still want to enjoy salmon but — mindful of the environment and your wallet — know that you need to buy less of it, making gravlax is a great way to enjoy a small amount of fish. Gravlax is nothing more than cured fish; it's typically served thinly sliced on bread with a cold mustard-dill sauce. 
 
Although gravlax was traditionally cured in Scandinavia for weeks and sometimes months in a hole in the ground, most modern gravlax recipes take just a day or two to cure in the refrigerator with the help of salt, sugar, pepper, dill, and sometimes a little liquor. 
 
The Passionate Cook, aka Johanna Wagner, recently home-cured her own gravlax, adapting a recipe from Marcus Wareing's cookbook [%bookLink code=1405320044 "One Perfect Ingredient, Three Ways To Cook It" newpage=true].
 
Other recent takes on gravlax can be found at the food blogs Old Stove and Rosa's Yummy Yums. And Culinate's version incorporates flat-leaf parsley and lemon zest.