Tip Off The Old Spruce
Around Southcentral and Southeast Alaska, spruce tips appear pretty reliably around Mother’s Day. Poet Seamus Heaney even referenced the bright fresh color, describing the “May-green spruce,” in his G...
Used with permission from laurieconstantino.com; adapted by Erica Thompson Clark
Erica was raised in Kodiak, Alaska. When she and I were both living in Cordova, Alaska as Coast Guard spouses, she took me on my first spruce tip foray. Erica won the grand prize at the annual Taste of Cordova wild food cook-off with this dish. Gravlax is a salt and sugar, quick-cured, raw salmon treat with Scandinavian origins. It’s a great way to make use of fillets you have in the freezer before the season begins. NOTE: When eating any salmon raw, begin with commercially frozen salmon, or salmon that’s been in a home freezer at -4 degrees F for at least 7 days.
Chef Laurie Constantino is the author of Tastes Like Home: Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. Her website offers a wealth of information and recipes for cooks and foragers alike.
Ingredients
- 2 salmon fillets, skin on
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup course sea salt
- 1/4 cup cracked black peppercorns
- 1 cup fresh or frozen spruce tips, finely chopped
- 2/3 cup vodka (Laurie likes citrus vodka)
Preparation
Rinse salmon fillets, pat dry, and place on cookie rack to air dry.
Mix the sugar, sea salt, and peppercorns together.
Place one fillet, skin side down, in a 9x13-inch glass casserole dish. Sprinkle with half the chopped spruce tips and spread half the sugar/ salt/peppercorn mix evenly.
Drizzle 1/3 cup of the vodka over it. Be careful not to rinse the sugar/salt/ pepper cure off!
Place second fillet on a cookie sheet, repeat preparation.
Quickly flip second fillet onto the first. Pour any vodka runoff into the pan with fish.
Cover casserole dish with wax paper or plastic wrap, and place a heavy book wrapped in a plastic bag on top. Put it in the fridge and flip salmon every 12 hours for 3 days.
After 3 days, gently scrape salt/sugar/ peppercorn cure off, leaving as much of the chopped spruce tips on as possible, or garnish with some freshly chopped spruce tips before serving.
Serve with bread or crackers, cream cheese or goat cheese, sliced lemon, and capers.
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