Christoph and Steffi's Food and Travel & Christoph and Steffi's Food and Travel
A jar of pale green-flecked dill and lemon rub beside a raw salmon fillet dusted with it, with dill fronds and a lemon on a pale board
AI-generated image
condiment NordicEuropean Dairy-freeGluten-freeNut-free fishmake-aheadno-cook

Salmon and fish rub

Dill, lemon and fennel with almost no paprika and no cayenne at all, because fish cooks hot and fast and has nothing to hide behind. Double the salt and add sugar and the same jar becomes a gravlax cure.

Prep5 min
0 0
Servings12
Cook mode

The house fish jar, dill-led and built to double as a cure

Ingredients

Units
Temperature
Servings
12

Rub

  • 30 g dried dill, the lead flavour, and far more than a rub usually takes
  • 25 g fine salt
  • 20 g dried lemon zest
  • 12 g fennel seed, cracked, not powdered
  • 10 g white pepper, white rather than black, which would speckle the fillet
  • 8 g garlic granules
  • 6 g sweet paprika, a trace, for colour only

Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.

Method

  1. Crack the fennel seed rather than grinding it. Powdered fennel dominates; cracked fennel sits underneath.
  2. Apply lightly and only 15 minutes before cooking. Fish is thin and takes salt fast, and an hour under this rub starts curing it rather than seasoning it.
  3. Cook it hot and quickly, around 200°C. There is very little sugar in the jar precisely so that you can.

The same jar as a cure

Change two numbers and this becomes gravlax. For a 500 g side of salmon, mix 60 g of this rub with 60 g of coarse salt and 60 g of sugar, pack it over the fish, weigh it down and refrigerate for 48 hours, turning once a day and pouring off the liquid.

The rub is already dill, lemon and fennel led, which is exactly the classic Nordic cure. The only thing separating a seasoning from a cure is the ratio of salt to everything else, and time.

Notes

  • No cayenne on purpose. Salmon is rich but delicate, and chilli heat flattens it. If you want heat, put it in a sauce alongside.
  • White pepper for appearance. Black pepper works identically but leaves the fillet looking dirty.
  • It is very good on prawns and on white fish, and on roast cauliflower.
  • It keeps four months. Dried dill fades faster than most herbs, so make small jars.

Ingredient substitutions

  • Dried dill is Dillspitzen in Germany. Fresh dill cannot be used in a dry rub; it steams rather than crisps and turns the jar mouldy.
  • Fennel seed can be caraway for a more central European direction, which suits trout better than salmon.

Sources consulted

Good with

Sources consulted

From Christoph Mayer

Enjoyed this? Buy us a coffee ☕

Cooked this?

How was it?