SC - gravlax

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Stefan li Rous wrote:
> 
> Thanks for the personal experience with making the gravlax. You question
> whether the Vikings would have had the dill and white pepper. I would
> question, if not more so, the Norse having the sugar. The amount of
> sugar required would seem to put it out of reach in this time period
> from what I've seen mentioned on this list earlier. When even several
> hundred years later sugar was treated more like a medicine and rationed
> out carefully, it would seem that using it to preserve fish would not
> have been done.
> 
> I like your idea of using diluted honey as I doubt that honey was
> cheap either, just more available and cheaper than sugar.

I vaguely recall reading somewhere (was it Elisabeth Luard, Stefan?)
that the concept of fermenting/pickling/curing fish is extremely old,
and probably well-known to the Vikings. I'll have to dredge up the
details, but the method discussed appears to have included evergreen
branches as a wrapper for structural support and drainage, with the
package being buried in the sand above the high tide line. The dill and
the sugar, and perhaps in some cases even the salt (not to mention the
optional hooch) appear to have been later additions. Again, I only
vaguely recall this, but I could swear it was claimed that the
difference between dishes like gravlax and things like haakarl
(Greenland shark cured until reaching a texture and flavor similar to
Brie) was the type of fish used, and the degree of fermentation. 

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com