Curing

Originally fish was cured to preserve it. Curing almost always requires salt and sometimes sugar, used either dry or dissolved in water to make brine. (Stockfish, which is air dried with neither salt nor sugar, is one of the rare exceptions.) Nowadays, curing is also used to enhance the flavor of all sorts of foods, not just seafood. But of all foods, with the possible exception of pork, salmon is almost always improved by some degree of curing. Curing removes moisture from salmon, enhances its flavor, makes it less likely to stick to a grill, and gives it a firmer, more toothsome texture. Salmon to be grilled, sautéed, or hot-smoked will always benefit from a 2-hour soaking in salt and sugar brine. Salmon that isn’t going to be cooked is cured longer, usually with dry salt and sugar to give it a very firm texture (making it easy to cut into thin slices) and to season it throughout. This long curing is the method used for making gravlox or cold-smoked salmon.