Brad Makes Gravlax (Cured Salmon)

Oh, it's the beginning. The beginning.

[intense music]

Beginning of the end, the end of the beginning.

[intense music]

All right.

[drum roll]

[futuristic synth music]

Cool.

Hey guys, today on It's Alive,

we're gonna be making one of my favorite dishes is a,

well, I guess it's not a dish,

one of my favorite foods.

Hey guys, today on It's Alive.

Hey guys, today on It's Alive,

we're gonna be making gravlax or lox.

It's a nice cured salmon that we're gonna slice real thin.

We'll put it over a little bagel or a little bialy,

whatever you're into,

but we're gonna do it.

I got some real nice Atlantic salmon.

I'm sorry, that's not it at all.

It's not from the Atlantic Ocean by any means.

What I meant to say

is I have some really nice Alaskan salmon.

Quick preparation.

Takes about three or four days.

Super easy to do.

Let's get started, huh?

I'll get the fish.

Do you feel good?

You feel good with that?

Do you feel good with that?

Yeah, we're gonna take that.

[upbeat music]

[beeping]

But it all starts with the fish.

This is one of those dishes that are

there's only a few ingredients

so you really want to get the best possible fish possible,

the best possible fish possible.

[beeping]

Yeah, well yeah, yeah, you do.

Look at this, nice.

You know, could you do this with a free?

You live in Oregon, all right,

and you went fishing or something,

or you live up in Alaska where this beauty came from

and you catch it fresh

and you want to make a lox real quick,

I recommend a high quick deep freeze.

You can get some information online for like time periods,

but some fish, it's just a fact of life.

It could have worms and parasites in it,

and freezing it,

this is why they do it in the sushi world,

kills those things.

So because we're not cooking this and we're gonna cure it,

I like to use a previously frozen fish.

So yeah, the fat,

like when you get like a nice king salmon

or like a farmed salmon, you know,

a farmed king usually,

in between the beautiful orange meat,

there's like those little white lines

which is like the connectivey fatty tissue

which is delicious when you cook it.

It's like real buttery and it's fantastic.

I love that.

For this preparation of curing it,

I don't like the big fatty content.

What we're trying to cure

and what I love about lox

is that you're preserving the flesh of it,

and the fat,

it just doesn't really translate very desirable for me.

So something like a soho or,

a soho or a coho,

or I'm sorry, sockeye or a coho.

Soho?

A sockeye or a coho is perfect.

Let's start with our spice grinder, okay?

The bay leaves, I like to tear out

that little rough stem kind of rib in there

and just get the, oh my god.

It smells so good.

I love bay leaves.

I don't know if I've said that before.

Probably.

Probably like 35 times.

Peppercorns.

What do we got, Brad?

Peppercorns, we're gonna do two teaspoons.

Boom.

I'm gonna do two and 3/4.

So this, I don't mind bringing into a pretty decent powder.

We'll see how it goes.

[whipping]

[bells twinkling] [grinder whirring]

[whipping]

[clattering] [tinkling]

Yeah, that works.

That works for me.

I'm gonna add the turmeric right to it.

Turmeric, turmeric, turmeric?

Hey, Sohla? Huh?

How do you say, um--

[whimsical flourish]

How do you say this? Turmeric.

Turmeric?

I pronounce the R.

Yeah, I guess you should, huh?

I thought there wasn't an R in it.

[laughing]

There is?

Oh, big time.

Oh, bless your heart.

Two teaspoons of turmeric, turmeric, turmeric.

Rotisserie, who cares?

Okay, then next, we'll do quarter cup of salt,

quarter cup of salt.

Hold on, let me get a little bowl.

Okay? How do you say it, Brad?

Turmeric.

Turmeric, you pronounce the R.

Yeah.

I mean, this is a recent development for me.

I knew the R was there.

I just never really kinda.

I just say things wrong.

We know this about me.

Yeah, we know and love it.

And we're gonna do an eighth a cup of sugar.

So just half of a quarter cup, great.

I'm gonna go grab a little [mumbles], okay?

You stay here.

Look.

Look into that.

Be right back.

Run, run, run! Yeah.

I gotta go.

[vocalizing]

So I couldn't find the [mumbles],

so I found the Korean substitute.

So look, that's our spice mix.

Our curing agent is the salt and the sugar.

Everything else is just a nice aromatic.

I don't know if I said this before ol' Hunzi,

but you want a piece with the skin on.

Okay?

Helps keep everything together nice.

Next up, we just cover it all with the salt and sugar.

We're gonna wrap it with plastic

and then you get this in the fridge for like,

it's Tuesday,

it'll be done on Friday.

You're gonna cover it all over.

You want to cover all faces,

every bit of it.

I'll even flip it.

I mean, nothing is penetrating through the skin really,

but for peace of mind,

I like to coat it a little too, all right?

And it'll help dye the skin a little.

I don't know.

It just makes me feel better.

Okay, next.

A little plastic, okay?

No big deal.

[beeping]

I gotta go soon.

I got a chat with the boss at 3:30.

That's right.

Take a little break.

You get yourself a Yoo-hoo, all right?

They still make Yoo-hoo?

When's Claire gonna make it?

Now, we got our nice little plastic wrap, okay?

[clock ticking]

God, we're so close.

But look, get yourself a cake tester,

a needle, something thin, pointy, sharp, okay?

And what we're gonna do is prick some holes.

[spring bouncing] Boom, through the plastic.

If you can get through the skin, even better.

[spring bouncing]

All right, and you do that only on the skin side.

What I like to do is get something like this,

a little perforated unit, okay?

It doesn't have to be.

I just don't like things to sit in the liquid.

You could just do this in a baking dish,

put some paper towels down or a little rack or something.

Anything that you can get it above.

We have our holes in the bottom,

okay, the skin side.

That goes down.

And then you want to get

people will take like two tomato cans.

You want to weigh it.

You want to press it a little bit and weigh it down.

And what I'm gonna do is fill that with some,

I have these really cool ball bearings.

Anything that's gonna give it weight.

You could put rocks on there for all I care.

Something that's just gonna press it and weigh it.

It's gonna let the liquid drip out on the bottom,

meanwhile brining it all, keeping it all in there,

oxygen off of it, and it's gonna be gravlax.

It's gonna be great. [clock ticking]

Let me get my ball bearings, bud.

Yeah, I hide 'em.

People steal these, a hot commodity.

Where did you buy 'em? Don't worry about it.

What are you, a cop?

What are you, a cop?

A lot of questions today, Hunzi.

I'm the one wearing a wire, but you're making me nervous.

[ball bearings clattering]

We use 'em for pie weights,

but they're great for gravlax weights.

I'm gonna pop it in the walk in, all right?

[Gaby] Don't go messing up my walk in.

Gaby.

Unbelievable.

[knocking on door] [whipping]

All right.

Hunzi, we'll see you.

I gotta go talk to the bobs.

We'll see you on Friday.

[upbeat music]

Oh no, where's the ice cube?

Come on, oh no.

Whatever dude.

Germs sherms, you know?

Are we living in bubbles?

Oh!

[suspenseful music] Delany!

Oh, a new desk for Gabriella, huh?

Damn, she's really moving up.

Just making a little lemon juice, bud.

All right?

Gotta go into the weekend strong.

[groaning]

All right, where'd we leave off?

We were making gravlax.

Oh yeah, got a bunch of oysters too.

Our lovely friends at Island Creek.

[whipping] Woo-hoo!

All right, skadoodle.

Thanks for getting the door.

One of these days, you're gonna bust your ass.

[beeping] [whipping]

Okay.

There's our fish.

Look at all the liquid that drained out.

Look at that color.

Turmeric, turmeric.

[beeping]

So we're gonna rinse it

and then I want to add a little bit of pink peppercorn

and a little salt to the outside again.

And then the real masters are the slicers,

the people that slice this up.

Like I've been over to Acme's Smoked Fish over in Greenpoint

and they just slice it so perfectly.

It's truly an art form.

I want to get a nice long blade, real sharp,

nice clean pulls, you know?

You don't want to go hacking. [intense music]

Clean pull.

'Cause I like it kinda thin, you know?

Look at that, nice texture.

And then also if you wanted to cold smoke it,

now is where you would let it

sit out in a refrigerator for a few hours,

maybe overnight,

and that's where you get

that nice pellicle formation on the outside.

Then you would smoke it at a low temperature

like 100 degrees, 80 degrees, 70,

as cold as you can get it.

You just want to get that smoke to stick to the outside

and not necessarily cook it.

We're just gonna make a little,

I got these really nice little breakfast rounds.

Orzery?

I think that's how you say it.

Ozery, Ozery?

Ozery?

How would you say that?

Ozery, Ozery?

Anyway, I love these things.

I eat 'em for breakfast all the time.

This has got nice grains in it.

There's some fruit in it.

It toasts up nice.

It's better than just,

I mean, don't get me wrong,

I love a bagel.

I love a good bialy,

but this is just a little different

and it goes really nice.

I do the same thing as you would like a bagel spread.

A little cream cheese, a little red onion, a little caper.

So I'm gonna toast a couple of these up.

We'll put a little cream cheese on it

and we'll build a little salmony thing here.

I'll get some pink peppercorns.

Where the hell's the toaster?

Oh, it's down there.

[somber music] [beeping]

God's sakes.

Let's toast that up nice.

Toaster doesn't really work that well.

[upbeat music]

[toaster beeping] [audience applauding]

[grinder whirring] [bell dinging]

It pop?

[clapping] [cymbal clashing]

Right behind you, Sohla.

Ooh, you smell that?

Ooh!

Ooh yeah, hot cakes.

All right, cool.

Perfect timing, Hunziker.

Mr. Hunziker, please come down to the principal's office,

immediately! [intense music]

All right.

And look, I did a nice little pink and black peppercorn mix.

Look at that color, huh?

Ain't that something?

Gonna do a nice little peppery coating on here.

Nice.

A little cream cheese, oh jeez.

All right, hold on.

Let me just follow the directions.

There's the correct way to open these

and that's how you should open them.

All right, the animals that just cut it,

ain't right, man.

Package directions, I usually follow depending.

A lot of sometimes, I, nevermind.

Yeah, like cereal, nice, you know?

Cut that little glue.

Let it go nice.

None of that [groaning]

it looks like a woodchuck got in it.

Damn woodchucks.

All right, capers, right?

Gotta have capers.

I'm gonna chop 'em up just a little.

That's the move.

Next, we'll do the fish, okay?

Ch'yeah bud, look at that, huh?

Then I'll do a little red onion too.

Just gonna give it a little cut, all right?

Half for you, half for me, bud.

Okay look, we'll even put it on a little plate.

And just a little bit of olive oil.

Oh, just a little drizz.

Nice.

Brad, I want to tell you a story.

It's about a boy who worked on a station

called station three.

Yeah, I didn't do any of this!

Things appear on his station.

Big whoop!

And he has to control his--

Andy, what did I contribute to your problems?

What is this?

Does this look like?

Is this mine?

Is this my little workout,

my little workout cocktail shaker?

No, okay?

Salad spinners.

I haven't used one in five years.

This, not mine.

What about this? This?

Does that look like my cutting board?

No, that's my cutting board. So, where did this?

What's this, Andy?

Why is this here?

This is mine, I'm using it.

Who put this here, Andy?

Was this you?

You know what, can I take a bite out of this?

You know, this isn't working.

I want a divorce. [laughing]

Whoa, don't just!

Yeah, yeah, cut it.

It looks good. Looks good?

It needs more salt.

I want a little bit of lemon juice.

Ooh, a little lemon, yeah.

Take a little bite.

Let us know how it is.

[whipping]

Woo, Andy's a tough one too! [cash register chiming]

Yes!

We needed a W, Hunzi.

[victorious music]

After that ginger beer. [foghorn blowing]

Put a little lemon on it.

Lemon bae.

Stupidest thing I've done all week.

Chris, you want a little nibble, bud?

That liquid's just lemon juice.

Is this the one you set up like three weeks ago

or is this a new one?

No, it's fresh, bud.

Fresh, fresh, fresh, fresh. All right, all right.

Andy ate it.

Around seafood, you have to ask the hard questions

of Brad specifically.

Let me try it too.

What is that?

It's delightful, Chris.

Wow.

It's like a-- Curveball.

It's like a Jersey crumpet.

I love it. Yeah.

Mmm. Not bad.

The pepper-- I love the pepper.

Is really, really cool.

He had me just like smell this, you know,

and it's like the expressiveness just of pepper.

Pink and black, magic.

Pink and black, like how amazing is that?

Gaby, have a snack. Of course!

Right, gravlax.

Easy. Thank you.

Delightful.

[Gaby murmuring]

Done in three days.

Here.

Easy to make, delicious.

Use it in I say five days.

Can I take that one?

For you, Gaby, yes.

I can make another one.

You eat that one. Thank you.

Delicioso.

Thank you, Gaby.

Easy to make, you know?

Who cut that?

[beeping]

Easy.

You know who's a home run?

Oh yeah, you know what I showed up with?

Oh Brad, bring something.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay,

I'll bring like potato chips and onion dip.

Nope.

Boom, gravlax, baby!

I made it myself, it's cool.

Oh, wild Alaskan salmon, no problem.

Where'd you learn about that?

This really cool guy named Brad Leone.

He's on YouTube, check it out.

Bon Appetit, baby.

[cymbal clanging]

Best outro ever.

I felt great about that.

All right? [whipping]

It's a wrap, Hunzi.

Lunch is on me. [glass shattering]

[cymbals crashing] [whipping]

[beeping] feel, feeling good!

[laughing]

That's it.

Turn that frickin' machine of yours off.

Turn that time machine of yours off.

Here.

I did what you wanted, all right?

Now, hide me and my family.

Get out of the walk in.

I've got stuff to do. No, you don't.

You got stuff to do like get out of the walk in.

What are you doing, drinking beers, bud?

Yeah, Friday baby!

Oh, look at that guy.

All right, cool off, cool off.

[beeping] Did they turn out well?

Yeah.

If I was gonna make a recipe,

I would adjust the salt a little bit.

Can I try it? Yeah.

Salt, sugar, turmeric, pink peppercorn.

Mmm, pink peppercorn is very there.

[Brad] Nice, right?

Wait.

Offlining here.

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[futuristic music]

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