Baked brined salmon, never done that before or really thought about it. The process is almost exactly like gravlax(buried salmon) except it goes into the oven instead of the fridge.
You know lox(cold smoked salmon)? Very good, very nice. Gravlax is better. It's also super easy to make at home and requires nothing besides a fridge.
In a jar mix one part salt and two parts sugar, stir or shake so it's mixed evenly. You need two pieces of salmon because the meat needs to be pressed together, by gravity not force, fuck Gordon Ramsay. Two sides are ideal but you can cut one piece into two and make them kiss, you'll figure it out. Before doing that, rub each side with the sugar-salt, don't worry about the amount, as much as can stick to it is fine, it will shed a lot of liquid so it will melt away anyway. The salmon will be neither salty or sweet in the end! Roughly chop up some fresh dill(or use frozen, dried is no good) and apply liberally to both pieces of fish, I mean a LOT of dill - it works as an aromatic not a direct flavor like most spices so go nuts. Put some whole white pepper corns in there as another aromatic, then put the two pieces together.
Place it in glassware, wrap some plastic wrap around it, then it goes into the fridge. After 12 hours, remove the plastic and pour out the liquid, the salt and sugar along with gravity pulls out water as part of the brining process and it also changes the texture/consistency of the fish. Flip them so bottom side is on top and vice versa, wrap it again and let it sit for another 12 hours in the fridge then pour the liquid once again. That's it, total time spent working is five minutes maybe, you can make 10kg of gravlax before finishing a cigarette. Super easy, very good.
Serve on a piece of bread, or with boiled potatoes and boiled eggs, it can be lightly pan fried or put in (at the last moment) in a cream sauce dilly-fishy-pasta, the traditional companion sauce is the hovmästarsås which is a mustard-honey-dill sauce that can be emulsified, don't worry about that, it doesn't matter, it's all just different ways to get it into your mouth without having to eat with your hands and get oily fingers.
It is very mild and should be cut into thin slices. It tastes like the feeling of ocean waves crashing at the shore in autumn, which is weird. The sugar and salt gives a ocean aroma and the dill gives the impression of kelp. Very mild and pleasant taste [edit: sushi like]. Gordon Ramsay and other top chefs have their take on the recipe, do not let them fool you. I know Jamie Oliver is a retard but when I saw Ramsay make his over complicated bullshit I started to wonder if he can be trusted in general, maybe he knows nothing. It's the only time I've felt the need to cry "cultural appropriation!" and it was only because he made it very complicated to make his rubbery piece of fish that looks like a 90's rave. Gravlax is easy, everyone should be able to enjoy such a simple thing.
