Our Recipes

A recipe of Mark Bitterman's take on Gravlax from his book, Salt Block Cooking.     A take on the classic using 400 million year old slabs of Himalayan salt in place of traditional kosher salt. Use fresh, wild-caught salmon in season if you can find it. Serves 4 Ingredients: 2 4x8x2 inch "brick" salt blocks 1 bunch fresh dill sprigs 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper 1 teaspoon cracked fennel seeds 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 pound salmon fillet, skin on, pin bones removed Whole-grain crackers, for serving Crème fraîche, for garnish Chopped fresh dill, for garnish Cover one block with half of the dill sprigs. Mix the dry ingredients. Place the salmon on the dill-covered salt block, skin down. Coat the fleshy parts of the salmon, and cover with the remainder of the dill sprigs. Place the second salt block on top, wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap, and place in a fridge. Leave in the fridge until the fish becomes resilient but not firm to the touch. The top surface should be dry, the sides moist, and the flesh will be slightly opaque. Allow one to three days. Thinner and wild salmon cure faster, while thicker and farm-raised salmon take longer. When it is ready, unwrap the gravlax, rinse off the spices, and pat dry. Serve skin side down crackers and top with crème fraîche and dill.  Recipe and photos by Mark Bitterman. To see more, check out Salt Block Cooking      

A trifecta of flavor: creamy baked eggs, buttery rich avocado and savory salty lox, finished with one of our most popular salts, the Black Diamond Flake Salt.       Serves 6 Ingredients:  3 Hass avocados, halved and pitted 6 eggs 1/2 pound salmon lox  Black Diamond Flake Salt, for finishing Freshly ground pepper and red pepper flakes, to taste Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Scoop out the pitted area of each avocado half to make room for the eggs. Place a thin slice of lox in each avocado half. Crack each egg in a cup first, then using a large spoon, scoop the yolk into the avocado. If you have room, fill with the egg whites. Place each prepared avocado half in a muffin pan as pictured (this helps them stay flat and intact). Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the egg whites are cooked. Season with Black Diamond Flake Salt, freshly ground pepper, red pepper flakes, and garnish with fresh dill. Recipe & Photos by Farah Raqib. To see more of Farah's photos and recipes, visit tplusf.tumblr.com.   

Another recipe from Farah Raqib. An easy and delicious dish for any meal, finished with one of our most popular salts, the Lemon Flake Sea Salt.   Serves 6 to 8, as an appetizer Ingredients:  1 lb fresh caught salmon filet, sprinkled with salt and pepper to taste 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, separated into 1 tablespoon and 2 tablespoons 2 eggs 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped 1/4 cup red onion, chopped 1/2 lemon, juiced 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 tablespoon capers 1/2 teaspoon Lemon Flake Salt 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin 14 saltine crackers 1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs or as needed Topping: 1/4 cup fat free mayo mixed with 1 tablespoon hot sauce of your choice 1/2 teaspoon Lemon Flake Salt  In a medium skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of butter andminced garlic cloves to medium heat. After a few minutes, add in the salmon.Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for about 5 minutes on eachside. Then use your spoon to break up the salmon piece into many pieces. Cookfor a few more minutes or until all the pieces are cooked. Place cooked salmonin a bowl, use a fork to break it up into smaller pieces and allow to cool toroom temperature (place in fridge to speed up the process if you're in a rush). Stir salmon, eggs, lemon juice, capers, salt, groundcumin, onions, cilantro and cayenne pepper together in a bowl until wellcombined. Crush saltine crackers with your hands into the salmon mixture andmix well. Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to overnight. Dust a plate with half of the panko. Divide salmonmixture into 4 portions (cut into a 4 piece pie using your spatula). Shape into4 patties, and then place them onto the plate with panko crumbs. Sprinkle theother half of panko crumbs over the patties.  Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet overmedium heat. Cook patties in melted butter until cooked and heated through,about 5 minutes per side. Recommend serving on a bed of fresh greens, avocado,topped with spicy mayo mixture and lemon flake salt. Recipe & Photos by Farah Raqib. To see more of Farah's photos and recipes, visit tplusf.tumblr.com.      

A salmon caught high in the freshwater streams of the mountains bears within its pink flesh the flavors of faraway places in the Pacific Ocean, a rosy imprint of the long voyage back to its birthplace. These fish see a lot of things below the ocean depths. And then they eat them. Salmon deserve a suitably thoughtful and voracious treatment in the kitchen. Iburi-Jio Cherry, a smoked sea salt from Japan, has endured a journey comparable to that of the salmon. Artisan salt makers plumb seawater off the coast of the Oga Peninsula, drawing a pristine brine up from the pure, deepwater currents. After concentrating the brine, they heat it over a wood fire over three days, stirring constantly to produce asalt that is the texture of powder snow. This salt is then gently cold smoked over cherry wood for a sweet, smoky, bacony aroma that is unrivaled in the culinary world. The combination of deep sea minerals, cherry wood smoke, and buttery salmon takes your taste buds on peregrinations through flavor’s most unfathomed depths. Serves 6 Ingredients: 1 side of salmon, preferably wild, about 2 pounds, bones removed ¼ cup black sesame seeds ¼ cup white sesame seeds 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil Finely grated zest and juice of a lime 1 teaspoon dark toasted sesame oil ½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper, or ¼ teaspoon crushed chilies 3 big pinches Iburi-Jio Cherry smoked salt Coat the flesh-side of the salmon with the sesame seeds and pat gently into the surface. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. Carefully put the salmon in the pan flesh-side down and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Turn carefully and cook until the fish is firm but still translucent in the center, 4 to 5 minutes more. While the salmon is cooking, combine the lime zest, lime juice, sesame oil and Aleppo pepper in a small bowl. Using a wide spatula or two spatulas, transfer the fish to a serving platter. Drizzle with the lime mixture and scatter the salt over all. Serve immediately. If you need to delay serving, wait until the last second to salt. You want the delicate crystals of the Iburi-Jio to barely dissolve at first bite.