Irish Wild Salmon - Lemon Gravlax

The Wild Salmon season always starts slowly in the middle of May, with the first of the wild salmon being caught in East Cork. The most of the wild salmon are caught in July and August.
As you might have been aware of, driftnet fishing was banned in Irish waters from the 2006 season onwards. It still is banned as far as the driftnet fishing is concerned – long nets being towed by boats in the sea. The simple reason for that is that the number of wild salmon went down dramatically in Ireland. In other countries as well, but as far as we are aware of, Ireland is the one of the few countries to have acted on it.
There are, however, limited licences being given out to small fishery outfits. They are only allowed to fish a small number of wild salmon, and they basically do it by hand with simple nets. The season starts around 12 May and ends in August. Stringent rules apply- fishing is only allowed on certain days.
Wild salmon can be gotten from a few sources for the Blackwater River in Co. Cork, and the River Nore in Co. Kilkenny. The fishing takes place more than 5 kilometres upriver. This is important, as the wild salmon, on return to and in search of the river where they were born, swim into the river for a certain distance and taste the water. If they find it is not the native river of their origin, they turn back to look for the right one.

In the meantime you can buy farmed Salmon for a massively reduced cost but there really is no comparison to the taste of more ethically pleasing wild-caught fish.

Cold spicing is one of the easiest and nicest ways to enjoy fresh fish and also achieve a superb texture. It's a great topping on toast, rye bread and crispbread for a few days after making. You can pretty much add any flavour you like. Alcohol or herbs and spices are ideal to add to the basic recipe below.

• Approx 1.2kg salmon fillet (a half side)
• 200g white sugar
• 200g fine sea salt
• 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground fennel seeds
• Finely grated zest of a bitter orange (Seville preferably)
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• Finely grated zest of 1 lime

Day One

Remove any bones from the fish and dry it, leaving the skin on. Mix together the sugar, salt, pepper and fennel seeds.
Sprinkle 1/4 of the mixture into the bottom of a roasting pan (choose a clinically clean one around the size of the fish, it mustn't be too big.) Put the fish in skin side down and sprinkle the rest of the spice mix over. Cover the fish with baking paper or a lid. Marinate in the fridge for 24-48 hours depending on the thickness.

Day Two

Scrape the marinade off the fish with a knife. The salmon will now keep in the fridge for 2-3 days.

This dish is traditionally served sliced very thinly with a long thin sharp knife.