Tips:
— Great places to get salmon: your local fishmonger, Vital Choice, Fulton Fish Market.
— Try to avoid farm-raised salmon from the Atlantic; instead go for Alaskan wild salmon. The end flavor has a lot to do with the quality of fish you buy. Ask for your fish to be the whole filet with the skin on, but pinbones removed. Or just tell them you’re curing it, they’ll know what to do.
— Curing takes 24 hours, at least. So it’s best to make this a day before you know you’ll want it!
— Scale this recipe as needed for the size filet you’re able to snag. If it’s larger than 1 lb, increase all ingredients slightly and add a few extra hours onto the curing time.

PARTS
— 1 lb skin on, boneless salmon filet (the best quality you can find, shown here is wild king)
— 1 cup diamond crystal kosher salt
— 2/3 cup granulated sugar
— 1/4 cup light brown sugar
— 1 tsp whole black peppercorns, crushed
— 2 tsp freshly grated lemon, lime and/or orange zest
— A few juniper berries, or fennel seeds, or coriander seeds, crushed

CLUES
1. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. In a medium bowl, combine salt, sugars, peppercorns, zest and any other aromatics. Spread 1/3 of the mixture on the foil lined baking sheet, making a bed for your salmon filet to lay on.
2. Place the salmon filet on the salt bed, skin side down. Use the rest of the mixture to cover the salmon. Bring the edges of the foil up and crimp to close. Place a baking sheet over top of the salmon, with heavy cans or pots on top. Refrigerate the whole contraption for 24 hours, unwrapping and cleaning the salmon halfway through. It will leech some liquids throughout the process.
3. Once 24 hours has passed, carefully rinse the salmon under ice cold water to remove any big spices. Pat very dry. Using your sharpest knife, carefully cut very thin slices on an extreme diagonal. Watch some YouTube videos before you try it!

And then make this salmon spread with the scraps!