Trout Lox From Steven Goff, Asheville, North Carolina
1 cup kosher salt 1 cup brown sugar 1 tsp. whole black peppercorns 1 tsp. coriander seeds 8 sprigs fresh dill 2 dried bay leaves, crumbled Zest of one citrus fruit—lemon, orange, or lime all work 4 trout fillets, pinbones removed ½ cup Covington sweet potato vodka, or another vodka
Combine all salt, sugar, spices, herbs, and zest in a mixing bowl. Make a generous layer of the mixture on the bottom of one large, deep baking dish. Add the trout fillets to the cure, flesh side down. Top with another generous layer of the cure, and then pour vodka over the top until the mixture resembles wet sand. Cover the baking dish loosely with plastic wrap, and then stack another dish of the same size on top and weigh it down with something heavy, like a gallon of milk or a few cans. Let sit it sit in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours: The fish will be cured after 12 hours, but will have a firmer texture after 24. To serve, rinse off the cure, and then dry the trout thoroughly and cut it into thin slices.