By Kay Steiger
by Flickr user umamigirl (Creative Commons license)
UamamiGirl made some house-made gravlax (the Scandinavian version of lox, as far as I can tell, but then the Swedes in my family never made this). This photo, as usual, comes from the IFA Food Porn photo pool.
Interesting that “house-made”, originally used by restaurants to up their prestige by making something themselves that’s normally bought, has now been imported into the home, even though most home cooks don’t have a “house” the way restaurants do, presumably because of the prestige factor.
It’s not as if there would have been any ambiguity if you said “UmamiGirl made some gravlax”. Would anyone have thought that meant she purchased it ready-made? Or are we supposed to believe that house-made gravlax is a particular kind of gravlax?
Whatever happened to “homemade”?
Gravlax is more common here in Norway than in Sweden; we farm far more salmon. It is not hard to make, but today most buy it. Enjoy it on a good full-corn bread with “dilly mustard”.