Jeremy:

The color and texture will depend somewhat on the color and texture you started with -- wild Pacific salmon will be firmer and darker than farmed Atlantic salmon, for instance -- but I can give a couple rules of thumb:

1. The cured salmon will be a shade or two darker than the raw salmon.  It's a subtle change.  (Unless you use beet juice, which will color it a spectacular red.)

2. The cured salmon will be substantially firmer than the raw salmon.  It shouldn't be hard and crusty anywhere -- this recipe avoids that by using the correct amount of sugar and salt -- but it'll hold together better and cut much more easily.  

Tushar:

The beetroot indeed adds a wonderful color to the recipe!  (The directions in that video will produce some seriously crusty gravlax, though...)

I'm tempted to try the beetroot myself -- though I suspect I'll have to add more sugar and salt because the beetroot will absorb some of it.

JS

Geraldini:

Of all the articles here at gnolls.org, this one gets the most search engine traffic -- from people searching for "gravlax recipe".

Please let us know what you find out once you've tried my recipe, as well as your current one: I'm always trying to improve it.  And I think this comment thread is the closest the Internet comes to a gravlax club: it's been going strong for nearly three years now...so feel free to share your experiences right here.

JS

Tracy:

I'm glad you liked it!  And no, I wouldn't eat saltpeter either.  Ack!

Yes, frozen salmon won't give you quite the same buttery texture as fresh.  Or, perhaps, you just like a harder cure -- in which case you should feel free to add more sugar and salt.  Feel free to experiment until you find what works for you.

JS

Peter M:

In my opinion, fattier salmon tastes better in all situations, not just gravlax...

Let us know how the recipe works for you...and if you have a favorite recipe for the mustard-dill sauce, please share it!

JS