Gravlax still red on skin side after 24h of curing

Question

I am trying to make gravlax (lox).

Method

1. Clean off salmon fillet (~200g tail portion)
2. Mix 50/50 table salt and sugar
3. Coat skin side in salt/sugar mixture, rub in
4. Coat non-skin side in dill
5. Coat non-skin side in salt/sugar mixture, rub in
6. Place in covered container
7. Place in fridge for 18-24 hours

Problem

After 24 hours, the thin parts are cured, but the skin side of the thick part is still red.

What I have tried

Cutting off the skin - completely effective, but makes it very tough, also all the videos I watched had it cured with the skin on, and those came out fine

Curing for longer - did not seem to have any effect

Rubbing salt/sugar mixture directly on end - this seemed to help a bit right on the end, but it was still red further in

Place weight on top - some videos I watched had the fillet wrapped in cling wrap and smooshed with a weight, but this did not seem to have any effect

Answer 1

So, first, I don't think that gravlax looks that bad. Gravlax is never going to be the uniform peach/orange color that cold smoked salmon is (lox). It just looks a little bit under-cured.

There are two things I do that are different from you, when I make Gravlax:

1. I cure it for a minimum of 72 hours, turning every 12 hours or so (and pressing the whole time, but that's a texture thing).

2. My cure includes a couple shots of aquavit. I find that the alcohol helps the cure penetrate into the center of the salmon.

Here's my recipe.