Lox is truly a gift from the gods. A good, chewy, crusty bagel and some cream cheese, and I'm in heaven.

I've grown up thinking it was smoked, and you say not???? Anyway, I'll pay through the nose and let someone else do the work.

BTW, I can't find Diamond Kosher salt in my area anymore. Do you know what happened to it?

I used to know a lot about commercial smoke salmon making, the entire process, from the frozen fish to cleaning to seasoning to smoking to getting slicing machines from Germany to make pre-sliced salmon.

I also learned a little bit about Kosher smoke salmon making.

I don't know much about lox. Sounds very interesting.

dcarch

I think I am remembering a recipe that also included lots of fresh dill....is that something else?
And will any old hunk of salmon that smells fresh do?
And after it's cured....how long will it keep?
Linda C

Smoked salmon is very good, as is smoked trout, smoked blue fish and smoked etc. To my knowledge, smoked salmon is not lox. There may be differences of opinion about that. Can anyone provide an authoritative source? Have you Googled it thoroughly?

elisamcs, I think you would be crazy about the lox I make. Really.

Jim

Linda,

Any type of salmon is suitable. The better the salmon, the better the lox. Fattiness is a good thing.

Gravlax is a Scandinavian variation made in exactly the same way as regular lox but with the addition of a good layer of fresh dill fronds during the curing. Although I am of Scandinavian heritage, I usually make the regular lox.

Refrigerated shelf life is about a week in my experience. It wonÂt be spoiled after a week, but it wonÂt be at its best. I have not frozen lox, but I donÂt know why it wouldnÂt work well.

Jim

"Posted by jimster---- I have not frozen lox, but I donÂt know why it wouldnÂt work well.

Jim"

I have frozen smoke salmon many times for up to six months. Still tasted pretty good.

dcarch

I've made gravlax several times using much the same method as jimster. I use the instructions on the "Cooking for Engineers" blog linked below. I read though all the comments, which seem to have answered all the questions I never thought of asking.

My DH is from Montreal, where lox is a religion (sorta like the bagels and smoked meat) and he finds my home made stuff as good as anything outside of that city.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cooking for Engineers

Thanks, Jim, for that instruction, I'm going to have to try lox now that I've played with the smoker for a while.

I do have a couple of Lake Trout filets in the freezer and frankly, I think they're only fit for smoking, Lake Trout and Steelhead are too strong for me to enjoy any way except smoked. So those will be my next smoked fish and I'll save the salmon for lox!

I suppose I ought to bake homemade bagels too. All that can be had here are Lender's.

Annie

I thought lox and smoked salmon were interchangable terms, and a quick search suggests that many others agree. But others seem to differentiate, where "belly lox" is simply brined and "nova lox" is brined then smoked.

My own personal anecdote: Years ago I worked in an office where we regularly pitched in for breakfast on someone's birthday. A typical bagel breakfast. One time I was assigned "lox" and when I went to the store they asked "belly or nova?" I had no clue, asked what was more popular, the guy shrugged and said either, and I happened to buy belly. I can honestly say it was the first time the lox didn't disappear within minutes. I was informed by my colleagues that I should have bought nova.

While this may have been largely a result of the particular product from the particular store, since then when buying lox I make sure it says nova. When I go to the bagel store they never ask which I want yet I always enjoy it and have no idea what they're selling me. But this thread has me interested in going to a good Jewish deli and giving the two a taste test.

p.s. Diamond Kosher is as available as it always was here on Long Island. That's all I ever buy.

Aha! I found it!

This video shows EXACTLY how corn tortillas are made in a modern kitchen using a tortilla press. Including the puff!

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Make Tortillas at Home

OOPS! Wrong thread. Sorry.

I've never had anything called lox that was smoked. The smoked stuff was called smoked salmon and I've eaten it at a German buffet or 2 or 3 and also as part of a Swedish meal.
But Wiki says that lox can also be cold smoked....but I have never had it called lox.
Then I remember buying smoked goldeneye....what was that? Very salty as I recall.
Linda C

Good timing! Although I don't own a smoker, I'm inclined to try a version of this recipe. We recently returned from Vegas where our hotel served the best Atlantic Smoked Salmon for breakfast that I've had in a looooong time! It was outstanding!

This is my favorite recipe for Gravlax. Not exactly what you are talking about, but this is a delicious and easy method to prepare an absolutely FAB dish with that beautiful salmon!

Alexa

****************************************************

Gravlax
SERVES 8 Â 10
This satiny delicacy brings out the best in salmon.
2 tbsp. white peppercorns
1 tbsp. fennel seeds
2â3 cup kosher salt
1â3 cup sugar
2-lb. center-cut, skin-on salmon filet
1 cup dill sprigs, plus 1/3 cup chopped dill
1â4 cup aquavit (optional)
Mustard-Dill Sauce
1. In a small food processor, pulse peppercorns and fennel seeds until coarsely ground; combine with salt and sugar. Stretch plastic wrap over a plate; sprinkle with half the salt mixture. Place salmon filet on top, flesh side up. Cover with remaining salt mixture, dill sprigs, and aquavit.
2. Fold plastic wrap ends around salmon; wrap tightly with more plastic wrap. Refrigerate the fish on the plate for 48Â72 hours, turning the package every 12 hours and using your fingers to redistribute the herb-and-spice-infused brine that accumulates as the salt pulls moisture from the salmon. The gravlax should be firm to the touch at the thickest part when fully cured.
3. Unwrap salmon, discarding the spices, dill, and brine. Rinse the filet under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Cover a large plate with the chopped dill. Firmly press the flesh side of the gravlax into the dill to coat it evenly.
4. Place gravlax skin side down on a board. With a long, narrow-bladed knife (use a granton slicer if you have one; the divots along the blade make for smoother, more uniform slices), slice gravlax against grain, on the diagonal, into thin pieces. Serve with mustardÂdill sauce or on knäckebröd with minced onion. Refrigerate any remaining gravlax, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 2 weeks.

I grew up in Jewish neighbourhood where lox was defined as FOAS describes. Lox was brined and Nova Scotia lox was brined and then cold smoked. Then of course there is hot smoked salmon which is something else all together.

I have never brined my own lox but I love the stuff so will be giving this a try. Thanks for the little push Jim!

Actually Alexa, your Gravlax recipe is exactly what I am talking about in all the essentials. It is just more elaborate and refined. I'll bet it is good!

The most essential parts are the 2:1 mixture of kosher salt and sugar, the fresh dill and the two or three days of curing under refrigeration. The rest is embellishment, very tasty embellishment I should think.

You mention a granton slicer, which is good if you have one. One of these days I will get one of those sudoku knives, which have the same sort of "divots". For slicing lox, I use a very narrow bladed, very sharp fish filleting knife. The whole idea is to make smooth, clean cuts so you don't end up with lox hash.

Jim

Thanks for sharing the process; I never expected it to be that easy.

Okay, now I have to have Lox and a bagel for lunch.

If you *do* end up with lox hash ---

send it to me!

I've been wanting to do this for years. I even posted a question about it here once a long time ago. I keep thinking I should do it but I've always been sort of scared to. How silly is that?

I need to just pick up a piece of salmon and try it out f'cryin out loud!

Yep - curing salmon really is that easy.

And Jim - I do add the Aquavit and it imparts a wonderful flavor with the fennel and dill..... and I am not a salmon fan so for me to say this stuff is good is really going some LOLOLOL!

I have 3 parties in a row the first weekend in Feb... now I need to decide which I am making gravlax for - I have a craving. :-)

Alexa

A couple questions: is lox cooked? Or is still considered raw?
What kind of salmon do you use? We don't have a lot of choices here but sockeye is usually available.

Lox is cured, technically not cooked. Since there is no heat or significant acid present, I don't think it can be considered "cooked".

Alexa

It's nice to hear that several CFers who have thought about making lox or gravlax are encouraged by this thread to ACTUALLY DO IT. There really is no way to screw it up that I can think of. You will do it the same way the pros do it. There is nothing tricky about it.

A good way to dip your toe in the water would be to buy one of those beautiful fillets when you see them on sale. Cut off enough to cook for dinner in your usual way, reserving the remainder (the thick end preferably) for your experimental attempt at lox making.

Are you with me?

Jim

I'm with you Jim but will not be cooking the other end for dinner....you see the only salmon I really like is lox so I'll just make twice as much!

On second thought, we do love Marilyn's salmon cakes. So there we have it, half lox, half salmon cakes! Can't wait!

And Jim, you've also got someone who never thought of trying it to be interested as well. Now to just find salmon on sale. That seems to be rare around here, except for "Atlantic" salmon.

FOAS - My family and many of my friends prefer Atlantic salmon to Sockeye or Alaskan.... I'm not sure what the difference is, but I would certainly give it a try with Atlantic if it looks good.

Alexa

If you can find Atlantic Wild Caught then nothing is better. Atlantic farmed...not so much.

Pacific wild caught is more readily available than Atlantic wild caught and I much prefer it to Atlantic farmed.

The only salmon we have is frozen Chinese (the cheap fillets), farm raised and sockeye.
I prefer the taste of farm raised best but usually avoid it.

People! People! Let's not get sidetracked with the wild vs. farmed salmon controversy. Use the salmon you prefer. It's all good.

Jim

Jim not a controversy for me. I will absolutely buy and eat farmed salmon but wild caught is a step above, in taste, texture and price! LOL

I have some cocktail rye....even bad lox would enhance that.
Yeah...I NEED to do this....my DIL would be so amazed!

Has anyone tried this with tuna? And is sugar essential to the process, or will plain salt work, too?

Thanks,
Jessica

A small ps from me. Consider adding a sliced red onion and capers to your bagel and cream cheese creation. I like to rinse the capers first if they are packed in salt.

I too want to try this.
Jo

Along with onion I have also eaten lox and bagels with a slice of tomato. I haven't had any with capers. That would be good!

Jim

Tuna lox? Maybe, but I've not heard of it. Salmon is an oily fish which starts exuding oil a couple of days after it is cured. You would almost think oil had been added to it. I don't believe tuna is oily. I think you need oily fish for it to be good.

I think I made lox with just salt once upon a time. IIRC, it was OK. But a 2:1 ratio of salt to sugar is the standard recipe.

Jim

Thanks.

I bought some sushi tuna, and had more than I needed. I don't like the smell of fish more than one day old, so I tried coating it in salt to keep it fresh. It does smell fresh, but it got VERY firm. Maybe I will try rehydrating it instead of slicing it on a bagel. This particular tuna doesn't look very fatty.

"It does smell fresh, but it got VERY firm."

That's what salt curing does. It works by osmosis, drawing water out of the fish and it is used to advantage in various fish preparations.

With your excess tuna you made what is called corned fish. It is done for exactly the reason you did it, to lengthen the time fish can be kept in good condition. If you used a lot of salt, the fish ended up in a pool of brine. After about a day of curing the fish can be rinsed and patted dry. It keeps well for at least two or three days, probably more. I've usually corned white fleshed fish such as cod or flounder which I later poached in water and ate as a breakfast meat with boiled potato and scrambled eggs. The saltiness was somewhat reduced by poaching, but it remained salty enough to taste good in that combination. Come to think of it, corned tuna might be excellent for breakfast as a bacon substitute. Corning is essentially the first step in making baccala (salt cod), so rehydrating makes sense too.

The salt curing of salmon in making lox firms the salmon, which has soft flesh. I also use a Japanese technique called shioyaki (salt broiling or salt grilling) when cooking fish such as salmon, trout, mackeral or blue fish. All of these are oily, soft fleshed fish. With shioyaki, the fish is salted for about a half hour before cooking to firm the fish and season it. When salting the skin side of a fillet or the outside of a whole fish, a heavy blanket of salt is used which is brushed off prior to cooking. If the flesh side is salted, only the amount of salt is used which is normal for seasoning and the fish is just patted dry and cooked. I like shioyaki fish very much. It is easy to get the process done while prepping the other courses and it makes the most of the natural flavor of the fish.

Jim