New York Cured Smoked Lox Picture Guide For
Salmon

The name Lox?



Well many different theories are around about its beginning name. Most
come back to the fact German’s made the cured fish in New York in the
early 19th Century and so many feel it was the German name for Salmon
that led to it being called lox Basically the word may have been derived
from the Yiddish lox ("salmon")–which is a cognate of Icelandic (lax),
Swedish (lax), Danish/Norwegian (laks), German (Lachs), and Old English
(læx) so you can take your pick of where you think it came from, but it
always means cured salmon.



Types of Lox?



To smoke or not to smoke? First one must realize why smoking of meats
was done. In the early part of the 19th century refrigeration was none
existent. Smoke is a natural fly repellant and so many many meats were
smoked to keep flies off them during the holding times through the
summer. Because so much additional flavor is imparted on the product
when it is smoked, smoking also became part of the flavor profile for
particular foods. Bacon, Ham, sausage and Salmon being the most common
to carry a smoke flavor component. In the end lox can be smoked or not,
depends on the appetizing-store you grew up visiting with Mom!



Belly Lox: Dry cured in Salt or Cure Salt, and sugar, then lightly cold
smoked, this is a heavy salt salmon



Nova or Nova Scotia Lox: Brine cured either Scot’s style (dry brine) or
wet cured then cold smoked, not nearly as salty as the belly lox and
preferred by many of the next generation Jewish people.



Gravad Lax: Scandinavian, rub cured and will contain spices in the
mixture, usually associated with the presents of dill weed as a spice.
You will hear this referred to as gravlax and is perhaps one of the
oldest methods for curing the salmon.



Last Cure salt, I use cure salt with contains sodium nitrite to
chemically cook the fish. This method was preferred in the area I grew
up in because it will handle pathogens and parasites with vigor.
Rendering a safe product every time.



For the recipe and the steps to making lox. Lox recipes that do not
include the step instructions are incomplete, the steps and times are as
important as the spicing used. First a word on lox recipes, there are as
many recipes for lox as there are colors in the world. So if yours does
not match this one go forward knowing, “it’s ok” you will still make
lox. I am following a recipe and method I learned from a German butcher
in Pennsylvania, I have in turn also changed that a little to suit my
taste. I am using the methodology I learned as a kid helping the
butchers and have also modified that to take into account how I want the
salmon to taste. Along the way I am going to explain how to adjust the
methods to help you understand how to adjust the taste.



So on with the ingredients:



1 tsp cure salt (pink salt 6.25 percent sodium nitrite)

½ cup kosher salt

1 tbsp white pepper

½ cup white sugar (some use brown sugar for the extra molasses flavor)



mix the above into a dry ingredient rub.











2 salmon fillets,

Skinned , chilled, and clean.







Pro Tip: Porosity; all meats have porosity, for consistent products we
like to know that the porosity is the same every time. So I always brine
my salmon fillets in ice cold salt water for 30 minutes to insure I
start with the same porosity every time. Fail to do so at your own
peril! (one gallon warm water, stir in all the salt it will take, (til
salt lay on the bottom) and then ice it down to 32 F)







Zest an orange and a lemon and reserve the zest.



Dredge the salmon through the mixture. Spread half of the remaining
cured mixture on the area where the salmon fillets will lay. Then spread
half the orange and lemon zest under the area you will place the salmon.
Now lay the fillets flat in a plastic box on top of the zested cure
area. After fillet placement spread the remaining mixture over the
salmon evenly, then use the remaining zest to coat the top of the
fillets.












Place a nice size maple board on top of the fillets in the plastic box
and apply 3 pounds of weight to the top of the board. I am using ice in
a Ziploc freezer bag for the weight. Because I want things cold and ice
is a safe food to use as a weight.











Now you will allow this to sit in the reefer for 48 hours. This requires
a modification of my beer refrigerator in the garage. I must remove the
beer from my shelf to make room for the salmon box.







After the 48 hour curing time you will pull the salmon and wash it off.
Then we start the step that most books and people leave out.



Pro Tip: Desalinization is important in all curing and smoking. And it
is the most unspoken of the curing secrets. People offer their recipes,
they offer their smoking methods, but almost none speak of the
desalinization step. Even in the most well written books you will see
this step skipped. It is the “black art” of curing that remains a secret
insuring your cure will never turn out as well as the Pros! Bacon, hams,
sausages, all need to be desalinated to achieve the correct taste.







Here I am going into the ice water desalinization step. I will allow the
lox to sit in the ice water for 90 minutes. In my younger days of curing
I would collect the water sample every 15 minutes and use a specific
gravity bulb to measure the amount of salt removed from the product. Now
I am to the point where I can just taste the water and know how much I
have removed. I use ice water so I know the removal rate is the same.




Once the freshening step is complete it is into the reefer to dry. I use
a large cake cooling rack with paper towel under it to dry the fillets.
I dry for 36 hours.







Once dry we are ready to smoke. The thing that makes lox is the mouth
feel. So lox must be cold smoked. That is to say we take steps to insure
the product never goes above 90 F while smoking. This is referred to as
cold smoking. The nitrite has “cooked” the salmon and is rendered
harmless as a nitrate. So all we are looking for here is: water removal,
shrink the protein enough to tighten it up and during the tightening to
have the protein pull in some smoke! I am smoking here under light smoke
for 4 hours.

















Once the smoking is complete I return the lox to the reefer for
chilling. I chill for 24 hours.







I will separate the belly from the dorsal for the first fillet so you
can see the difference in belly lox and what is commonly referred to as
Nova. But realize most Nova was the complete fillet. However in the
early days of commercial food the Dorsal was worth more money to the
restaurants than the belly, so the restos got the dorsal fillets for
meals and the delis got the bellies for lox.














Now that we have prepped we slice and package!















The use of lox is for many purposes, the most common I have included
below. A New York water bagel, schmeared with Phila. Brand cream cheese,
topped with lox and a thin slice of onion, cut in half!











‘Til we speak again, purchase a little lox and some bagels, it is a very
nice way to start the day. And a little more at noon will get you
through the day with energy to spare!



Chef Bob Ballantyne

The Cowboy and The Rose Catering

Grand Junction, Colorado, USA