Good lox is a thing of beauty. When you discover just how easy it is to make at home, you might never buy the subpar, packaged stuff again!
Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 48 hours to cure Makes: 6–8 servings
½ cup (100 g) sugar
4 tablespoons (72 g) kosher salt
2 tablespoons (30 g) smoked salt
1 pound (450 g) very fresh salmon
In a small bowl, combine sugar, kosher salt and smoked salt. Divide the mixture in half and with one half, coat the salmon on all sides, packing it on as well as you can. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap, leaving one end open. Set aside the remaining salt mixture.
Place in a baking dish and put some weight on top of it: for example, a plate or a small cast iron pan with a can on top. Place a folded towel under the baking dish so it’s at an angle; this will allow the excess liquid to drain from the salmon. Make sure the open end of the plastic wrap is at the lower end of the dish.
Leave refrigerated for 24 hours and then unwrap the salmon. Pack the rest of the salt mixture onto it. Using new plastic wrap, re-wrap and place back in the fridge, in the same manner you did the first time for another 24 hours.
After the second 24 hours, unwrap the salmon and rinse with cold water. Pat it dry. With a long, thin knife, slice against the grain at an angle as thinly as possible, ideally shortly before eating.
Keep the lox tightly wrapped in the fridge, and enjoy within five days.
Bubbe’s tip: Worried about the sugar used in this recipe? Only a bisl remains in the salmon and the rest gets rinsed off.