First Attempt at Lox

Last time I was in Saskatoon, Robyn and I went out for lunch with our friends Steph and Brett. Brett and I ordered a delicious lox sandwich, and I commented on how awesome if it would be if you could make it at home.

A foolish statement! Brett quickly informed me that it is one of the easiest recipes in the world. Take salmon, pack it in some salt, sugar, and pepper, and let it sit in the fridge with a weight on it for a few days. That's it.

I got it started last week (picture here) and pulled it out of my fridge on Thursday. Here's the results:

I cut a tiny piece off the corner and it was SO GOOD! I collected everything I needed to make a proper lox bagel with cream cheese:

Here's the meal:

As soon as I took the first bite of the sandwich, I realized I'd made a mistake - it was WAY too salty! This was a two-part error. For one, I'd left it in the fridge in the salt pack for too long (a colleague suggested three days curing was perfect; I did 6.5), and secondly my slices, while thin, were still too thick.

Also, I was not a huge fan of capers (the green things), but I tried them because that's traditionally what's needed for this sandwich.

Next time: fewer days in the fridge, thinner slices, no capers, and a dash of smokey whiskey while it's curing to add some smoke flavour. I will attempt this again... and it will be good!