Beyond the bagel

 

not my picture
unfortunately

Let’s begin with a basic fact: lox and smoked salmon are not the same. Lox is salt cured; if it’s called Nova lox, it simply means it’s sourced from Nova Scotia. Smoked salmon can be either hot smoked or cold smoked. Hot smoked, as the name implies, is cooked usually over a smoke fire (the best I ever had was in Oregon where it was smoked over coals on a tipi-shaped frame, the way indigenous people did it for centuries). It has a firmer texture, like roast or grilled salmon, and a stronger flavor.

Before it is smoked, cold smoked salmon is either brined, as you would brine a chicken or even a pickle, or dry cured, covered with a mixture of spices, typically heavy on sugar and salt. Then the salmon is exposed to smoke, but at with much less intensity than hot smoked. Cold smoked is typically served in paper thin slices and has a delicate flavor.

Confession: My palate is not sophisticated enough to distinguish good Nova lox and cold smoked salmon, unless the latter is really oaky. But it’s cold smoked salmon I want to talk about today. Another confession: it’s a luxury I routinely keep in my refrigerator. I buy it pre-packaged at Central Market, but it is available at many groceries. You can try several labels until you settle on the one you like. I used to ask the deli staff to slice it from their big piece of salmon until one of them told me the packaged was fresher. Sometimes you’ll see packages labeled gravlax—that’s Scandinavian salmon cured in sugar, salt, and dill. You can do that at home (I’ve done it to prove a point, but it’s easier to buy it). Central Market also sometimes offers cold smoked trout, which is quite good.

So what beyond the bagel do you do with smoked salmon? I’ve got a couple of favorites for you:

Smoked salmon toasts with sweet onion

Sourdough or baguette slices

1 garlic clove, skinned and cut in half

Softened butter

Tomato—you can use a large tomato or a Roma, thinly sliced or halved cherry tomatoes, though the halves might tend to fall of the bread

Smoked salmon – at least 2 oz. per person

Slices of small, sweet onion

Olive oil

Lemon juice to taste—not too much!

Salt and pepper

Decorative greens such as watercress or basil for garnish

If you want this to be an entrée, use thick slices of artisan bread; I usually serve it as an appetizer, and I use baguette slices. I count on three baguette slices per person.

Toast the bread. While it is still warm, rub with the cut side of the garlic. Butter the bread generously (the butter acts as a barrier to keep the toast from getting soggy when you add the tomato). Add tomato slices, slices of salmon, and onion. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. You may want to pepper the tomato lightly, but I’d advise against salt because the salmon is salty. Garnish and serve immediately.

Optional: sprinkle a few capers over the toasts

A variation: this is also delicious if you use sardines instead of salmon. In that case, a bit of salt is warranted.

Smoked salmon with caviar

This recipe called for making pizza dough for the base, but I’m not a pizza fan and making dough from scratch was not on my agenda. I used flour tortillas, but if you can find individual small, prepared pizzas (Boboli or some other brand), you can use that. You might also try a round of puff pastry. I served one tortilla each as an entrée to a friend who shares my taste for smoked salmon.

One large flour tortilla or small pizza circle per person

Olive oil

3 oz. crème fraiche per person

2 oz. smoked salmon per person

1 ox. Black caviar per person (cheap is fine)

           Brush the pastry (whatever you use) with olive oil and toast lightly. Let is cool a bit, then cover with crème fraiche. Top that with smoked salmon, arranged as decoratively as you can, and spoon a bit of caviar into the center. For easier consumption, you might halve the individual servings. Garnish with a bit of basil or watercress or flat leaf parsley.

I had one more recipe in mind, but that’s enough for one day. Let me know if you want more about smoked salmon. I have in mind potato salad with smoked salmon or directions for at-home gravlax (it’s not as intimidating as it sounds).