Home cured lox
Here’s my recipe for lox. It’s so so simple.
Get a piece of salmon approximately 1.5 inches thick. This recipe is for one about 2-3 lbs. Adjust amount for larger/smaller piece.
Mix this in a bowl:
- 4oz sugar (1/2cup)
- 6oz light brown sugar(1packed cup)
- 6oz kosher salt (3/4 cup)
Toast this in a pan and crack:
- 2tbl black pepper corns
- 2tbl coriander
Do this:
- Get a non-reactive pan that nicely fits the salmon (I use a glass baking pan) and sprinkle half the mixture on the bottom of it.
- Put the salmon on top of that mixture.
- Spread the pepper/coriander over the salmon.
- Cover it with the rest of the salt sugar mixture….you basically won’t be able to see the salmon… it will be buried
Then do this:
- Find a way to weigh down the salmon. I put plastic wrap over it and then another glass baking pan on top with some cans of beans. I guess you could use cans of tomatoes if you want. But not cans of peas….if you eat canned peas you’re kinda gross.
This is what will happen:
- The weight is going to press out the liquid and mix with all the salt/sugar and create a brine which will do all sorts of incredible things to the fish at a cellular level which would blow your mind if I knew how to explain it. Ask my friend Howard, he is way geekier about this stuff.
Kill time:
- Put this in the fridge for 2 days and spend your time contemplating how the curing of fish and meat in large quantities of salt preserves protein for long periods of time without the need of a fridge. I mean, this is pretty awesome. If you take a pork shoulder and stick in in your backpack for a hike, it is going to smell like death by dinner time. However, put it in a barrel of salt and you can carve off some of that piece by piece and go on a boat ride to Plymouth Rock eating prosciutto the whole way.
- So really, all these “artisan” meat plates you get as appetizers on a board with some stinky cheeses while you wait for your deconstructed chicken pot pie are just leftover recipes from the to-go bags of our ancestor explorers who needed loads of energy to conquer new lands and establish new societies that eventually will chug Monster Energy Drink to facilitate all night World of Warcraft sessions.
Finishing up
- But I digress, After the salmon sits for two days, see if it feels firm to the touch in the thickest part. If not, give it another day. Once it’s done, rinse everything off the salmon with cold water, pat it dry and BAM!!! you have a cured salmon. It will keep in your fridge (the FDA requires me to tell you this) for a few weeks.
- Slice it thin. Don’t use the knives at ZAAZ if you want to do that.
Tastes good on some crackers with a mixture of Crème fraiche and chives with sliced red onions.
