It always amazes me how people pay $30-50 per pound for lox given how easy it is to make at home. Fresh salmon costs about a third of this price, and the only other ingredients you need are salt, sugar and a little bit of time.
Lox refers to salmon(traditionally the belly) that has been cured in brine but has not been smoked. The brine can either be wet or dry. With a wet brine, the salmon soaks in a salt and sugar solution, while a dry brine involves sprinkling the salt and sugar directly onto the salmon. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. A wet brine tends to yield a softer salmon, but I find that the water dilutes the flavor of the salmon. A dry brine will make a more flavorful lox as it draws moisture out from the salmon, but it will also make the meat more firm. It's similar to a traditional Japanese method of preserving fish, called Kobujime, which used konbu and sea salt to preserve fish.
Smoked salmon on the other hand takes the process one step further by smoking the brined salmon. The smoking process can be either "hot" or "cold". In the case of hot-smoked salmon, it is put directly over smoldering wood. The heat cooks the salmon and the proximity to the source of smoke will impart an intense smoky flavor.
Cold-smoked salmon is cured by indirectly applying smoke to the salmon so that it's not hot enough to cook the fish. This is usually achieved by distancing the salmon from the source of smoke either by hanging the salmon in a large smoke-filled tent, or putting the salmon in one of two interconnected chambers with the smoldering wood in the other. Cold smoked salmon is sometimes called Nova Lox.
Today I'm going to show you how to make Lox with a dry brine. I love the dry brining method because it not only concentrates the flavor of the salmon, you can also infuse it with other flavors by adding spices and herbs to the salt and sugar mixture. To make Gravlax for instance, you just add a ton of fresh dill, juniper and black pepper to the brine. I've also found that you can make a pretty good faux cold-smoked salmon by using smoked salt or sugar.
I used a very small side of salmon, but you may need more brine depending on how large your salmon is. Keep in mind that the longer you cure it, the more liquid gets drawn out of the meat, making the salmon firmer and saltier. This in turn will make it last longer.
📖 Recipe
Units
Ingredients
- 30 grams salt (~2 tablespoons)
- 40 grams evaporated cane sugar - evaporated cane juice (~3 tablespoons)
- 1 teaspoon black pepper - coarsely ground
- 1 side of salmon (see important note below the recipe)
Instructions
- Mix the salt, brown sugar and black pepper together along with any other herbs of flavorings you would like to use. If you are using fresh herbs, be sure to dry them thoroughly with paper towels before mixing them in, otherwise your salt will clump together.
- Lay down a sheet of plastic wrap large enough to completely wrap your salmon and then sprinkle a layer of the salt and sugar mixture that's about the size and shape of your salmon.
- Place the salmon skin-side down on the layer of salt and sugar, and then cover with more salt. Depending on the size and thickness of your side of salmon you may not need all of the salt.
- Wrap the plastic wrap around the fillet, but leave the ends open so the liquid that comes out of the salmon can drain off.
- Place a weight on top of the salmon. I used a tray that's slightly smaller than the one the salmon is in and added cans to weigh it down. Feel free to get creative here. As long as you're applying even pressure to the whole fillet, your solution should work just fine.
- Place the salmon with weights in the refrigerator and tuck something (like a wad of paper) under one side so that the tray is tilted. This helps the liquid that comes from the salmon drain off as the fish cures.
- The curing time depends on how thick the salmon is, but it should be done in 2-3 days unless your salmon is very thick. You can tell it's done by slicing into it. The meat goes from opaque to translucent as it cures, so as long as it's the same color all the way through it should be done. If the center is more opaque than the edges, it probably needs some more time.
- When the salmon is finished curing, quickly rinse off any excess brine from the surface of the salmon and pat dry with paper towels.
- Use tweezers to pick out the pin bones along the center of the fillet. Then you should be able to peel the skin off the salmon from the head to the tail
- Slice the lox as thin as possible with a long sharp knife (a carving knife or sashimi knife will work the best).
Reba Gordon Matthews says
This looks like an easy recipe for me. I am not a great cook but I need to eat healthier. I love homemade Lox and can't wait to try my hands at this task.
Izzy says
this is definitely healthier than a burger and does not have as much sodium and nitrites as store bought lox
JOSE says
EXCELENTE CHEF ....YO VIVIO EN EL MAR Y ES BUENO SABER COMO AHUMAR EL SALMON...I LIVE IN MEXICO
Wendy says
This looks like a great recipe but there are no answers to all these great questions! Please follow up!
Izzy says
good point
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Wendy, this is really weird, I recall responding to all these questions but my responses aren't showing up for some reason. I've emailed my hosting company about it. In the mean time if you have any questions please feel free to ask.
Basu says
Looks like a good recipe well explained. I am going to give it a try. Thanks.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Basu, thanks for leaving a note! I hope you enjoy?
czarina pie baker says
How do I store my lox? How many days does it keep?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Czarina, once you slice it you should eat it right away, but unsliced it will keep for a while. How long will depend on a lot of factors including the temperature your refrigerator is set at, how you've handled the salmon, etc, but I think it should be okay for at least a week.
Elaine Allard says
When I was a kid, I lived in a neighborhood where Jewish people lived. I learned to love bagels and lox with cream cheese. To this day I still love sour cream and bananas, gefilte fish too.
Olen says
My own research leads me to believe that the salt curing will NOT kill the type of harmful worn (nematode) that is likely to be found in fish. It is suggested that commercially frozen salmon be used for home curing and that it be farm-raised, which is less likely to have been infected in the first place.
Marc Matsumoto says
Please see the note on the recipe, it's all explained there.
Amy A HENDRICKSEN says
Perhaps I did something dreadfully wrong, but my salmon is salty to the point of inedible. I followed the proportions and timing. The salmon still flaked and was quite damp after 2 days of brining. Maybe I didn't have enough weight on it? Not sure.
I rescued as best I could by throwing it on the smoker and cold smoking for 2 hours to fully "cook" this all the way through. I'm flaking it on salads now, but I'd like to understand where I went wrong!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Amy, I'm so sorry to hear it didn't go well. There are a couple of possibilities here. The first (and this is my fault for not being more specific) is that your side of salmon may have been smaller than mine. In that case you don't need to use all of the dry brine. I'm going to revise the recipe to reflect that. The second possibility is that there was some undissolved salt remaining on top of the salmon. If this is the case, you can give it quick rinse to get rid of the excess salt. I'm glad you were able to rescue it, and throwing it on salads is a great idea! You could also try it in scrambled eggs, or crumbled and mixed into hot rice with some chopped herbs.
San says
This is excellent receipe, I used Coho salmon from wildalaskancompany.com
It was probably more thinner then it should be, it was done in 2 days, little bit more saltier then we like and I couldnt take off the skin, but I was able to slice it very nicely with my lucky cook knife, use my code MIA84. I think the receipe is very easy and very good. I am wondering if I need to put less salt if I use salmon which is not even 1" thicks?
Thank you for taking time and putting this together for us!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi San, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. I recently revised the recipe as it does not account for the size of the salmon. To answer your question, you shouldn't use all the brine mixture if the salmon is small. Mine was about 1 1/2 inches thick. You can also give the salmon a quick rinse after it's cured to remove any excess salt form the surface of the salmon.
Ivan says
If u really want to finish it off, pour a bottle of vodka(I prefer lime) and let the salmon sit in it for 24 hours. Imparts an added flavor level
Adt says
This recipe has no smoking
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Add, Lox is not smoked: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lox