Homemade Lox

Yes you read that right.  I have always wanted to try my hand at making my own lox. I was standing in the store looking at some beautiful wild salmon that was on sale and decided right then and there that the time had come.  I've seen this done on a couple of food shows and I was so curious to see if I could recreate the same thing in my own kitchen. It's amazing what you can do when you have the right instructions and the best quality ingredients. 

There is a mustard sauce that goes with this at the end of the recipe. You can use it with the lox or use it on everything else. I baked some salmon one night and used it on that.  The sauce is fantastic! 

Ingredients for lox: 
3 pounds fresh wild salmon
1 large bunch of dill 
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar 
2 tbsp peppercorns 
1 tbsp fennel seeds


Cut the salmon in half and place one half in a deep dish, skin side down.  Cover with the chopped dill.  Combine and salt, sugar, peppercorns, and fennel in a small bowl and stir to combine. Sprinkle over the fish. Place the other half of the fish on top, skin side up. Cover the dish with aluminum foil. Place it in a larger dish then put some weight on top of the fish. I used big 32 oz size cans of tomatoes.  Place in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days, turning every 12 hours. You will need to remove the cans, open the foil, and turn the fish over. Cover back up again, place the weight on, and put it back in the frig until the next turn.

Once it is done curing, remove all the stuff from the fish. Don't wash it because you will lose flavor, simply take a paper towel and wipe it all off until it is clean.  Then take a very sharp knife and start slicing thin slices on the diagonal. Cut down until you get to the skin then stop. 

You can serve this on pumpernickel bread with the mustard sauce, or use on bagels with cream cheese. 


The perfect Sunday morning breakfast!

Ingredients for mustard sauce: 
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 tsp dry mustard 
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp tarragon vinegar
1/3 olive oil 
3 tbsp fresh dill, chopped 

Combine everything but the dill in a small bowl and whisk until it is combined and emulsified.  Once it is thick and ready to serve add the dill and stir in. 

The original recipe is from Ina Garten.