Lox is a cured salmon fillet, usually sliced thin. Typically it is served on a bagel, often with cream cheese, onion, tomato, cucumber and capers. Lox can be crumbled into small pieces and added into scrambled eggs, sometimes with chopped onion.
I have to confess, I never much cared for lox. At least, not when compared to freshly caught and smoked salmon, as lox is far too often too dry or too salty. Freshly smoked salmon is better, especially if you caught it yourself, fly fishing.
While the Kokanee salmon run is on here in Colorado, we like to keep a few for smoking, as they die in their breeding rituals within the month of their run up the river anyway, so it seems a waste not to take advantage of their great flavor.
And, the Togiak River is quite possibly the best King and Silver Salmon river in Alaska, from which our friend, Rim Chung, had just returned with some its delicacies. Numerous anglers who have fished all over the world describe the Togiak as incomparable for its salmon runs, as well as for its nearby trout and grayling fishing. All of the Alaskan and Northwest wild salmonoids are worth smoking, whether it is the Copper River salmon from your market, or something farther down the Sporting Road.
We like our smoke salmon flaked on a hot, buttered bagel, topped with cream cheese and sprouts. It doesn’t get simpler than this, nor better. Voila!
