Salmon Lox (盐渍三文鱼)

Lox is a fillet of brined salmon. It is usually served as appetizer, garnished with tomato, sliced red onion, cucumbers and capers. It also can be served on a bagel or bread with cream cheese. This delicate gourmet food is actually pretty easy to make yourself.

Ingredients:

Fresh salmon filet - 1-2 lb
Kosher Salt - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Optional: pepper and herbs

Steps:

1. Rinse the salmon and pat it dry with a paper towel. If it has skin, leave the skin on. If you feel any bones in the salmon while you are doing this, remove them.
2. Combine the salt and sugar (and pepper and herbs, if using).
3. Get a large piece of plastic wrap, and spread some seasoning on it. Place the salmon skin-side down on the seasoning. Then spread the rest of the seasoning on top of the salmon to cover all of it.

4. Wrap the filet with plastic wrap and put on a pan and put in fridge. You can weight down the salmon with something heavy; this will make the lox drier and more dense. It is a personal preference.

5. You can start trying out the lox after one day in fridge. You can leave it in fridge 10 hours or up to 3 days, depends on how you like it. The longer you leave it in fridge, the saltier and denser it will be.
6. Unwrap the salmon, and rinse off all the salt and sugar. This one in the picture below is wild-caught coho salmon cured for one day with weight applied.

7. Slice and enjoy.