Smoked Salmon Lox

On my first visit to New York City back in 2012 to visit my brother, I had done so much research on foods to try during my visit. It's always important to me to discover nature, culture, food, history and relaxation any new place I go. One of the top foods listed was an everything bagel, made with NYC's quality water, topped with lox salmon, red onion, tomato, capers, and cream cheese. I'm all about trying new foods once so I made a point of it. Taking the first bite into a chewy bagel. creamy spread, crunchy onion, tangy capers and perfectly salty, smoky salmon changed me! I don't like tomatoes on bread for the most part so I passed them up. This bagel combo was so good, I'd have cravings until my next trip back to the Big Apple. With my fiance's new Traeger smoker we decided to give it a shot and were surprised at just how easy it was to recreate this at home.

Ingredients:

4 salmon filets, skin on

3/4 cup kosher salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar 

1 teaspoon black pepper

For bagel:

Everything bagel, sliced in half and toasted

Cream cheese

Capers

Red onion 

Supplies:

2 baking sheets
Small bowl

Smoker

Ice

Measuring cups

Measuring spoons

Plastic wrap

Paper towels

Directions:

Thaw frozen salmon filets in refrigerator. Pat dry with paper towels. In a small bowl, combine salt, sugars and pepper, to make dry brine. Mix thoroughly. Place a large strip of plastic wrap on the counter; long enough to place the filets side by side on the surface. Coat all sides of salmon with the dry brine. Place meaty side down and add any extra brine on top of fish. Cut another piece of plastic wrap the same length and wrap filets tightly.

Place wrapped salmon on baking sheet. Place another baking sheet on top and add weights (really just find the heaviest condiments in your fridge and set them on top of the baking sheet). Let sit overnight to 10 hours. The brine will cure the fish, helping to kill any bacteria, draw moisture from the fish, and add flavor.



After brining, unwrap fish and rinse brine away. Pat dry with paper towels. Move filets back to the baking sheet and let sit at room temp for 1 hour. While salmon sits, preheat your smoker to 180 degrees using a wood blend. Layer your pans: baking sheet, ice, baking sheet, salmon skin side down. Smoke for 30 minutes.



Slice thin and serve my favorite way: on an everything bagel with cream cheese, capers, red onion, black pepper and a touch of everything but the bagel seasoning.

Tips:

Rinse red onions under cold water or soak in ice water for up to 5 minutes to remove some of the bite. While there might be some reservation on eating smoked fish, let me reassure you that if you use previously frozen fish and cure it correctly, those two factors will kill parasites and bacteria.