Salmon can be enjoyed in many ways, including as smoked salmon, as gravlax, or as lox. We explain the differences between each of these preparations.
Salmon, rich in Omega 3 essential oils like the rest of the essential oily fish in our diet, can be enjoyed in many ways. Among all the recipes with salmon, some are based on natural curing methods with which, in addition to preserving the fish for longer, we give the fish a different flavor. We will explain the keys that differentiate smoked salmon from gravlax and lox.
What is smoked salmon?
Smoked salmon is a product resulting from subjecting raw fish to a curing process based on smoking, which allows it to be preserved for longer as well as giving it a peculiar smoke flavor. The smoking technique can be done both cold and hot and is a very common product in the gastronomy of northern Europe as well as in Western countries. It is usually presented cut into very thin slices. Most of it is cold, exposing the fish to the combustion of different woods.
It is a very versatile ingredient in cooking that, beyond being enjoyed alone, can be combined with other simple ingredients such as cream cheese, vinaigrettes based on olive oil, and green leaves…, to prepare easy recipes such as smoked salmon toast, a tartare or some blinis, and even prepare more elaborate recipes such as noodles or a smoked salmon cake.
What is gravlax
Gravlax, a term of Swedish origin, is a Scandinavian preparation based on thin slices of salmon that undergo a curing process using salt, sugar, and dill. Historically, it was a curing method in which the salmon was buried in the same soil where it was also lightly fermented. Thanks to its sweet and less intense flavor than smoked salmon, it is ideal served with ingredients such as avocado, in homemade blinis, as part of a sandwich, in salads or as the protagonist in a dish that combines salmon with various pickles, a little homemade mayonnaise or sour cream, fresh dill and some toasted bread.
What is lox
Lox is the food product resulting from subjecting fresh salmon to a curing process using salt as the main preservative ingredient. Lox is saltier than other variants of cured salmon, so instead of eating it alone, it is served with other foods that counteract and soften its salty flavor. It can be enjoyed combined on a bagel with cream cheese, chopped like a tartare topping simple makis, as part of the ingredients for deviled eggs or added to a salad based on tender sprouts, cream cheese, and avocado, for example.
What are the differences between smoked salmon, gravlax, and lox
If we find the cured salmon cut into thin slices having used any of these three preparations, at first glance we can confuse the terms smoked salmon, gravlax, and lox. However, we will see that beyond its appearance, its basic differences lie in its significantly different origin, its production process, and its final flavor.
Origin: lox, a Swedish product popularized by the Jews
Smoked salmon has its origin in Scandinavian countries, as does gravlax. However, lox is a preparation born specifically in Sweden.
Although it is consumed around the world, the origin of smoked salmon lies in the countries of Northern Europe, where local fishermen had to come up with a curing process through which they could preserve fish from coastal areas for more time. This is how they discovered that with the smoking technique as a natural fish preservative, the salmon had greater durability.
Gravlax, for its part, originated in Scandinavian countries during the Middle Ages, and in the same way as smoked salmon, it was fishermen who devised this method of preserving fish. The difference with smoked salmon is that to prepare gravlax, various ingredients were used to cure the salmon that also gave it different flavors. Preservatives such as salt or sugar, mixed with fresh herbs such as dill and flavorings such as peppercorns, resulted in a marinated salmon with a more subtle and slightly sweet flavor.
Lox has its origins in 19th-century Sweden, where its inhabitants discovered a method of preserving salmon using only salt as a curing element for the fish. It was the Jewish emigrants who, upon arriving in America, began to spread the consumption of this product and popularize it and spread it throughout the continent. Unlike smoked salmon or gravlax, lox, due to its salty taste, began to be consumed with other foods such as cream cheese and bagels, making this combination one of the favorite breakfasts of Americans.
Preparation: from smoke to salt
Smoked salmon, as its name indicates, is prepared by smoking it with the smoke from the combustion of different woods. However, gravlax is made by marinating and curing salmon with salt, sugar and dill, while lox only uses salt to cure the fish.
The process of making smoked salmon first starts with cleaning the fish in which the head, the backbone of the fish and the bones from the loins of the fresh salmon are removed in order to immediately pass it to the deboning machine, making it cleaning is much more meticulous. Once all the bones have been removed, the salmon loins are washed and frozen until processed. After having defrosted the loins, the salting process begins where salt and sugar are mixed in equal parts and the mixture is distributed over the loins. Subsequently, the fish will go to the salting chambers, where depending on the size of the loins, they will be left to rest for a period of time ranging between 24 and 36 hours. After the curing time has passed, the salt and sugar mixture is removed, the loins are washed and left to rest on stainless steel racks for a couple of hours. After draining, the grates are moved to the smoker to begin the smoking process, with temperatures ranging between 10ºC and 30ºC. Generally, soft woods are used such as beech, apple, cherry or plum that provide sweet and very subtle notes. The loins are smoked for 6 hours. After smoking, the smoker grates are removed to let them cool at room temperature for 30 minutes before keeping them in the cold rooms to finally proceed to lamination and vacuum packaging.
To obtain gravlax, the salmon are cleaned by removing the head and spine of the fish, as well as the rest of the bones it may contain, so that the loins are completely clean as in the previous case. After washing the loins, they are frozen until they are ready to marinate. Once thawed, they are marinated in a mixture of equal parts salt and sugar, fresh dill and peppercorns. This mixture is distributed so that it covers the bottom of the containers where the salmon loins are placed so that the skin is facing down. Next, the loins are sprinkled with the mixture, the dill is added so that they are covered, and the peppercorns are added. Then other loins are placed on top so that the skin is facing up and after having covered the containers with transparent film, the curing process of the fish begins in cold rooms for 36 hours. After the time has passed, the loins are rinsed with plenty of water and subsequently drained on stainless steel grates located inside the cold chambers where they will remain for 30 minutes. Finally, a little fresh dill is added before the loins are thinly sliced and the fish is vacuum sealed.
Regarding the process of making lox, it is necessary to start with cleaning the fish in which, in addition to removing the head, the backbone, and the rest of the bones, the loins are separated to be washed, drained, and frozen. After having defrosted the salmon loins, the salt-curing process begins. To do this, cover the bottom of the containers with salt where the salmon loins will later be placed, skin side down. The loins are covered with more salt and other salmon loins are placed on them, skin side up, which will remain in cold storage for 3 to 4 days. After curing, the loins will be rinsed and subsequently drained in the cold rooms for a period of 30 minutes. Finally, the process is finished by cutting the loins into pieces and vacuum packaging them.
Flavor
Regarding the flavor of these three products from salmon, there is a marked difference between each of them. While smoked salmon, as its name suggests, has smoky notes that characterize it, gravlax, for its part, has a much more subtle flavor, marked by a slightly sweet taste. Lox, however, is characterized by its much saltier and more powerful flavor.
Due to the smoking process that the fish is subjected to, in the case of smoked salmon, the peculiar taste that smoke gives it when used as a method of preserving fish stands out. Furthermore, depending on the type of wood used during the process, the fish will acquire different aromas and flavors.
As for gravlax, due to the use of other ingredients such as salt, sugar, pepper, and dill during its curing process, its flavor is milder and slightly sweet. The herbaceous flavors given by the dill and the sweet aftertaste given by the sugar during the curing process predominate. Furthermore, thanks to this solution between salt and sugar, a perfect balance of flavors is created, making the resulting product much more balanced on the palate.
On the contrary, the flavor of lox is much more powerful and salty than smoked salmon or gravlax, since during its curing process only salt is used as a preservative element. Likewise, as the curing of the fish takes longer, the salmon acquires a much more intense flavor, which is why lox is generally consumed with other ingredients such as cream cheese to soften its salty flavor.