This past weekend, I attended a birthday party for a Jewish woman who was celebrating her 90th birthday. Her son and daughter were in attendance. And all of them are good cooks and extremely frugal. The mother lived through the Great Depression, and so she taught all her children how to be frugal. They served smoked salmon which I found to be quite delicious and there was an ample supply served. As you know, buying lox or smoked salmon can be an expensive deal, especially when you have 30 guests invited, and that this item probably will be the most sought after item on the buffet line. You want to have enough. I inquired the son about his recipe, and then the mother, and was told this. The ingredients are approximate, and they could not be more specific. I have never tried this before, and would prefer to watch someone make it first before doing it myself. So here is what they told me, and can anyone fill in the details, and/or pitfalls.

The son told me he actually purchased two packages of frozen salmon, on discount 50% off, because they had freezer burn. So they were $4.99 a pound. He estimated the amount of the packages were 3 to 4 pounds each. He couldn't be more specific. He said, after cutting off the freezer burn, he prepared a mixture consisting of 1 cup of salt, 2 cups of flour, and 1/2 cup of liquid smoke. He then applied this mixture to the raw salmon fillets, which seemed like they may be thick slices, perhaps an inch thick, on both sides, and then put them into a dish to marinate in the refrigerator for 6 days, turning them over occasionally. Then they were ready. I asked, isn't all that salt going to make it too salty. The mother told me, that the salt does not all absorb into the salmon, and that you wash it off, and then store the salmon. The son told he prefers the salmon to be marinated even longer, as the mixture extracts the moisture in the salmon making it denser. He said he prefers his salmon to be fairly dense. As it was, I thought the texture was fine, similar to the lox I am familiar with when purchase in the supermarket.

So, can anyone fill in the details better. Preferably, someone who has some experience preparing this, but let me know, in any case, good sources of information. I have to admit, I don't cook a lot, but I was fascinated by this account, because of that. It seems among the younger generation, the art of cooking is being lost, and everyone just buys fast food, or take out because it is more efficient.

duenhsiyen