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"Be safe!" warns one bagel manufacturer, "Always put lox on your bagels," they continue. Millions of deli customers heed this admonition regularly, but not for security's sake. Rather, it is to safeguard flavor and texture that millions of Americans turn to smoked salmon, or what they somewhat mistakenly call lox on a bagel with a schmear each morning. Going without this sacred morning ritual for many people is almost unthinkable. Salmon, however, is not alone in the smoking section of the deli case. It shares space with assorted whitefish, trout, herring, and a variety of seafood, all smoked over various kinds of wood in a process that dates back into antiquity. Smoked fish, especially salmon, is not exclusive to the breakfast bagel but increasingly figures into all kinds of gourmet recipes for pasta, salads, sandwiches, and a host of appetizers. Not all smoked fish is created equal however, and modern refrigeration makes it unnecessary to apply a heavy hand in the smokehouse. Today's smoked fish is likely to be delicate and subtly smoked, with the smoke becoming an undertone rather than a dominant flavor that overwhelms the fresh-fish taste. Even within the smoked salmon category there is much to choose from, both in the types of salmon and the way in which it is processed. Add to that the variety of other types of fish and seafood to choose from, and one can almost fill the case with smoked fish alone, and many do. So although the smoking habit is one that everyone should stay away from, smoked fish can be a delicious addition to anyone's life, to their table, and to your bottom line.

Smoke of Ages
It is most likely that the first crude attempts at smoking foods had absolutely nothing to do with adding flavor but were merely a means to preserve the kill. Of course, the bonus round came for those early hunter-gatherers when they tasted what the smoke did to the flavor of their food, as well as the texture it produced. Since the method of smoking foods probably resulted from hanging meats and fish around the fire to dry, it was very likely discovered simultaneously by many different cultures. Of course, the first primitive attempts at smoking happened well before recorded history and we can only piece together the evidence based on archeological findings. What we do know is that as early as 3500 B.C., the Sumerians of Mesopotamia, possibly the western world's first real agrarian society, were smoking fish as a regular means of food preservation. It is believed that the Chinese were likely smoking foods even earlier. Evidence exists that a good deal of smoking was going on in Ireland around 2000 B.C., a good 1,500 years before the concept of salting food for preservation was introduced to that area.
Smoking, both then and now, is a means of preservation that is typically used in tandem with salting and drying. The basic principle behind smoking is that the tar in wood smoke adheres to the meat's surface, effectively sealing the outside, while the flavor penetrates through to the interior flesh. The protective coating helps to preserve the meat by keeping the air out. In the case of fatty meats like herring or bacon, this coating helps prevent the fat from becoming rancid. Although bacon is smoked considerably lighter today than it was in the past, it is still the unmistakable smokiness that makes bacon taste like bacon, as well as being one of the major characteristics that separates it from pancetta.
At its most basic, smoking simply involves hanging the fish or meat up over a source of smoke and letting science take its course. It is the least efficient way to smoke foods though, and the pioneers of smoking learned that if a chamber of some sort was used to enclose the meat, it was both faster and more effective. Eventually, this led to the design of special kilns to simultaneously dry and smoke the food. A continuous kiln was developed in the 19th century in which sides of salmon were hung by chains as they slowly moved through the smoke in the kiln. Modern smokehouses are highly efficient and use regulated machines so the person doing the smoking can control every facet of the smoking process in terms of the temperature, the amount of smoke, and the kind of smoke applied.
Salt is the other necessary component in smoking foods, or in any other curing process for that matter. Salt retards the growth of harmful bacteria, while simultaneously drawing excess moisture from the flesh that would otherwise become a breeding ground for bacteria. In the smoking process, the heat further dries the flesh, while the smoke imparts resin and flavor. Smoked fish is always treated to a curing process prior to smoking, either a dry rub of salt and sometimes spices and sugar, or in brine that also can contain different flavorings.
Fish and bacon are by no means the only foods whose flavors can be enhanced by the smoking process. Many cheeses, nuts, vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, and all kinds of meats are among the foods that have been or are smoked by cultures around the world. The lovely flavor and texture of smoked fish and seafood, however, are perennial favorites for this kind of treatment, whether cold smoked or hot smoked. The cold-smoking method, typical of that used on most Atlantic salmons from Scotland, Norway, and Nova Scotia, employs lower temperatures as the term would suggest, usually 75 degrees Fahrenheit or below. This method lends a subtle flavor and a silken texture to the fish and is what most people think of when they think of smoked salmon. Hot smoking requires the maintenance of higher temperatures, from 120 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, for several hours. This method is most common with salmon from the Pacific Northwest. It results in a smokier flavor and a more flakey texture, one similar to that of baked fish. Indeed, the fish is more "cooked" than cold-smoked salmon, although even hot-smoked fish needs to be stored in the refrigerator. Smoked fish, especially hot-smoked fish, will certainly keep much longer than fresh fish, but is not immortal.

Lox or Nova?
In his wonderfully informative book, Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating (Houghton Mifflin), author and retailer Ari Weinzweig correctly points out that when most people call for lox, what they really want is nova. The word lox comes from the German word lachs and/or the Swedish word lax, both of which mean salmon. Lox is made from Pacific salmon and is never smoked, but rather is cured in a heavily salted brine solution. This is due to its history of being shipped from the West Coast to the East in the days before refrigeration. The fish was packed in barrels full of brine and would be cured and salty upon its arrival on the East Coast.
Nova, on the other hand, is short for Nova Scotia where the method of gently cold smoking has always been the preferred technique. Always done with Atlantic salmon, the result is a finely smoked fish with a lovely soft, silken texture. Due to the more refined process, this type of smoked salmon is always more expensive than lox. This type of smoked fish differs from European versions such as those from Scotland and Norway in that those countries do not use a brine, but always dry rub the fish with salt and sometimes other ingredients. Those smoked salmons tend to have a drier texture and a more intense flavor.
Weinzweig puts it succinctly in his book, saying, "Lox is salty, and Nova is not. And Nova is smoked, lox isn't. Got it?"
So what then is gravlax? Not smoked at all, gravlax is a method of preparation based on traditional methods going back to medieval times in Scandinavia, and literally means "buried fish," an apt description of the original method. In The Oxford Companion to Food, Astri Riddervold documents that a man named Olafuer Gravlax was a practitioner of this art in 1348, and that another man, Martin Surlax (his name translates to "sour fish"), was doing it in 1509. However, as Riddervold points out, this was a time when people took their names according to their trade. So in a chicken-or-the-egg kind of conundrum, was the process named for Mr. Gravlax, or was he named for the technique? Probably the latter, and too with Surlax, who was no doubt named for the result of the process, that of sour fish.
Originally, the fish (not just salmon but all sorts of oily fish such as herring and mackerel) was buried either in barrels or in holes in the ground, and covered with birch bark and stones. Long-term burial of the fish made for a very sour, but fully preserved fish meant to last through the winter months. Short-term burial -- from four to six days -- resulted in an edible fish but one that was still uncooked. This method is the direct predecessor to today's method of making gravlax where a boned fillet is placed skin side down and covered with salt, sugar, white peppercorns, and fresh dill. The other fillet is placed atop, skin side up. The fish is put into a pan, a weight of some sort is placed on top of it, and the whole thing is stored in a refrigerator for about three days. The fish are flipped twice a day. Gravlax are drained and brushed clean prior to serving, and then sliced thin and served with any number of accompaniments, such as boiled potatoes, mustard sauce, potato salad, or whatever one desires.
Unlike gravlax, smoked salmon should be sliced on the slightly thicker side. After all, it is not prosciutto and does not need to be sliced paper thin. Sadly, the art of slicing smoked salmon (a skill requiring patience; a long, thin knife; and experience) is losing ground to presliced sides of salmon that make it easier for self-serve deli operations and takes away the onus of teaching new employees the delicate skills needed for the traditional hand slicing. Any way you slice it, however, make sure that you display your smoked salmon in a way that shows off its unique coloring, and the glistening sheen of the slightly oily flesh. Slabs of marble are perfect for displaying salmon and other types of smoked fish. It is sanitary, durable (unless you drop it on the tile floor), and keeps wonderfully cold. The great thing about selling whole sides is that you can offer tastes to perspective buyers, something that is not practical with presliced and packaged smoked salmon.
All of which brings us to the bagel, the preferred vehicle for most smoked salmon consumers. Merchandise a selection of bagels, preferably real boiled-and-baked bagels, and good-quality cream cheese near your smoked fish case. While a schmear (from the Yiddish shmirn, meaning to smear or grease) is certainly a wonderful partner to smoked salmon, other accompaniments include butter, chopped red onion, caviar, potatoes of almost any preparation but especially potato pancakes and assorted rustic breads. And while you're at it, keep a bottle of good vodka in the freezer. There may be no better beverage to accompany quality smoked salmon. To that we say,
noz drovya!