What Is Lox, and How Does It Compare to Smoked Salmon?

Lox is more than just a salty topping for your bagel. Here's what you should know about it:

What Exactly Is Lox?

Lox refers to a fillet (or slice) of salted salmon.

Brining (the process of preserving food with salt) is akin to curing, but it requires much less time.

Lox, often served with cream cheese on a bagel, was traditionally made from the fish's belly, though nowadays, other parts of the fish are also used.

What Does Lox Taste Like?

Lox is smooth, rich, and buttery, with a flavor similar to other types of salmon. Its saltiness is more pronounced due to the brining process.

A close-up shot of homemade lox with red onions, capers, and cream cheese on an everything bagel.

Alan Oliver

Lox vs. Smoked Salmon

Though "lox" and "smoked salmon" are often used interchangeably, they are distinct from one another.

The main difference between lox and smoked salmon lies in their preparation methods.

Lox is brined but never cooked or smoked.

Smoked salmon, on the other hand, is either brined or cured before being smoked. It can be cold-smoked (exposed to smoke for several days without cooking) or hot-smoked (fully cooked, similar to smoked meats).

Since lox is never cooked, it retains its smooth, silky texture and translucent appearance. In contrast, smoked salmon becomes slightly firmer due to the smoking process, resembling the texture of baked or grilled salmon.

The History of Lox

The term "lox" comes from the Yiddish word for salmon, "laks."

Brining salmon is a tradition rooted in Scandinavia, but it also gained popularity among Eastern European Jews.

Many of these immigrants brought their love for brined, cured, and smoked fish to the U.S. when they arrived.

The Transcontinental Railroad played a key role in making lox popular in the U.S.

Trains began transporting salted salmon from the Pacific Coast to other regions, including New York, where many Eastern European immigrants settled in the late 1800s.

Although brined salmon has Scandinavian origins, the classic bagels and lox combination is distinctly American.

"[Bagels] were met with both curiosity and criticism. Seventy years after bagels first arrived in North America, they had evolved in so many ways that the idea of 'authenticity' seemed questionable," wrote Heather Smith in a 2012 Meatpaper article. "By the 1950s, 'bagels and lox' had become a mockery—a term used by Jewish immigrants to describe others who had become too Americanized. Bagels and lox didn’t exist in the old country. It was a fusion—a combination of pickled Italian flower buds, Scandinavian-style fish, and English-style cheese. It had traveled as far as the salmon and had transformed into something completely new in the process."

How to Prepare Lox

While you can buy lox at the store, making it at home is surprisingly simple. Discover how to brine salmon (a.k.a. make lox) with this highly-rated recipe.

A close-up of salmon topped with herbs and butter, served on a slice of dark bread on a plate.

AllieGeekPi

What Is Gravlax — and How Does It Relate to Lox?

Gravlax is the Scandinavian technique for preparing lox. The salmon is rubbed with a spice mix of dill, juniper berries, salts, sugars, and sometimes liquor before being brined.