Learn the Difference Between Lox and Smoked Salmon

Lox is a form of cured salmon which is preserved either by curing (removing water from food by adding salt) or brining (preserving fish or meat by placing it in a salt brine). Derived from “lachs” and “laks,” the German and Yiddish words for salmon, lox is most often served at brunch with a bagel, cream cheese, and capers. True lox is simply salmon preserved with salt. This cured fish is sometimes referred to as “belly lox,” meaning it comes from the salty, fatty middle section of a salmon.

Lox is prepared by covering the flesh of fresh fish with salt or brined in saltwater. It takes several days to make lox, which is thinly sliced, translucent, and slightly salty with a mild fish taste.
Lox is akin to Gravlax, a popular form of cured salmon in Scandinavian Europe. The salmon is cured using salt, sugar, fresh dill, and juniper berries and then buried in sand during the curing process. Gravlax literally translates to "salmon from the grave."

Smoked salmon is fish preserved through brining or curing, then exposed to smoke to give it a complex, woody flavor. While lox traditionally uses the belly of a fish, smoked salmon can be from any part of the fish.

Salmon is either cold-smoked or hot-smoked, which yields slightly different textures. Cold-smoking salmon results in tender smoked fish that is tender and nearly paper-thin. Hot-smoking salmon yields thicker slices of fish that have a similar texture to cooked salmon. Nova lox is a popular form of smoked salmon made from a wild type of salmon found in Nova Scotia, which is now then cured or brined and then smoked.

You might use these terms interchangeably at the bagel counter because both are variations of cured salmon. Both are made from salmon and have a high amount of salt. However, there are some slight differences between smoked salmon and lox.

• Preparation: Lox is cured or brined using salt, while smoked salmon is cured or brined using salt and then further preserved by the smoking process. This gives lox and smoked salmon two distinct flavors.
• Taste: Lox tastes predominantly salty, while smoked salmon has a smoky flavor.
• Texture: Lox is typically made with the belly of the salmon, making it more tender and fatty. It can also be sliced extremely thin. Cold-smoked salmon is smoked at around 70 degrees Fahrenheit for the better part of a day to closely resemble traditional lox. Hot-smoked salmon is placed at 145 degrees Fahrenheit for eight hours, achieving a thicker, darker texture that loses its translucency, and is flaky in texture, like oven-cooked salmon fillets.

Become a better chef with the MasterClass Annual Membership. Gain access to exclusive video lessons taught by the world’s best, including Gordon Ramsay, Gabriela Cámara, Chef Thomas Keller, Dominique Ansel, Yotam Ottolenghi, Alice Waters, and more.