Lox: An ancient food for the modern age

Bite into a bagel loaded with cream cheese and topped with a bright cushion of lox. The briny flavor of the fish combined with creamy schmear and chewy bagel is where flavor and texture combine to become more than the sum of their delicious parts. Lox in its modern form, a thinly sliced cured salmon usually found atop a bagel, is an American twist on the nearly universal practice of preserving fish. It’s a cousin to Portuguese salt cod, or bacalao, and a not-so-distant relative to fermented fish, like the garum that seasoned food in ancient Rome, or the fish sauces found in Southeast Asian cuisine. Preserved fish has been a savory snack across many cultures for thousands of years, but it took a transcontinental railroad connecting Pacific salmon fisheries to a wave of Yiddish-speaking immigrants moving from Europe to New York City to make lox what it is today. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Obsession] Lox June 13, 2019 A cross-cultural delight, any way you slice it --------------------------------------------------------------- Bite into a bagel loaded with cream cheese and topped with a bright cushion of lox. The briny flavor of the fish combined with creamy schmear and chewy bagel is where flavor and texture combine to become more than the sum of their delicious parts. Lox in its modern form, a thinly sliced cured salmon usually found atop a bagel, is an American twist on the nearly universal practice of preserving fish. It’s a cousin to Portuguese salt cod, or bacalao, and a not-so-distant relative to fermented fish, like the garum that seasoned food in ancient Rome, or the fish sauces found in Southeast Asian cuisine. Preserved fish has been a savory snack across many cultures for thousands of years, but it took a transcontinental railroad connecting Pacific salmon fisheries to a wave of Yiddish-speaking immigrants moving from Europe to New York City to make lox what it is today. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Have you tried the Quartz app? --------------------------------------------------------------- “Quartz is an incredible app for intellectuals who want real conversations without name-calling and nonsense that fills up other alternatives.” [Try the Quartz app]( Reuters/Eva Plevier By the digits [8:]( Salmon species in North American waters [5:]( Salmon species in North American Pacific waters alone [1 billion:]( Pounds of salmon produced by commercial salmon fishing annually [1939:]( Year the Concord Hotel in the Catskills invented pickled lox [66%:]( of salmon eaten by Americans that is imported [2,000:]( Pounds of salmon sold weekly by NYC gourmet emporium Zabar’s [500:]( Appetizing stores in NYC in the 1930s, which sold [kosher dairy, eggs, and fish]( cured and smoked salmon [4,000-5,000:]( Atlantic salmon that escaped from pens into the Pacific in 2017, which the aquaculture facility blamed on an eclipse [28%:]( Share of salmon in New York City grocery stores labeled as “wild” that was actually farm-raised, according to an investigation by the state attorney general’s office Fun fact! Salmon was so plentiful in colonial New England that [indentured servants campaigned]( for less of it at meals. AP Photo/Larry Crowe brief history Whose idea was this, anyway? --------------------------------------------------------------- At first blush, slapping slices of cold fish on rounds of chewy bread seems more like a survival strategy than brunch, even if you add capers. So who was the mastermind behind the pairing of bagels and lox? The short answer: We have no idea. But here’s the longer version. The word “lox” is an Americanized version of laks, Yiddish for salmon. While it is part of a long tradition of preserving fish by salting, smoking, pickling, fermenting, or drying, modern lox is particular to the Jewish American tradition. [According]( to Moment magazine, the 1869 debut of the transcontinental railroad boosted the fish’s popularity: “Salmon from the Pacific Northwest was smoked and shipped east in barrels layered with salt, creating a brine that preserved it for months without refrigeration as it made its way cross-country.” The bagel, a yeasted round that is boiled then baked, has its own complicated immigration story. In her book [The Bagel: the Surprising History of a Modest Bread]( Maria Balinska traces its origins back to the 14th century as Germans migrated to Poland and adapted local pretzel recipes. Bagels first came to NYC in the [late 19th-century]( with Eastern Europeans who brought recipes with them from their homelands. As far as we know, bagels and lox first appeared on the same plate in New York City’s famed melting pot, as a recreation of the Eastern European tradition of [eating cold appetizers known as forshpayz]( before meals. In the 1930s, [appetizing stores]( proliferated, selling the elements of a classic forshpayz spread, as well as new additions, like lox. Records of slang used by Jewish immigrants to the US in the 1950s [show]( they called peers who had become Americanized “lox and bagels.” So at some point in the first half of the 20th century, the pairing had become standard. As for the schmear? Joan Nathan, cookbook author and expert on Jewish cuisine, [believes that stroke of genius]( originated with Philadelphia Cream Cheese ad campaigns. She notes that the whole shebang—bagel, lox, and creamy schmear—were well established by the 1950s. [Read the Quartz Obsession on bagels]( Giphy Quotable “Don’t yuck my yum.” —Actress and former gubernatorial candidate [Cynthia Nixon]( after she was trashed in the press for ordering a cinnamon raisin bagel topped with lox “Lox her up?” —George Conway, lawyer and husband of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, [in response to Nixon’s bagel order]( Origin story How “lox” helped linguists discover a forgotten language --------------------------------------------------------------- If you traveled 8,000 years back in time and found yourself hungry after the journey, you could ask the locals for lox and they would understand that you wanted salmon. [According to Gregory Guy]( a professor of linguistics at New York University, the word “lox” has changed remarkably little in thousands of years. Linguists can trace the modern word through similar-sounding words for salmon like lachs in German, lax in Icelandic, and laks in Tocharian B, an extinct Central Asian language, back to Proto-Indo-European. This early language is the root of the massive Indo-European language tree that today includes around 440 languages, including English, Russian, and Sanskrit. Most of the words that existed in Proto-Indo-European language have evolved a great deal over time. Using words like lox, honey, oak tree, and snow, which have remained phonetically stable, linguists were able to sketch out a lexicon for the Proto-Indo-Europeans. These words then became geographical clues. “If they had a word for it, they must have lived in a place where there was salmon,” Guy told [Nautilus](. “Salmon is a fish that lives in the ocean, reproduces in fresh water and swims up to rivers to lay eggs and mate. There are only a few places on the planet where that happens.” A swath of land between Eastern Europe and the Black Sea is the only place in Eurasia with the flora and fauna to match that core vocabulary. [Archeological evidence]( supports the theory that 6,000–8,000 years ago the people living there were speaking a language that would eventually evolve into hundreds of languages, spoken by half the world. And they were likely saying, “more lox, please,” though no bagel remains have yet been discovered. Have a friend who would enjoy our Obsession with Lox? [ [Forward link to a friend](mailto:?subject=Thought you'd enjoy.&body=Read this Quartz Obsession email – to the email – Reuters/Chris Helgren Pop quiz What’s the difference between smoked salmon and lox? To be called “lox,” salmon must meet an exact color requirement.Only wild Pacific salmon are used to make lox.Lox is cured in a salt brine, not smoked.There is no difference. Correct. Smoked salmon is a broad term that describes any kind of salmon, smoked in any style. Lox is brined only. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Guide An appetizing cheat sheet --------------------------------------------------------------- Lox isn’t the only cured fish in the sea. Appetizing stores, and many delis and grocery stores, carry all kinds of cured and smoked fish. (And if you want to make sure you’re getting sustainably-fished or farmed salmon, [this guide from the Monterey Bay Aquarium is helpful]( 🐟 [Lox:]( Traditionally, lox specifically referred to salmon bellies that were salt-cured but not smoked. Today, it’s often made from other parts of the fish unless specifically called “belly lox.” 🐟 [Gravlax:]( Another cured, not smoked, salmon with a different flavor profile than lox. The curing concoction is typically light on the salt and includes dill, lemon, and vodka or gin. Gravlax is [often served]( with crème fraîche on blinis—a small, thin pancake. 🐟 [Nova:]( Cold-smoked salmon from Nova Scotia. The fish is cured in salt and then exposed to smoke for flavor, but not heat. 🐟 [Chubs:]( Small, freshwater fish that get smoked after a salt and sugar cure. They’re [increasingly difficult to find]( so Bering ciscos often take their place. 🐟 [Sable:]( Referred to as smoked sable in New York, smoked black cod in the Pacific Northwest, and butterfish in California, this fatty fish is known for its omega-3 content and supple texture. 🐟 [Smoked whitefish:]( Whitefish isn’t just a generic term to refer to a broad category of fish. Smoked whitefish, the kind in most gefilte fish recipes, is typically a Great Lakes native called Coregonus clupeaformis, or lake whitefish. 🐟 [Kippered Herring:]( “Kippering” is a specific type of smoking that involves splitting open the herring butterfly-style, then cleaning, salting, and smoking it. Like lox, kippered herrings have been [traditionally]( enjoyed at breakfast in the UK. Scandinavians enjoy them on smørrebrød, an open-faced sandwich served on a hearty, seedy, slice of buttered rye bread. Watch this! This attempt to seize the Guinness World Record for the largest lox and bagel sandwich piles 40 pounds of lox and 40 pounds of cream cheese on a giant bagel. take me down this 🐟hole! For lox afficianandos, it’s not just about the fish, it’s also how you slice it. There’s a real art to cutting a paper-thin sheet of salmon. In New York City, demand peaks in the autumn, during the [Jewish High Holy Days, when appetizing empires like Zabar’s]( fly in retired salmon slicers for extra help. Chef Gordon Ramsay got a lesson on sides of smoked salmon from the best slicer in the UK—[take a peek](. Giphy Poll Lox: Love it or leave it? [Click here to vote]( Give me all the lox.I can take it or leave it, actually.I’ll take my salmon cooked, thanks.No salmon. Ever. 💬let's talk! In yesterday’s poll about [ampersands]( 44% of you claimed it as your favorite symbol, with 36% voting for the em dash, and just 19% of you professing your love for the interrobang. 📧 Anne wrote to us to say, “the interrobang has a special place in my heart. It sounds cool, is a multiple choice exclamation and looks funky!” Agreed on all fronts. 🤔 [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20%26s&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) 📬 [Forward this email to a friend](mailto:replace_with_friends_email@qz.com?cc=obsession%2Bforward@qz.com&subject=%F0%9F%92%95Love%20Actually%3A%20The%20holiday%20rom%20com%20we%20hate%20to%20%E2%9D%A4%EF%B8%8F&body=Thought%20you%27d%20enjoy.%20%0ARead%20it%20here%20%E2%80%93%20http%3A%2F%2Fqz.com%2Femail%2Fquartz-obsession%2F1497758) Today’s email was written by [Stacy Conradt]( edited by [Annaliese Griffin,]( and produced by [Luiz Romero.]( The correct answer to the quiz is Lox is cured in a salt brine, not smoked.. Enjoying the Quartz Obsession? [Send this link]( to a friend! Want to advertise in the Quartz Obsession? Send us an email at ads@qz.com. 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