Being a kosher caterer can be an expensive business. Before you jump to conclusions, I am not going to diatribe about the cost of Kosher meat, or the weighty labour and on-costs that are associated with producing fine food and providing quality service for the most discerning clients. Well…i guess I just did…but no… you see I was in the home office researching and writing some kiddush menus this morning when the topic of salmon bagels caused my stomach to grumble. An impromptu trip to the shop, and organic bakery resulted in a yummy self assembled smoked salmon, creamed cheese, cucumber and organic bagel lunch and a dent of $18.50 in my hip pocket. Well… a smoked salmon bagel is a luxury item, and one with an interesting history.

Salmon bagels with cream cheese are a traditional part of American Jewish cuisine. Traditional salmon bagels were (and in the best delis still are) made with Lox. Lox is actually cured salmon, not smoked, but pickled in brine in the days before refrigeration. In Brooklyn, old-style Lox was very lightly smoked, and remained quite salty with cream cheese providing the perfect foil for the saltiness, and smoothing out the crumble of the bagel. Unsmoked Lox is something that we are starting to prepare this month for L’amour menus. It is handsliced and has a cleaner flavour and firmer texture than the mass-produced, often frozen, commercial smoked salmon that we buy at the supermarket (including the salmon I just bought for lunch!). I, for one, am looking forward to tasting the difference.
Keep well!
Until next post, John

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