The Main Ingredient — 100 lbs. of Fresh King (Chinook) salmon from the frigid waters of Cook Inlet (38°F. at the height of summer). Only Five Fish! And only $500.00 Fresh Off the Boat! These King Salmon still have sea lice on them, meaning that they have not yet entered fresh water, which is when they start degenerating. But these are small Kings.

Cook Inlet King Salmon often run up to 35 lbs. or more, but such fish are too large for making lox, as the fillets are too thick to absorb the dry mix and the brine. 20 lbs. is about the perfect size if you are using Kings. Silver (Coho) salmon also make excellent lox. Red (Sockeye) salmon are less fatty than either Kings (the fattiest) or Silvers, and make inferior lox, though, as fresh salmon, some people think Sockeye are the ne plus ultra.

Do not even bother with Dog (Chum) salmon or Pink (Humpy) salmon. You'd be wasting your time and ingredients.

Here is the Holy Trinity of Lox: Dark Rum, Salt and Brown Sugar. The rum must be dark, and not cheapo junk such as Captain Morgan's "Rum": Myer's is fine, but avoid artificially-colored dark rums, such as Bacardi or Cap'n M's. Lox needs the subtle molasses note provided by genuine dark rum, which goes along with the dark brown sugar. After all, dark rum and brown sugar are kissing cousins.

As for the salt, use almost any non-iodized variety. Morton's Coarse Kosher Salt, or Morton's Coarse Pickling Salt will do. There is no reason to use expensive "designer" salts, such as Fleur de Sel, Murray River pink salt or similar vastly overpriced pseudo-goumet varieties: salt is salt, as long as it has no additives. On the other hand, it's wise to avoid the coarse salt used for de-icing one's driveway.

A good ratio to use for the salt and sugar mix is 3 parts salt to 4 parts sugar, but you can experiment with other ratios.

Here's a garden hose being used to scale the a small King Salmon, but you can use a power washer or a manual scaler.

You'll need several knives, a pair of heavy scissors and a mallet to drive the knife through the spine.

Use a heavy knife to section the king salmon.

Filleting salmon takes a good fillet knife and some practice.

Cleaning up a salmon fillet: a few ribs were left on it. Note perfect fillets in background.

These salmon fillets have been scored with a razor blade, allowing the dry mix and, later, the brine, to penetrate.

The first layer of fillets in salt-sugar mix. Cover first layer with salt-sugar mix, and place the next layer flesh side down, then skin side down, and so forth until bin is filled.

A close-up of the fillets in the salt-sugar mix. This shows the razor blade scores quite plainly. "Differentially" cover with dry mix: more for thicker filets, less for thinner ones.

This is a salometer, or salinometer. It is useful for determining the exact salinity of the brine: SausageMania recommends a 90% solution. Available from Amazon.com for about $24.00.

Salmon fillets in brine. For details of how to make the brine and how long to brine the fillets, visit the main LoxMania page.

Freshening the salmon fillets with cold, running water. Brining and freshening are the two most critical steps. For details, visit the main LoxMania page.

Don't rely blindly on the stated freshening times: well before the requisite time, start slicing off samples, and remove the salmon fillets when they suit your taste.

Prepare a "paint" of Meyer's rum and brown sugar; make it syrupy-thick, which requires heating, but make sure it doesn't catch fire!

Salmon fillets laid out on towels, with a fan to dry them. Properly drying the "paint" results in a shiny pellicle on the surface. Note the heap of plastic bins in the corner. You can never have too many.

After drying, the flesh will have shrunken somewhat, exposing the "pin bones." These bones are soft; you can leave them in if you want, or take the time to remove them. The bones are as soft as sardine bones, but Grade-A Lox must have them removed.

Use the right tool for the job: a needle nose pliers. If you're good at it, you can grab and extract 3-4 pin bones at once.

Needle nose pliers in action. This is very time-consuming, so you can pay your kids 25 cents an hour to do it for you.

Now it's time to load the smoker with the salmon fillets. Never let the temperature of the fillets exceed 85° F!

Smoker firing up! This baby will hold 60 lbs. of salmon fillets.

Prime fresh dill! Dill is an option when making lox. Some people like it, others loath it. But if you are going to use dill, get the freshest you can, or grow it yourself!

A Big No-No: Liquid Smoke. Your Salmon Deserves REAL Smoke! Anyone using this will end up in the Lox Hall of Shame.

The finished product, King Salmon Lox, vacuum-packed with dill. Vacuum-packed fresh salmon will last no more than 6 months in the freezer, but vacuum packed lox will last for 2+ years. Count on getting only 50-60% of the "poundage" of the salmon you started with. Cleaning the salmon, dehydration by brine and air-drying all contribute to the loss of poundage, one reason lox is so expensive.

The Ultimate Test of Lox: Can It Be Sliced? If you've done it right, you can slice it thin enough to read through it. If you've messed up, it will "smear" when you try to slice it. The key to good sliceability is proper brining. Under-brined lox will always "smear" on slicing. Scoring the skin side of the salmon fillets is essential to obtain proper brine penetration with through-and-through curing of the fillets.