BWW Cooks: Lox - It's What's For Breakfast (And So Is Other Fish!)

I'm going to say three words that will stop most of you in your tracks for a moment. "Fish for breakfast!" Uh, are you all right? You do look a bit pale. Is it your stomach? It might help if you put your food down for a second. You know, that bagel and lox you've been eating.

There's a world of fish for breakfast, including from our mother country, England, some of hers, but not all, by way of India. There are regional fish specialties for breakfast here in the States, too. We've mentioned the most traditional now, lox, usually eaten with bagels, but equally at home diced into an omelet. If a lox omelet, one of the world's most delicious things, is not on your restaurant's menu, but they have bagels and lox, they're able to make it. In other omelet news, in the area around Maryland, the home of the blue crab, crab omelets are a frequent sight on menus, as is Eggs Chesapeake, in which an Eggs Benedict has its Canadian bacon replaced with a crab cake. In New England, fish cakes, usually cod, are an old tradition with the breakfast eggs. (If you want, make Eggs Boston or Eggs a la Cape with fish cakes instead of Chesapeake crab cakes.) Welcome to regional breakfast deliciousness. Fish has been everywhere in the morning.

But back to that lox. Because there's more fish to bagels than just that lox, especially around - hello, regional specialty - New York City, where there is a clear difference known between the forms of food known as "deli" (delicious things with meat) and "appetizing" (delicious things with fish). Russ and Daughters, one of the most famous appetizing stores in Manhattan, sells a thousand and one different fish toppings eaten on bagels, including nova, belly, and pastrami-cured lox; smoked sable (a variety of cod); smoked sturgeon; and whitefish and salmon salads. If they're not all first-thing-in-the-morning bagel toppers, they're common early brunch treats, and they're beloved not just by Jews but by all bagel aficionados in the city.

Lox is available in vacuum-sealed packages in almost every sizeable grocery in America, although if you live in an area with enough bagel-lovers or some kosher grocers or delis, you can find it sliced to order as well. Some of the other treats, like sable, need mail-order efforts in some areas, or else a grocer with a kosher deli section within. If you can find smoked whitefish, recipes abound for whitefish salad. Ditto for herring salad, if you can find decent herring. (Outside of New York, you'll only find deli, not "appetizing." It's only a clear distinction in the world capital of kosher noshing. In smaller areas, you'll be doing even more searching, alas.) If you need these where you live, and you cannot find them, Russ and Daughters has on-line mail order.

The English are famed for eating kippers for breakfast. What's a kipper? One of those things in a tin near the tuna? Well, "kippered" just means smoked. There's kippered salmon, also available here, as well as kippered herring, cod, and haddock. A kippered fish has been split and cleaned, then pickled or salted, and then cold-smoked. In England they're easily obtainable fresh at fish counters in groceries, not in small oil-packed tins. As a breakfast dish the kippered herring has been available at the Savoy since 1889, which is a long run for one breakfast entrée. They can be baked, fried, boiled, even barbecued, and have been since the Victorian era. While kippered fishes aren't much beloved by children, they're worth a try, especially kippered salmon. The BBC's food staff has recommended a platter of bruschetta, poached kippered herring in a mustard sauce, and poached eggs as a sophisticated brunch dish.

Some fish breakfasts are luxury items - omelets or perfectly scrambled eggs with crème fraiche and a dollop of caviar come to mind. But if you've Greek food available, consider those eggs with a fish-roe based taramasalata. It's roe, olive oil, lemon, onion, and potato at its base before being made spreadable as a mezze. It can go on the toast with your eggs, or dab a bit right onto scrambled eggs. If you've no access to a Greek restaurant or to a high-end grocery that sells it with the upper-end fishes, it's simple enough to make, and recipes are readily available. If you have a Greek neighbor who cooks, you have hit the jackpot; ask them to show you how they make it.

With Christmas approaching, it's common for families to make strata from bread, eggs, cheese, and bacon to sit overnight and to be ready to pop in the oven for a Christmas brunch, or as a large brunch to feed visiting relatives. Here's a sophisticated change: rather than bacon or ham, buy a piece of smoked salmon (regular smoked salmon may be preferable to lox here). Flake it, and substitute it for the bacon in the strata. You'll have the same smoky flavor the bacon provides, but the deliciousness of salmon instead.

Or try eggs scrambled with diced lox or flaked smoked salmon and asparagus tips. Hollandaise sauce is delicious with this, as with Eggs Benedict. Speaking of which - we've mentioned Eggs Chesapeake, but there's an equally fine Benedict variation using lox on that English muffin instead of Canadian bacon. If you have relatives or a special someone to impress for a holiday breakfast, these are simple, delicious, and intriguing-looking options. Have plenty of Hollandaise on hand.

Cutting costs and corners with some of these ideas is possible. If you live in an area where lox is sliced fresh at a counter, if the store or deli does not mention it, ask about lox ends - they're the scraps from cutting lox. They're usually available at a much lower price. Dice them for scrambled eggs and omelets, or mince them finely to mix into whipped cream cheese for a lox-and-cream-cheese spread. If you don't want to take time or nervous sweat on stovetop Hollandaise, blender Hollandaise will not cause people to reject you. (Please, though, try to avoid powdered Hollandaise mix - it doesn't seem to come out quite right. The powdered taste often wins.)

If lox isn't required in a fish dish, and you want salmon flavor, many recipes can be made with canned salmon. It's not always the best option, but it's a workable one and can save time and money. It's good in omelet fillings, and it's a substitute for flaked fresh salmon in kedgeree. Kedgeree, an Anglo-Indian rice and fish dish, is a topic of its own. Some recipes insist on smoked haddock, but allow you to substitute any other smoked fish, while Gordon Ramsay's kedgeree is based on fresh salmon, cooked and flaked. Although some kedgeree recipes look as if you'll spend your entire day and every tool in the kitchen making them, others call for making almost the entire recipe in a rice cooker, and chef Ramsay, among others, has an easy version. It's one of those dishes where everyone has their own version and every one is right, so pick the one you feel most comfortable trying. And don't be afraid to make reasonable substitutions based on your own taste and what's available. It's the ultimate Downton Abbey breakfast or brunch, and a frequent traditional holiday choice in England.

Go ahead, finish that bagel and lox. And remember, there's more to fish before noon than just that slice of nova. Don't be afraid to try a few ideas.

Photo Credits: Freeimages, Pixabay

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