Honestly I tend to only buy it from Costco which has high QPR. I find other sources prohibitively expensive for the amount of smoked fish I like to eat.
Belly lox is my favorite too. I also like pastrami salmon every now and then, but it obscures the flavor of the salmon. Russ & Daughters is the best I’ve ever had.
gaspe from Russ and Daughters.Second is their scottish smoked salmon loin. Which is cut in 1/4" slices. 2-3 slices with a spoon of creme fraiche and a spoon of caviar makes a super first course. Perfect with champagne
The only one in the regular stores I will get is when Charlie Trotter’s smoked salmon goes on sale at Whole Foods.
The Ducktrap farms they sell isn’t worth the sodium.
Russ and Daughters is pretty much all I get. Used to try them all the types, now consistently get Gaspe with the occassional Gravlax. For the ultimate, call R&D Lower East Side (not Goldbelly or Brooklyn R&D) and ask for “center cut” Gaspe. Perfect slices the size of a dinner plate.
There’s a lot of things I spend money on and some that I don’t. I go through about 2-3 lb of smoked salmon a week, not going to spend 150-200 on Russ and daughters although I do think it’s great. I also have all sorts of Kona single origin, Jamaican blue mountain etc coffee around and have experimented with making any number of different cold brews with various grinds, sous vide, whatever, but still prefer Starbucks iced coffee.
I’ve generally found most smoked salmon to be too salty. Basically every smoked salmon I find in the grocery store has this issue for me. I don’t find this with Costco’s store brand. It’s also $5/lb.
I prefer hot smoked as a Swede. Gravad is better than cold smoked, in my opinion.
One of the many lax-treats from Scandinavia, I would suggest getting some gravad lax and make some Hovmästarsås (“Maitre d’-sauce”), it a sweet mustard, dill sauce that goes very well with gravad on a piece of rye etc. Not sure there is a recipe in English, but here’s a link to the Swedish one you can Google-translate:
My Uncle Charlie was a homesteader in Homer, Alaska in the late 50’s and always had the Inuits smoke his fresh caught King Salmon. I therefore will never forget the amazing taste of that smoked Salmon, all others I have had do not compare.
Home cured gravlax. Easiest recipe possible. I once made gravlax for 100 people in less than an hour, plus 5 days of curing in the refrigerator. And you can adjust subtle flavors. I like lime zest in the cure.
One of my all time favorite meals is salmon and cream cheese on an everything bagel with a squeeze of lemon. If I don’t have lemon it goes from incredible to meh.