Learn to make homemade lox flavored and colored with beets, dill and lemon that creates a striking color contract and sweet flavor.

Homemade beet and dill cured lox with fresh lemon zest, salt and sugar.

I have a running bucket list of recipes I've always want to conquer. It first started with French cuisine when Joe bought me the Art of French Cooking. Since then, I've visited cuisines I never thought would have crossed my pallet but most recently, childhood favorites and tastes is what I want to recreate now.

My friends tease me because I joke that growing up Jewish, all I did was eat some sort of cured, pickled or smoked fish either coming out of a jar or some sealed package. But that is how our ancestors preserved their foods. Pickled herring is near and dear to my heart (also on the bucket list), and finally I can say that I have made my very own beet cured lox. Yes, curing your own lox couldn't be any easier. The only tool you need is time.

I have to say, since moving to the Pacific Northwest, I have made some amazing new connections and met some awesome people. One of them being from Alaska Gold Seafood Cooperative. They are a seafood producers cooperative based in Alaska and their home office is based right here in Bellingham, WA, just a few minutes away from me! Alaska Gold ships directly to your door with fresh salmon that is flash frozen and air tight sealed right on the boat. The wild coho salmon couldn't be any fresher unless you were fishing for it yourself!

How absolutely gorgeous is that salmon. This is line caught, Kosher wild coho salmon that is literally the entire length of the salmon, so it ranges anywhere from 1-2 ½ pounds, skin on. I really wanted to make a big impression with this beautiful wild salmon and I couldn't wait to make beet and dill cured lox so I could really taste how pure the wild salmon is.

Homemade Cured Lox

And when I say making your own homemade beet cured lox is easy, I mean it's easy. The only tool you need is time and space in your refrigerator. Of course you don't have to use a 2lb, piece of salmon like I did, but we LOVE salmon and will eat it in every possible meal. Plus, this would be so perfect for a friends brunch with a build your own bagel bar (oh, that is a good idea) or just use a smaller piece of fish for a smaller group.

A huge thank you to Alaska Gold Seafood for providing an abundance of salmon. There is nothing more delicious than wild salmon literally straight from the source and I so appreciate their honest philosophy of "one line, one hook at a time". You know you are getting the best quality salmon there is!