When my cousin's son was about four, and they were visiting for the weekend (I was in college, still living at home), he was having a bagel for breakfast on Sunday and I asked him if he wanted some lox. He looked thoughtful for a moment and then asked "What are lox?"
Lox are smoked salmon. Rather, "lox" is the name for smoked salmon, which is sold in thin slices at kosher or kosher-style delis. Lox comes in two variations: "belly" lox, the salty kind, which I grew up on, or "Nova" -- sometimes called "novy" -- lox from Nova Scotia, unsalted, the upscale version. Either way, you buy a pound of lox, you take out a second mortgage on your house first. It generally goes for upwards of $28.00 a pound, and maybe that's an old price. I've never bought a pound of lox. For one or two people, you buy "an eighth", an eighth of a pound, which is manageable. Lox, on a bagel with cream cheese, is to die for.
Why lox? Why blintzes? Auntie-Mari wondered in my guestbook about what blintzes are. The easy answer is here. The real answer is that I think every ethnic culture has some kind of food, or foods, like blintzes. Some kind of wrapper around some kind of cheese, or other filling. Think of pierogies, or even the other Jewish variation, knishes. Think of gnocci. That's all I can think of at the moment, but I know there are more.
Most of my blintzes come from the freezer, as I mentioned, but not all. My Grandma Sadie was an outstanding cook and baker; actually, an outstanding homemaker in every way. The Yiddish word for this is balhabosteh, a woman who runs a tight ship at home and does everything well. One of her specialities was blintzes.
I was always fascinated by watching her cook or bake anything, but the blintz assembly line was the best. First she would make all the crepe-like wrappers and stack them on a plate, I think with a damp towel between every two. Then she put out a special tablecloth, used only for blintz making, covering the dining room table, and she went around the table in a circle, dealing out the crepes like a stack of playing cards. Then the filling: cheese, egg, I don't know what else, and she went around the table again, spooning just the right amount onto the center of each wrapper. Then another trip around the table to fold them up, which she did very fast to each one, and each one came out exactly the same. When she was done she would have several dozen. I don't know if she froze them afterwards, or if there were any left after an hour or two.
I only remember that it was like magic to me. With sour cream and sugar on top.
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I'm watching The Nanny
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