Bagels and Lochs

         

            I am not a fan of sushi.  In fact I find it kind of yucky.  So I was surprised to open a mailed packet of discount coupons and find one promoting a new place called Yuki Sushi.  I phoned the

Newtown Square

, PA place and learned that they pronounce the name of the place as Yookey but seeing Yuki in print right off the bat made me wonder whether they could have chosen a better name.

            On the other hand I am a big fan of another fish that some find yucky…lox, cured, smoked salmon. I think that one of the world’s great culinary combinations is bagels, cream cheese and lox. Scotch Salmon is also cured and smoked and I think also goes great with bagels and cream cheese. After recently reading a New York Times travel article it occurred to me that some salmon in Scotland come from lochs.  Bagels and lochs, a natural combo.

            I’d like to share the observations of The New York Times travel writer who said “The Isle of Skye stretches out from the west coast of Scotland like a skeletal hand; sheltered between those finger-like peninsulas are the sea lochs, where much of the marine bounty is harvested.  The reputation of Skye’s seafood isn’t anything new of course: ‘That the sea abounds with fish needs not be told, for it supplies a great part of Europe,’ wrote Samuel Johnson in 1775, after his visit to the island, a fact that is still true.”

Among the starters you can have at one of the seafood restaurants dotting the coast on the Isle is a plate of peat-smoked salmon sliced thin and presented in a crown shape. “Unlike Nova lox,” the travel writer reported, “this salmon was a particularly pale shade of pink, and was less salty and greasy, more delicate, with a pleasant chew.”

Another one of the special dishes offered was a small piece of steamed organic salmon, presented with a trio of sauces: avocado, beet and red pepper.  The salmon was described as having “a delightfully crispy skin and tender, flaky meat.”

None of the aforementioned dishes included bagels or cream cheese in their presentation but there is no doubt in my mind that they’d be enhanced by such an accompaniment.