myosin in the muscle fibers, and thus gives the flesh its compact tenderness Lox, most familiar as a delicatessen accompaniment to the bagel, is a heavily brined form of salmon It’s usually soaked to remove some salt before being sliced for sale Fermented Fish Many cultures from the Arctic to the tropics have recruited microbes to grow on fish and transform their texture and flavor But the world center of fish fermentation is eastern Asia, where it has served two important purposes: to preserve and put to use the large numbers of small fish that inhabit the coastal and inland waters; and to provide a concentrated source of appetite-stimulating flavors — above all the savory monosodium glutamate and other amino acids — for a diet dominated by bland rice Fish fermentation apparently arose several thousand years ago in the freshwaters of southwest China and the Mekong River region It then spread to the coastal deltas and was applied to ocean fish Two broadly different techniques evolved: simply salting a mass of small fish or fish parts and allowing it to ferment; and salting larger fish lightly, then embedding them in a fermenting mass of rice or other grains, vegetables, or fruits In the simple fermentation, the proportion of salt is usually enough by itself to preserve the fish from spoilage, and bacteria are important mainly as flavor modifiers But in the mixed fermentation, a smaller dose of salt preserves the fish for just a few weeks while the plantbased ingredients feed the same microbes that sour milk or turn grape juice into wine The fish is then preserved by the microbes’ acids or alcohol, and flavored by the many byproducts of their growth From these simple principles, Asian peoples have developed dozens of distinctive ...thousand years ago in the freshwaters of southwest China and the Mekong River region It then spread to the coastal deltas and was applied to ocean fish Two broadly... mass of small fish or fish parts and allowing it to ferment; and salting larger fish lightly, then embedding them in a fermenting mass of rice or other grains, vegetables, or fruits In the simple fermentation, the proportion of salt is... simple fermentation, the proportion of salt is usually enough by itself to preserve the fish from spoilage, and bacteria are important mainly as flavor modifiers But in the mixed fermentation, a smaller dose of salt preserves