Neopol at Belvedere Square (and various farmer's markets)

sams

Greg's Bagels, in Belvedere Square. Also, Ryan's Daughter has a pretty good sized appetizer ... make a good lunch with the soup.

Greg's bagels has an amazing spread of smoked salmon (check out some pics on my blog)

Maggie Moore's at one time had phenomenal smoked salmon; however, I haven't had it since the place became Lucy's, so I don't know what it's current status is.

Costco has some reliably excellent Alaskan smoked salmon, oddly enough.

don't know about "smoked salmon" but Suburban House and Millers Deli in Pikesville have great LOX!

Next to the packaged salmon, the Whole Foods in Harbor East sells smoked salmon trimmings in a little half pint clear container. It is unbelievably flavorful and moist, though not very pretty. I have no idea what it is trimmed from (since I never see larger pieces in the fish market there) but it's fantastic.

Greg's bagels or at my house!! You can do it yourself. The secret is to start with the freshest fish that you can find. (Bluefish and mackerel work great too!) Find a brine recipe on the web. (The simpler, the better: water, salt, sugar- you want to taste the fish, not a lot of herbs or spices.) Brine the fish overnight. Rinse and pat dry. Sprinkle a little freshly cracked pepper on the fish. Put the fish on the racks skin side down and let it dry until a sticky glaze forms on the surface-an hour or two. Fire up the smoker-charcoal or electric. Use a mild wood like alder or apple or a combination of the two-hickory is great for meats, but too strong for fish. Smoke until the fish flakes, but is not dry. Enjoy!

Parkside up in Hamilton smokes their fish (and meats) on premises. I bestow bonus points upon them for that.

....but where can one go to spectate synchronized jumping...?

We did smoked salmon on our menu and I mostly agree with pgp, but we did a dry cure of salt and sugar, let it dry some, and we did our best effort to cold smoke by igniting some chips and then blowing them out to smoulder on one side of a pan, and then the fish on the other side with ice inbetween, about 20 minutes

I've had good luck with Euro Deli in Owings Mills. Most of the staff and patrons are Russian, but if you stand around and look confused someone will help you in English.

side note on smoked salmon...I had been craving a toasted bagel with lox and cream cheese and decided City Cafe would be my best bet in the local Mt Vernon vicinity...I ended up spending $12.95 on what I anticipated to be at MOST $5.00? For some reason, during brunch hours on the weekends, everything is like 75% mark-up? PS- It was slimey salmon. blech.

I'm ashamed that I forgot earlier, my around the corner, go to place, Santonis of Glyndon. You can get a healthy lox and creamcheese on a freshly baked bagel for around 4 bucks.

It seems my other place around the corner, Marks Deli is gone. I noted the large red "Available" sign on it as I drove past the other day.

pgp ... can your rig actually do cold smoked salmon, or do you end up with hot smoked salmon? The difference in texture and taste is pretty dramatic -- though I love them both. Even with a small electric smoker with a pretty good thermostat, I can't get the really smooth, silky texture of cold smoked salmon.

And bluefish ... ever add gin to the marinade?? We picked up that trick from a 30 year old Walters Art Gallery cookbook.

+1 on the spot in Belvedere...hmmm
I've also tried the Euro Deli. They are good and have some great pricing on feta/

Euro Deli ... could that be what happened to Everfresh, the eastern European supermarket that used to be in Reisterstown?

No, the Euro Deli is in Owings Mills on Rt 140 right under the railroad tracks. The supermarket was about five miles up the road in Reisterstown.

A wonderful condiment for smoked salmon (or trout) is horseradish mixed with whipped cream. I first had it in Germany and, after a failure with prepared horseradish, had success with fresh grated.

DavidA--yes, I remember the first time I had a horseradish cream sauce. It came with some wonderful smoked trout. We were in Wurzburg and I can still summon up that moment! Wegman's now offers a pretty good horseradish cream sauce if you don't have time to make your own. I like to add some freshly chopped parsley or chives to it. Look for it in the refrigerated cases near the fish counter.