National Bagel and Lox Day is Feb. 9. Of course, you don’t need a special holiday to enjoy this classic breakfast, brunch or post-fast holiday dish.

While bagels and lox have separate origins – bagels originated in Poland, lox (cured salmon) has Scandinavian roots – Eastern European Jewish immigrants brought them together in New York City in the 1930s as a kosher alternative to Eggs Benedict. Bagels replaced an English muffin, cream cheese instead of hollandaise and lox for ham.

“The lox breakfast sandwich is generously applied with scallion cream cheese, thinly sliced gravlax and moist capers to ring in the cultural significance and delicious way to pay tribute to Bagel and Lox Day,” Lenny and Adaeze Rosenberg, owners of New York Bagel Deli and Bakery in Santa Monica, told The Journal.

Here’s the great thing about bagels and lox day: you can mix it up by adding more toppings and experimenting with different bagel flavors – toasted or not – and schmears. Even better, enjoy a bagel with a friend!

“My favorite bagel is the blueberry bagel, nontoasted, with rainbow cookie cream cheese topped with honey,” Adaeze said. “It gives me an eternal smile due to the delectable sweetness.”

Lenny is more of a traditionalist.

“My favorite bagel is the plain bagel, toasted, with scallion cream cheese,” he said. “It is highly nutritious “

New York Bagels

From New York Bagel Deli and Bakery

4 cups high-gluten flour

2¼ tsp instant yeast or one ¼-ounce packet active dry yeast

2 tsp salt

1/8 cup barley malt syrup

1 1/2 cups lukewarm warm water

Optional: 2 tsp poppyseeds

1. Combine the flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add 1½ cups warm water and the barley malt syrup. Stir with the dough-hook attachment of a stand mixer or by hand until combined.

2. Knead the dough with the dough-hook attachment of a stand mixer or by hand until it feels smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes, adding more flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap, put it in a warm place, and let the dough rise until doubled in size, at least 1 hour and preferably overnight.

3. Scoop about 1/3 cup of it into your hand, shape it into a 4-inch ring, and put it on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough. Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap, put it in a warm place, and let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

4. Heat the oven to 425°F, and put 6 cups of water in a large pot over high heat. When it boils, add 2 tablespoons of barley malt syrup and adjust the heat so it simmers steadily. Drop a couple bagels in at a time to the boiling water and cook, turning once, until they are firm and golden, 1 ½ to 2 minutes. Remove the bagels from the pot with a slotted spoon and return them to the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining uncooked bagels.

Note: For poppyseed bagels, put poppyseeds on a plate, and press bagels into the poppy seeds before returning them to the baking sheet.

5. Bake the bagels until they are evenly browned, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm.

Sam Silverman’s go-to is an everything bagel with scallion schmear, not toasted.

“That’s my litmus test that I get at every new bagel shop I visit, which at this point is in the hundreds, if not the thousands,” Silverman, founder and CEO of BagelUp, a trade organization dedicated to advancing bagel culture worldwide, and the creator of New York BagelFest, told The Journal. “And the beautiful thing is the schmear is where the creativity of the local artisans really sings.”

The bagel is their canvas, the schmear and toppings are the paint.

For those creating schmears at home, Silverman shared a secret. “The majority of bagel shops in New York use Philadelphia cream cheese as their base,” he said. The issue with that cream cheese is its brick format.

“To make it into a more spreadable, smearing vehicle, add a tablespoon of seltzer water,” he said. “The carbonation from the seltzer helps to soften and whip up that cream cheese, and you can then mix in your own scallions, your veggies, your cut up lox, your blueberries, whatever cream cheese flavor that you want, to create.”

Then, put on gloves and mix it with your hands.

“It’s going to be 10 times better than the pre-mixed stuff you get at the grocery store,” he said.

Max and Ben Berkowitz (aka the Berkowitz Brothers), co-authors (with Josh Gad)  of “The Writer” graphic novel, grew up in the family fish business.

The brothers “admit” to a controversial bagel practice: they shell out their bagels.

“You can just put so much more in there,” Max said. “Chive cream cheese, then your salmon and your capers and then your whitefish salad on top, and create this beautiful bagel.”

Marc Berkowitz’s Famous Whitefish Salad Recipe

1 1/2 lbs smoked chub: front-cut with bone in

3 scallions, green parts chopped

2 1/2 Tbsp of light mayonnaise (we use Hellmann’s/Best Foods)

1 lemon for juice and garnish

1. Carefully peel the meat from the skin of the smoked chub, and remove all bones.

2. Using a fork, break up the fish in large flakes. Mix with clean hands.

3. Add the scallions. Mix.

4. Add the mayo – just enough to bind the salad. Mix.

5. Cut open the lemon and squeeze it in. Mix.

6. Garnish with the cut lemon rind.

7. Enjoy it while it lasts.