Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Ye gods and great big fishies.

I have mentioned before my weakness for stirring up a little bit of salmon salad for a snack, using honey mustard, sweet relish, mayo, and those el-cheapo pink salmon packets.

I know that humpy is looked on with revulsion by any connoisseur, but in the cracker spread I was making, it was mostly there for texture, protein, and a whiff of fishiness...

Today I mixed up a bowl using red salmon.

zomg.

It's a good thing I can't afford to do that too often, lest I turn spherical.

23 comments:

  1. Try grilling a sockeye on a soaked cedar plank with Irish butter and freshly cut lemons with some dill.

    Delish.

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  2. Meanwhile, in downtown Anchorage...

    http://www.alaska.net/~design/scenes/fishing/fishing.html

    Smug Alaskan is smug.


    WV: finghes - a handy way to count the 5 species of salmon available within a one hour drive of my house.

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  3. Speaking as a Euro-American I am offended by your use of a racial slur.

    We prefer "Blue Eyed Devil From The Frozen Caves of Europe spread".

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  4. ...and if you had made that move to Alaska, you would have a freezer full of reds.

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  5. I went to a talk about "Private Sector Solutions to Environmental Problems" once. Arguing for the "only the government and Captain Planet can save the Earth" side was this woman who went on a 10 minute diatribe about "factory fishing" and the evil evilness of its evil. Famished after a morning of sticking it to the man, Our Hero grabbed the box lunch she had ordered: tuna sandwich with the usual goodies one finds in a box lunch.

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  6. You list the recipe for bacon wrapped tater tots too. Time for a cookbook? Be an interesting post for the title - "Bacon and Brownings", "Tuna Shooters" and the infamous "What caliber for crackers?"....

    Al T.

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  7. 8mm Mauser, 7.62X54R, 8mm Lebel, and .303 British probably have the most impressive tallies.

    But .30-06 and 7x57 have given effective results too.

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  8. If you were spherical, that would just mean that you were still Tam, any way we looked at you. (h/t to Fritz Zwicky, a very Tam-like astronomer)

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  9. The first commercial opener on the Copper should start in a week or so. There's not much in the world of salmon that compares with fresh Copper River red, unless it is Copper River king.

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  10. "What caliber for crackers?"

    Sir, I am offended!

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  11. As I happen to be working on a small convention to be held in New Orleans in September, I simply can't resist:

    What gun for gumbo?

    (I'll get my coat.)

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  12. nepackrat,
    Columbia River Springer

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  13. Re: spherical

    That's no moon. It's a Tam-station.

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  14. As a member of the Spherical tribe, I would welcome you to our ranks, but honestly I can't recommend it.

    WV: pasyma

    That out-of-breath feeling you get after climbing a flight of six steps.

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  15. Red, king, and silver are the bestest salmons, in my opinion.

    But nothing beats a nice piece of fresh halibut, caught that day.

    Mmmm.

    My dad had a fish wheel on the Copper River, before he retired to the lower 48.

    I also remember a boat by ours catching a 98 pound king salmon, one time...

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  16. "There's not much in the world of salmon that compares with fresh Copper River red, unless it is Copper River king."

    Second that. I could never decide which one I liked better, though the smoked King... mmmmmm.....

    I seem to remember the hierarchy went:
    For us: King or Red, then Silver
    For them below: pinks & dogs

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  17. Wouldn't the Copper River salmons be green?

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  18. When I spent time in Alaska, I learned that the local Eskimos kept humpy nets purely for catching dog food. I'm not so proud-- I'll eat humpy. Best. Thing. Ever, though, is fresh, lightly smoked red salmon. One Eskimo recipe I saw used a lot was red salmon, cut in large chunks, boiled with the salmon eggs, and served with catchup. I don't care; it's damned good. -- Lyle

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  19. Are you kidding me? Humpy (or as it's called back home, Keta) salmon is the best damn salmon for smoking. Brine overnight, and hot smoke it until it's cooked.

    That's good eating, right there. Every time I go home I bring back two or three whole Keta salmon. We smoke it up, vacuum seal it, and freeze it. Smoked salmon all year long.

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  20. I grew up less than 30 miles from the Copper, and I had never heard the term "keta" salmon before. Google reveals that it is just another name for chum/dog salmon, which is supposed to be the most underrated of all the pacific salmon, although I cannot say that I have ever tried it. Pink/humpy salmon is something entirely different, and is totally inferior to the others in terms of meat quality/flavor. Skilled preparation can make it palatable, but I'm not sure why anybody would want to waste the effort on it.

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  21. The superiority of Copper River to all others is another triumph of marketing. Or, rather, the obscene prices charged to Copper River salmon is. It's good, it ain't that good. So says spouse, a seafood industry insider.

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  22. "Or, rather, the obscene prices charged to Copper River salmon is."

    I don't know... I got mine for free just for tying myself to a freezing cliff face and holding a net in the water.

    'Course I guess whether that's an obscene price or not depends on your viewpoint.

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  23. >The superiority of Copper River to
    >all others is another triumph of
    >marketing.

    That's true to some extent, but the fish are different enough genetically from other salmon (particularly the kings) to justify the reputation. Maybe an even bigger deal is that it is the first major salmon fishery to open, so they hit the fresh market when demand is highest. It also helps that the processors are co-located with an airport that has daily 737 flights to both Anchorage and Seattle.

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