Salmon / Sablefish Preorder Season

[Salmon & Sable]

This is Traveler Terpening of Cold Country Salmon here in D.C. Summer has rolled around again and we're heading back to Alaska to fish for the summer. We're excited! (partly because it's getting really hot here and we want to go north!)

Don Rockwell asked me to get involved with the forum so here I am, hoping to lend a hand with anything related to Alaskan seafood (specifically salmon). We have amassed quite a collection of Alaskan seafood recipes (mostly salmon) on our website. We set this up so it can be searched very easily. It's not just for our customers but for anyone who loves Alaskan seafood. For instance, if you want to cook some salmon but only have a stove and no outdoor grill, you can search for recipes that use an oven. Conversely, if you have a specific species of salmon, king salmon say, you can find recipes for that specific species (a lot of folks don't know we have 5 species of wild salmon in Alaska--each look and taste different). This database will continue to grow and also to become more technologically sophisticated as time goes on.

You can find that here: http://coldcountrysalmon.com/blog-archive

Our recipes page also has some good ones: http://coldcountrysalmon.com/recipes

This is also the season when our customer preorder their share of this coming summer's catch. We have refined our process and are turning out some of the best salmon in Alaska. If you love salmon, preordering is a great way to do it--get it from the fisherman (me), get it cheaper than normal (minimum order) and get it right out of the water as soon as we get back from the fishing season. You can preorder sockeye salmon, king salmon, hot and cold smoked sockeye salmon, and sablefish. You can order online at our website or you can download the order sheet and mail or email it back to us. We take a 50% deposit up front and the balance when you pickup your salmon. Pickup is the last week of August, 2013 in the rear parking area of The Local Market on Broad St. in Falls Church, VA.

You can see all the details here: http://coldcountrysalmon.com/buy-fish

While the above "preorder" is for this summer and your salmon will be in the last week in August, we are also doing a "mini preorder" right now as a final farewell and to help folks stock their freezer one last time before we leave. This is for sablefish, which, if you haven't heard of it, is pure butter (with a tail). It truly is the most amazing white fish you have every had. Essentially all of the world's supply is caught in Alaska and Japan buys 95% of it--hence almost no one knowing what it is. What it is, is better than any other whitefish (including things like halibut and Chilean seabass), and, unlike the later, sablefish is sustainably caught. Sablefish is the only thing I sell that I dont catch myself, this is caught by a dear friend of mine in Southeast Alaska and it was caught this last week (the season is March - Nov). If you would like to partake, you can order and pay online before June 4th, 2013 at midnight and you will be able to pick up your sablefish Sat., June 8th in the rear lot of The Local Market from 8am-12pm or on Sun., June 9th at the Palisades Farmers Market from 9am-1pm.

Order & pay here: http://coldcountrysalmon.com/june-2013-sablefish-order

We are headed north to fish soon, so we will be offline for the summer. But when we return we hope to be more involved than we have been with this wonderful online community of food.

Enjoy

Traveler Terpening

[DonRocks]

If any members want to pool a large salmon order, I'll front the money if someone organizes it. I'm in.

---

Note: you have TWO DAYS to order the sablefish - pickup is this coming weekend. There is only a five-pound minimum order, so everyone should be on their own for this - there's no time for me to organize anything done as a group.

[Ilaine]

Hi Traveler, the website says the deadline for pre-ordering is May 31, which is yesterday?

[Salmon & Sable]

If any members want to pool a large salmon order, I'll front the money if someone organizes it. I'm in.

Don and friends,

I would be happy to offer a special/lower rate for DR members and lower it further the larger the order. For perspective on the volume/size, one "share" of sockeye salmon (22 lbs., which is the minimum order) will feed a couple who eat salmon once per week for 5.5 months (22 weeks). You will get your salmon at the end of August, which means your salmon will be gone as early as Christmas or New Year. I only mention it because folks often think 22 lbs is some staggering amount that won't fit in their car, when really its little larger than a large briefcase. A family of 4 or 5 would probably eat their salmon before Halloween. So, one full share (or more) for a couple or family is a great place to start.

There are three types of "shares" we offer:

>>"Fillet shares" – 22 lbs of fresh-frozen, individually vac bagged fillets (the full fillet), 1-2 lbs ea., usually 1.5lb ea. These feed 3-5 people each. Pin bone in.

>>Portion shares" – 22 lbs of fresh-frozen, individually vac bagged portions (1/2 of a whole fillet), 3/4-1 lbs ea. These feed 2 people each. Pin bone in.

>>"Boneless portion shares" – 22 lbs of fresh-frozen, individually vac bagged portions (portion of a whole fillet), 3/4 lb ea. These feed 1-2 people each. Pin bone out.

**A note on pin-bone-in vs. pin-bone-out**

Pin-bone-in salmon is generally a higher quality food. Because we are trying to produce "beyond sushi grade" salmon only, we are now encouraging folks to order pin-bone-in. However, we do still offer boneless portions for those who just can't tollerate bones. The reason pin-bone-in salmon is better in this case is this: If I catch a wild salmon and bring it into the boat flopping, fillet it and try to pull the pin bones, I can't. It's virtually impossible; it doesn't matter if your a master sushi chef. If you want those pin bones out before you vac bag and blast freeze that fillet, you have to leave the salmon whole and let it sit in slush ice for 2-3 days. Only then can you fillet and pull the pin bones. This is still an amazing quality of salmon, but, if you want the very best, you need to leave the pin bones in. This is not to say that when you thaw your fillet, you can't pull the pin bones then. You can and this works splendidly and only takes a minutes. Salmon pin bones are nothing to be afraid of either, Alaskans eat around them and if you swallow them all you'll be fine. These are not the super-boney white fish of your childhood. Pin bones are a small price to pay for the very best salmon you have ever had.

[Salmon & Sable]

**A note on the health benefits of salmon**

This is just something interesting about salmon most people don't know, or haven't thought about. All wild Alaskan salmon are incredibly good for you. But, there are 5 species of wild salmon in Alaska and they all look different, return to the river to spawn at different times of the summer, eat different things and some live longer than others. This means that when the FDA or the Whole Foods guy in raingear says "wild Alaskan salmon is good for you," although they are right, this is only half the story and half the information. In my humble opinion, king/chinook salmon and sockeye salmon are the very best for you. Here's why:

• Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) – Sockeye salmon have naturally bright red firm flesh with a strong, wonderfully wild salmon flavor. They are second in healthy fats only to king salmon. In my opinion sockeye salmon are the healthiest fish to eat, even amongst the salmon species. The reason is that sockeye are the only salmon to eat almost exclusively plankton, specifically zooplankton. As you may know, plankton are the bottom of the food chain which makes them virtually incapable of bioaccumulating anything harmful into their tiny bodies. When a sockeye salmon eats plankton, it is not bioaccumulating any harmful toxins in the environment into its body. Additionally, sockeye salmon, like all salmon, are short-lived (3-6 years), which means they simply are not alive long enough to accumulate anything harmful into their bodies. This means that when you eat one, you, as the final step in this particular food chain, are also not bioaccumulating, which is very good for you indeed.
  
  Sockeye salmon are only caught during the summer months (mostly June and July) so if you see someone advertising "fresh, never frozen wild Alaska sockeye salmon" in November, well then you have something to call them out on. What we have found is that if salmon is treated right, filleted and blast frozen (frozen very quickly) right out of the water, it tastes all but fresh for 6-10 months in the freezer.

• Chinook/King Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) – King salmon are the largest of the salmon and they are also the fattiest (good for you fats!).They also have a mild salmon flavor, making them popular with salmon aficionados and salmon newcomers alike.
  
  Wild king salmon have the distinction of being the only salmon (with rare exceptions) that is sometimes caught in very small quantities during the winter. Although 99% or more of the years catch in Alaska comes from the summer months, a few are caught commercially by rod and reel near the coast. These are called "troll-caught kings" or "winter kings," and they usually fetch a very high price because of their scarcity and because they are the only fresh salmon available during the winter. But, as I mentioned, high fat fish like salmon freeze very well (probably better than almost any other fish) and king salmon are the fattiest. This means a well-done fresh-frozen piece of king salmon is to die for.

[Salmon & Sable]

Hi Traveler, the website says the deadline for pre-ordering is May 31, which is yesterday?

Hi,

Yes, the official deadline was yesterday. I don't leave for Alaska until June 17th though so I would be happy to take order from DR until then. After that I am unplugged and neck deep in work and salmon!

[Salmon & Sable]

We found a little extra time so we have extended the sablefish order 1 day. Instead of June 4th, its now June 5th at midnight.

Thanks for the orders everyone! Can't wait to meet you at the pickup!

http://coldcountrysalmon.com/june-2013-sablefish-order

Traveler

[Bart]

Is it a good or bad idea to order extra to freeze and use later? (the sable fish)

[Barbara]

Is it a good or bad idea to order extra to freeze and use later? (the sable fish)

I believe what you're going to get is already frozen. I believe it is caught, gutted and immediately frozen.

[Salmon & Sable]

Hi guys. Sorry I didn't get to this earlier. Remind me to post something on freezing and "fresh-frozen."

The higher fat (good for you fat!) a fish is, the better it freezes and the longer it last in the freezer. It will also thaw quickly. Sablefish is just about as fatty and rich as it gets so it freezes very fast and has a very long freezer life, as long as the vaccum bag is in tact. Some of us in Alaska are getting the fish from the water to the freezer so fast, that the quality is the same as fresh for 6-8 months. In a blind taste test I would stand by this every time. We are also handling them like princesses so there is really nothing better. Not all Alaskan seafood is done like this. I call my salmon and sablefish "beyond sushi grade."

This sablefish was caught this last week and is lovely. It wil last in your freezer (as long as you take care of it and dont break any of the vacuum bags) for 8-10 months in prime condition. Sablefish has a particularly amazingly long prime freezer life. Salmon is a little shorter. Generally speaking, in Alaska we fish all summer, fill our freezer then try to eat it all before the following summer rolls around and new fish are caught. This is also about the life of the fish generally. Works out very well indeed.

I just put on a salmon bake and party for a crossfit gym in Alexandria and we served sockeye salmon from last summer. It looked amazing and tasted incredible. People we're blown away and a small group of us ate 20 something lbs that night!

If you were to preorder salmon from us (that we catch this summer and deliver to you at the end of August), it would last in your freezer in prime condition until the following spring/early summer.

Hope this helps. I will try to post something on freezing, thawing and the rest of it here soon. I just talked to some very knowledgeable people and I have some ideas to share.

Traveler

[Bart]

Thanks for the info!

I was orginally asking about freezing because I figured that $28 for a 5 pound order was pretty cheap, so I was thinking of ordering 10 pounds and storing it until it was needed. It was only then that I realized that it was $28 per pound with a five pound minimum! Sadly, that priced me out of both the 10 pound and 5 pound order. That was probably a mistake but it's too late now.

Would I be able to come to your shop and get a pound or half pound of Sablefish or is it always sold in five pound portions?

[KMango]

In the backdrop of hurried luxury vehicle drivers pouncing on Local Market parking spaces like starving predators, and amongst a refreshing tickle of noncommittal rain, this morning I procured five pounds of Sablefish.

Eventually, that is. After outstanding conversation with Traveler that touched on:

• The writings of Aldo Leopold, Land Ethic, Thinking Like a Mountain, while behaving like an epicure.
• How, in a world of 7 billion humans, Alaskan native culture and worldview is unique.
• The challenge of stretching one’s mental frame so that wanderlust will co-exist in the same mindset as immense gratitude for present circumstances.
• How to forge contentment while standing (what feels like) still, knowing that happiness comes from within, yet not quite believing that a pause point is ever OK.
• Hydroponics, aquaponics, and a really cool YouTube video featuring root-eating prawns in a system of aquariums.
• Why climate change needs to happen so KMango can move to a sunny sky Portland and the Columbia River Gorge.
• How fisherfolk, and all of us for that matter, can be like musicians, creating jaw-dropping works of art, while not really caring much about the balance sheet, market growth potential, and other boring business.
• Why a glass dish and medium heat oven are the most honorable way to prepare the Sablefish.

The 24 hour fridge defrost is underway for the first of the cherished fillets. Tomorrow night, a very dear friend is going have an amazing meal.

[monavano]

We also got 5.5 lbs of sablefish. The pyrex dish method-- thank you. I'm also eyeballing the Nobu sablefish miso miren preparation.

The fish is gorgeous. What a treat.

Dumb question-- does it have pin bones/have they been removed?

Thanks!

(we also have a piece defrosting in the fridge)