Alaskan-Style Smoked Salmon (Christmas Catch)

SHIPS DECEMBER 2021. NOTE: IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ORDER SHARES FROM MULTIPLE SEASONAL CATCHES, PLEASE PLACE THOSE ORDERS SEPARATELY. FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU'D LIKE BOTH THE FALL CATCH AND THE SPRING CATCH, COMPILE YOUR ORDER FROM THE FALL OFFERINGS THEN CHECK OUT AND PAY. THEN CREATE A NEW ORDER FOR YOUR SPRING ORDER FROM THE SPRING OFFERINGS.

I've been catching and smoking salmon for almost 3 decades. I'm really good at it. I smoke everything I sell the same way I make it for myself––with a light brine so the natural flavor of the Alaskan alder wood and salmon can stand proud on your palate. 

My Alaskan-style smoked salmon is lightly cured then smoked at a low temperature for 5-10 hours. Enjoy it on an appetizer platter with crackers, cheese, and fruit, or crumble it on a salad in the evening or eggs in the morning. You can also eat it right out of the package like a bear. That's what I do.

If you've had lox-type salmon before, this is nothing like that. My smoked salmon has a light chew to the outside and a soft, moist interior. It will flake under a knife or break into pieces with your fingers.

I smoked both coho and sockeye. While sockeye has the stunning ruby red color that only deepens with smoking, coho has a milder salmon flavor and a little less fat. Both are delicious.

Preorder Preorder Period:
Jan. 1 - Nov. 28, 2020

Shipping:
Your seafood will ship to your doorstep via FedEx Ground or Express, depending on where you live. Expect your seafood Dec. 8 - 11, 2020 (In time for a seafood Christmas feast, or a gift!). This page details shipping rates: https://salmonandsable.com/pages/shipping

Cut:
These are smoked salmon strips. I take a fillet, cut it in portions, then cut those with the grain in thick strips. Packages are about 0.75 lb. each, but can be as small as 0.50 lbs. or as large as 1 lbs. each. The skin is on the strips.

Bones:
I remove the bones for you. I do occasionally miss one, but don't worry, pin bones are not dangerous.

Packaging:
I vacuum seal my smoked salmon in heavy 5mm bags and pack them in sturdy waxed presentation boxes. Your fresh-frozen seafood will keep in your freezer in pristine condition for at least 12 months.

Who, Where, When, & How:

After commercial fishing Alaska's waters for 25 years, I am starting to focus more on turning out stunning fillets for your dinner table and less on sloshing around in my boat fishing. Although I am sometimes fishing, more often I am jumping on a friend's skiff to get their best fish before taking them ashore and filleting them in my beach-front fillet cabin. The art and craft of turning out beautiful fillets is more and more where my heart is these days. I call it salmon craft.

All my sockeye is hand-caught, filleted, and pin boned in a fillet cabin on the banks of the Ugashik River in remote western Alaska. Bristol Bay is the biggest salmon run on earth. Sometimes there are more than 65 million sockeye returning to spawn! Although we do catch quite a bit of king on the Ugashik River, I also source some from friends who are involved in the troll-caught fishery of Southeast Alaska. These are stunning fish caught one at a time by hook in their prime in the open ocean.

When it comes to the white fish I sell, both species, halibut and sablefish, are sourced from friends in Kodiak and Southeast, Alaska. Although I commercially fished halibut for years in my youth, it's something I now leave to my tougher friends.

My smoked salmon comes from a dear friend in Southeast, Alaska who has smoked for me for years. His smoked salmon isn't available anywhere else and is out of this world.

Interesting smoked salmon info:

• When I was a bear viewing guide I was once asked, "When do the smoked salmon run?" 
• Alaskan artists Ray Troll created a wonderful piece depicting a man holding a miniature salmon between his fingers like a cigar. The caption reads, "If you're going to smoke, smoke salmon."