In Anchorage, the downtown is organized on a grid-- 1st is in the north end of town (the numbers are east-west streets, getting "bigger" going south... like I think we're going to dinner on 86th tomorrow night and that's in South Anchorage) and U street is the far west side of downtown (the letters are north-west streets, going lower in the alphabet going east...this is limited to "A" and then you start normal letters again).
Today I went to 10th & M Seafoods, which is about 6 blocks from home. There I got 2 packages of salmon. One fresh and one frozen... that's about as much as I would have specified in Arizona... whoa there... in Alaska, there's a LOT more to know. In case you have no interest in the Alaska details, I've color-coded the AK-specific parts, feel free to scroll down to the black Zonies-only info.
To begin with, there are 5 different kinds of Salmon.
(from Wild Pacific Salmon)
Q: What is the best wild salmon to eat?
A: While the five species of Pacific salmon all share a general outward resemblance, they vary in size, flesh color, and flavor. All species of wild salmon are wonderful to eat.
Chinook Salmon are lightly spotted on blue-green backs. They live from five to seven years, and can weigh up to 120 lbs. Also known as Springs or Kings, they are the most prized game salmon for sport fishers. Chinook is the largest species of Salmon, with richly flavored, flaky flesh ranging from ivory white to deep red in color. Chinook Salmon has the high oil content due to its size and the length of time it spends fighting the ocean currents. The Chinook flesh takes a rub or marinade well.
Sockeye Salmon has a blue-tinged silver color skin. Sockeye salmon live four to five years, weigh up to 15 lbs and are the slimmest and most streamlined of the five species of Pacific salmon. Also known as Red Salmon, Sockeye are a popular salmon species for its stronger 'wild' flavor and uniquely beautiful, deep red color to its flesh. Great with other strong flavors like wild mushrooms.
Coho Salmon are bright silver in color. Often referred to as a Silver Salmon, they live three years, weigh up to 20 lbs., and are a popular game fish for sport fishers. The Coho’s versatile full flavor is coupled with fine-textured, consistently red flesh. The firm Coho flesh is great on the grill.
Keta, also known as Chum or Dog salmon for their hooked upper lip, have black specks over their silvery sides and faint grid-like bars. They live three to five years, and weigh up to 20 lbs. Keta salmon offer a milder, more delicate flavor with a creamy pink to medium red flesh color. Keta are a soft meat and are often used in seafood chowders.
Pink Salmon are the smallest of the five Pacific Salmon species, living only two years. They have heavily spotted backs over silver bodies and weigh up to 5 lbs. Pink salmon are the most plentiful of the five species. Pinks have a delicate flavor and light flesh color and are most often commercially canned or used in pet foods.
Both of the packages of salmon I got were King Salmon.
The fresh salmon was "troll caught".
According to Alaska Seafood, trolling is:
In southeastern Alaska the first commercial fishermen to encounter Salmon are members of the troll fleet. Trollers are small fishing vessels operated by one or two people who fish with a number of lines and hooks baited with herring or artificial lures. Of all the commercial Salmon fishing methods, trolling may be the least efficient from the standpoint of intercepting fish. High-seas trollers must search for fish in the open ocean; net fishermen by contrast, wait in areas where Salmon are known to school in the migratory route.
By way of compensation, trollers are allowed to fish beyond the inshore limits set for net fishermen, and generally have more days of fishing time. Modern fishery management tends to favor inshore methods and it is unlikely troll fishing will be significantly expanded.
Troll-caught fish are usually "ocean caught" or "brights", that is, they are caught before maturity when they are moving inshore and feeding heavily. They are attractive fish, somewhat smaller, perhaps, than those caught by the net fisheries, but in full vigor of their ocean period. Only Coho, King and Pink Salmon are taken in any number by the troll fleet and all three species, when delivered by a competent fisherman, command a premium price.
The volume of troll-caught fish is much smaller than that for net- caught fish. Troll-caught Salmon generally make up less than 10 percent of the total Alaska catch of all species of Salmon.
What they lack in quantity, troll-caught Salmon make up in quality. No fish is treated with more care from the time it leaves the water until it is delivered to the retailer's door. A sharp rap on the head quiets the fish before the hook is removed; a thrashing fish is apt to bruise himself or dislodge scales.
The fish is then gilled and gutted. Ice will be carefully packed in the body and head cavity and the fish will be laid on a layer of ice in such a way that the body cavities can drain freely. The surrounding ice will be arranged so that no fish comes in contact with another fish and so that all liquids drain away from the fish and into the vessel's bilge where it is pumped overboard. If the vessel has freezing capability, the fish will be blast-frozen much the way it is ashore, dipped in fresh water to form an ice glaze and placed carefully in the hold.
Almost all troll-caught fish go into the fresh, frozen or smoked market. The small number of fish represented in the troll catch, combined with their uniform attractiveness, make them the most valuable, pound for pound, of the Alaska Salmon.
The fresh salmon was also white-fleshed.
According to Think Salmon,
The familiar orange-pink colouration in salmon is produced by carotenoids, which appear as photosynthetic natural pigments. Carotenoids are produced only by phytoplankton, algae, plants, and a limited number of fungi and bacteria. Salmon absorb carotenoids as they eat, and usually the carotenoids are deposited in their muscles, resulting in that familiar orange-pink colour.
However, it's genes that determine the distribution and storage of carotenoids.
In some salmon, the gene(s) responsible for depositing carotenoids into muscle are simply missing or present in low amounts. When this happens, salmon flesh won't turn the colour we're accustomed to seeing, and instead appear white, cream, or marbled.
When I asked the "butcher" (is that what they call them???), she said about 50% of their wild-caught salmon just has white skin and that it doesn't mean anything else... we'll see... it was $2 less per pound... so I thought I'd try it. (In case you were wondering, fresh- troll caught King Salmon is going for $15.95/pound-- a little less if it's white fleshed.)
I'm going to cook the fresh salmon tonight... I'll keep you posted.
As for the frozen salmon,
Q: How do you thaw Salmon?
A: If Salmon products are vacuum sealed in a plastic pouch, place them in a sink with cold water until thawed. If your fish is wrapped in plastic or just raw, place it on a plate in the refrigerator the night before you want to cook it, cover with plastic wrap, and let it thaw. Water in direct contact with raw product washes away the color and flavor of Salmon.
Q: What is the shelf life of vacuum sealed and frozen Salmon?
A: Salmon products that are vacuum sealed are in an air free environment, thus they are protected from dehydration or freezer burn. If the package keeps its integrity, the quality should remain the same as the day Salmon was packaged. As a life long Salmon connoisseur, I have found that one year is a good shelf life for fresh salmon that has been vacuum sealed and immediately frozen (FAS).
So, that's the word (or several) on salmon. I'll let you know how the cooking goes :)
but what will we call this genetically modified salmon that's likely to be approved by the FDA? Super-Salmon?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/business/26salmon.html
oops, that salmon is atlantic salmon. consider the last comment mostly irrelevant, although interesting.
ReplyDelete