Salmon glut keeps prices down

Contra Costa Times ^ | August 21, 2002 | Karen Gaudette, Associated Press

[snopercod]

HALF MOON BAY - California fishermen are bringing home a huge haul of king salmon this season -- but it's been a mixed blessing.

A glut of the pink-fleshed fish means buyers are paying much lower prices, a problem the California Salmon Council says is made worse by similarly "phenomenal" seasons in Oregon and British Columbia, and stiff competition from farmed salmon imported from Chile and Norway.

[Grampa Dave]

My son caught a nice 30 pounder two weeks ago. I'm waiting until they get up the rivers, and Gray Davis and the enviro wacko's decrease the river flows to be able to fish. Our rivers are flowing even higher than last year. Long story for another thread sometime.

I bought a new 10 weight Spey Rod (very long 15' fly rod) just for the Salmon Bumper crop this year. I hope to start fishing for them at least one day per week starting next week and maybe tomorrow. With that rod, one fish per day is all that your shoulders and arms can take.

The KALI Ocean Salmon harvest of kings has been excellent all season. We don't see much decline in prices at the stores. When we drive to the coast, we take a cooler. Then we go on to the piers. My wife selects the salmon. Then the fishermen and I negotiate the price. They get more than the grocerers will pay and I pay less. It is a good deal for them and us.

[Drango]

They get more than the grocerers will pay and I pay less. It is a good deal for them and us.

Adam Smith ROCKS!

[AnAmericanMother]

Sounds really nice, Grampa Dave.

We work a similar arrangement with the shrimpers along the GA coast where my parents live. A good sized shrimp fleet operates out of Darien GA, near their house. When the boats come in from the day's fishing, we take a couple of plastic buckets and go down to the pier just below the US 17 bridge in the middle of Darien. You can negotiate with the shrimpers for a bucket of shrimp right out of the net. If you don't mind picking over your shrimp and removing seaweed, little dead fish, etc., it is DIRT cheap. They'll run it through the sorter for you for a little bit more, if you want large shrimp for a party or something (or you just don't want to peel as many!)

I have NEVER had enough shrimp, not even in Darien.

[windcliff]

yummy

[onedoug]

Fire it up!

[texas booster]

OK, now I'm hungry. Here's a request from this landlubber:

Recipes and cooking techniques. Grilling, broiling, pan fry, baking, marinades, especially for the large salmon fillets I see in the stores. I have never cooked a large fillet, so I will try it this weekend.

Sure, I know about all of the Internet recipe sites, but fellow FReepers have never let me down in this area. Restaurants in other cities, different ways to BBQ and a recipe for whitefish that I still use. I respect real life experience as much or more than frou frou chefs.

We may not always agree on politics, but FOOD is always a topic that I will open my mind to new ideas.

Especially from old pros that can grill without burning (from Mrs. TB!)

I am off to work, so I'll check back in a couple of hours.

Thanks!!

[AnAmericanMother]

O.K. Here's my favorite salmon recipe! I'll sort of talk you through it so it should be really easy!

First, buy your filets. I like the "tail filets", the ones from nearest the tail of the salmon. They are more tapered and a little thinner than the body filets. Get them with skin on, because they hold together better on the grill.

Bring your filets home and rinse them under cold running water, and set them skin side up in a GLASS baking dish. No aluminum, not even tinfoil, bec. this marinade is pretty powerful stuff.

Prepare the marinade:
1/2 c. peanut oil
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
1/4 c. green onions, chopped
1 TBSP brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger powder
2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp salt

Whisk all these ingredients together and then pour over the salmon. Cover with plastic wrap (NOT aluminum foil, unless you like little puddles of liquid aluminum oxide on your food) and marinate in the refrigerator for 4-6 hours or overnight.

Put a pyramid of coals in your grill and let them burn down about 30 minutes, until you have a nice white ash on the charcoal. Brush the grill surface with oil, and place it 4-6 inches from the coals. Rule of thumb for salmon is to grill it about 10 minutes per inch, divided in two. For a typical fillet, I grill 5 minutes on the first side, then 5 minutes on the second side. Check by pulling at one side of the fillet with a fork to see if the meat flakes away and is no longer bright pink (a little pinkness in the thickest part of the fillet is fine, lots of people eat their salmon a little bit rare).

Bon appetit!

[Mrs. P]

Here's my recipe. Start grill. Get fish holder thingee for grilling fish. Spray the inside of it with oil, put fish on it. I usually buy a big slab, about 3 pounds or more, if it doesn't fit I use the big square mesh thing that we use for burgers and cut the fish into chunks. The boys get the tail section because there are usually less big bones to choke on. Next, sprinkle the pink side with salt and pepper, and close the fish holder thingee. Put on the hot grill pink side down first, skin up. About 4 minutes on each side, more or less. Enjoy. This fish, IMO, doesn't need to be flavored or covered up at all, but sometimes we have tartar sauce with it.

BUT, I might just try the other recipe posted here, it sure sounds good.......

[ReaganIsRight]

Same problem occurred a couple of years after the Exxon Valdez.

They had so many salmon they had to load the ships, send them out to sea and shoot the dead salmon out of the hold to the bottom.

I would've thought they'd make great fertilizer, but then again Alaska is huge and transport is a Major factor.

[RFH]

Last month I bought salmon for $1.99 a pound here in So Cal. It was cheaper than hamburger!

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

That recipe sounds great, AAM!

We often grill salmon (or better yet, sautee it in butter) just using a generous sprinkle of Paul Prudhomme's Seafood Magic.

Another, fancier way: poach it in inexpensive, unsweet champagne (Schloss Bieberich works well and is cheap at Trader Joe's) or a champagne/dry-white-wine mixture. Serve with a creamy saffron sauce (just make a thin white butter sauce and add saffron, stirring, until it's a bright color with abundant fragrance and taste) or buerre noir. Add yorkshire pudding on the side. Asparagus or broccoli go great with the saffron sauce. Then: Wow. I recommend a long walk afterwards.

[snopercod]

"Salmon - the other pink meat" ROTFL! My wife says "That's disgusting".

[dogbyte12]

Bobby Flay's recipe for Southwestern style grav lax is really kicking. Here goes.

1 2 lb salmon fillet (skin on)
1 T pureed chipotles in adobo sauce
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup whole mustard seeds
2 T cumin seeds
zest of 5 limes, in strips
2 cups kosher salt
3 cups (packed) light brown sugar
1 cup tequila

1. Place the Salmon fillet on baking sheet, flesh side up. Spread with pureed chipotles. Sprinkle evenly with cilantro, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and lime zest.

2. In a mixing bowl, combime the salt, brown sugar, and tequilla. Cover salmon with salt mixture.

3. Place another baking sheet on top of the salmon and weigh it down with a cast iron skillet or some other heavy weight. Refridgerate for 48 hours.

4. Remove from the fridge and scrape off the curing ingredients.

5. Slice the salmon against the grain paper thin, and serve.

[tubebender]

"No leftovers, and the dog and the cats fight over the scraps."

Never let dogs eat raw salmon as it will kill or paralyze them. Our Lab "spook" nearly died after eating a raw salmon that a bear had left on the bank of the Klamath River. The vet told us that it may have made him immune to the toxins.

My wife bought a whole 12 pound salmon from Safeway 2 weeks ago for 99 cents a pound here in Eureka. We are going to buy some off the boats and can them also Albacore Tuna. Just bought a new American Pressure Canner.

This mornings paper said one party boat limited out in 30 minutes. The Kings are running to 40 pounds.

[speekinout]

I buy a large quantity when it's on sale and freeze it.

Do you have a secret about how to freeze it? I *love* fresh salmon, but after a day in the fridge or a short stay in the freezer, it has that nasty "fishy" taste.
I'd love to be able to keep some around, but I haven't had success with any storage method.
Buy, cook & eat - or cook, buy & eat - quickly.

[SamAdams76]

This season, fishermen have hooked 4.3 million pounds of salmon as of Aug. 4, or more than 345,000 fish, with nearly two months left. That's up from last year's 2.2 million pounds, or about 180,000 fish

Something doesn't add up here. I eat about 10 pounds of salmon annually. With 280,000,000 Americans, that translates to nearly three billion pounds. Yet the fisherman reeled in only 4.3 million pounds? Where the heck is the other 2.9957 billion pounds of salmon coming from?

[AnAmericanMother]

Thanks for the tip on the raw salmon.

I'll be extra careful while preparing it in the kitchen, the Shelley-Dog HAS been known to balance on her hind legs (carefully not letting her front paws touch the counter as she's been reprimanded for that) and snatch tasty things. As with most Labs, ***!! FOOD !!*** (yum) outweighs everything else, even reprimands, stuffed toys, and chain collars (oh, well).

[Trailerpark Badass]

This is like the good old days in medieval England, when the apprentices banded together and demanded of their masters that they not be forced to eat salmon more than twice a week!

I thought that was Massachusetts and lobster?

[AnAmericanMother]

Joseph Hemingway, writing in 1835, said, "In that useful article, salmon, no market in the kingdom did, some few years ago, excel it; indeed, such was the profusion of that valuable fish, that masters were often restricted, by a clause in the indentiture, from giving it more than twice a week to their apprentices. Though the bounty of providence, in this particular, is yet unabated, such restriction is no longer necessary- some artificial cause, or other very kindly, rendering this fish, at the present day, a delicacy even to the masters themselves... The supply was so great, that after furnishing our own market for the city and neighbourhood, five or six carts were employed in conveying it for sale to distant places".

The River Dee

[fuzzthatwuz]

Try placing the fillets in a a 1 gal zip lock bag filled with water. Seal it and lay flat. Watch for leaks! Place it flat in the freezer... lasts for 3-4 months.