Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Copper River King Salmon


brucedelta

Recommended Posts

I think Chef said the King Salmon would be coming in next week. But the Sockeye was pretty damned tasty as it was. I can't imagine too many degrees of deliciousness above it. I suspect we'll sell out of it by tomorrow as well, if not tonight. I recommended it to everyone. :smile:

Katie M. Loeb
Booze Muse, Spiritual Advisor

Author: Shake, Stir, Pour:Fresh Homegrown Cocktails

Cheers!
Bartendrix,Intoxicologist, Beverage Consultant, Philadelphia, PA
Captain Liberty of the Good Varietals, Aphrodite of Alcohol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think Chef said the King Salmon would be coming in next week.  But the Sockeye was pretty damned tasty as it was.  I can't imagine too many degrees of deliciousness above it.  I suspect we'll sell out of it by tomorrow as well, if not tonight.  I recommended it to everyone:smile:

I dropped in at Costco in Hackensack this afternoon and found wild sockeye salmon fillets from Alaska for $9.99 a pound and sections of wild sockeye salmon from the Copper River for $6.99 a pound. Copper River was written on the label. The nearly two-pound, gutted section I bought yielded six small steaks and a nice tail section. I seasoned them with sea salt, lemon juice, allspice and Aleppo pepper, and they cooked in about 10 monutes at 375 degrees. Delish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just as a cautionary sidenote: some time back, the NYT ran a story about supposedly wild salmon sold in NY-area establishments. They found, as I recall, that over two-thirds of salmon clearly labelled "Wild" was, in fact, farm-raised, a distinction easily made in the lab, though not evident to the naked eye. I suspect that is still often the case. There is very little preventing a dishonest purveyor adding "Copper River" to the signage and widening the profit margin considerably. Caveat emptor: if you see a great bargain, at a merchant you don't know and trust absolutely, I would certainly ask how they can afford to sell it so cheap.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was once told by a fish purveyor that I trust that the way to tell wild salmon from farm raised is that the wild salmon look perfect and pristine and the farm raised salmon have little bites taken out of their fins and they look beat up from fighting in the tanks with each other. Certainly makes sense logically.

Katie M. Loeb
Booze Muse, Spiritual Advisor

Author: Shake, Stir, Pour:Fresh Homegrown Cocktails

Cheers!
Bartendrix,Intoxicologist, Beverage Consultant, Philadelphia, PA
Captain Liberty of the Good Varietals, Aphrodite of Alcohol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Made it in to Twenty21 tonight and had a chance to partake of Chef Wentz's Copper River King... it was all that and a back of crispy salmon skins. Really... just perfect. I think last week I posted about some king salmon I picked up at Wegmans being the best I've ever cooked... well, the salmon we had tonight was the best we've ever eaten.

With that said, I wanted to add that every other course we had tonight was similar quality... everything was stellar, course after course. A couple standouts were the Rodenbach braised pork belly I had, and Cherie had the Rabbit Pot au Feu, which was so good it sort of made your eyes roll back into your head. Good stuff.

OK, so that last part was a bit off topic from the Copper River King, but just wanted to say... Townsend knows a thing or two about food. If Twenty21 isn't on your radar, it should be.

__Jason

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, after a sublime dinner at Twenty21 last night, we found ourselves (for reasons somewhat out of our control) at Devon tonight, where I noticed they also had Copper River King on the menu. Just for giggles, I decided to try it. Well, I can sum it up in one word... "unfortunate".

The menu said "pan seared Copper River King, with fiddlehead ferns and morels". I verified with the waiter that it would be served medium-rare, but when it arrived, it was more like medium-well. The sad thing is, that even though the fish was overcooked, the skin was still flabby. Oops. The fiddleheads didn't have much flavor (sort of suprised they're still in season, actually) and I guess they substituted roasted potatoes for the morels, as I don't recall seeing a single morel anywhere on the plate. Lesson learned. My bad.

Soooooooo... to reiterate what I said last night... go to Twenty21. Get the salmon. Be happy.

__Jason

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not "served" but I bought some tonight at, of all places, Genuardi's in Wynnewood, on sale for $9.99/lb. First time I had Cooper River Salmon, and it was much better than "regular".

I belch, therefore, I ate...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was at Matyson a couple days ago and they had an appetizer featuring Copper River salmon. It was tasty, served with a melon salsa or some such containing honeydew and cantaloupe (at least). It also had one bone in it, that was not on the menu.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I walked into work this evening and found the kitchen butchering the most gloriously beautiful fish I've ever made the acquaintance of before getting the chance to taste him.  A sixteen pound and change gorgeous Copper River Sockeye salmon.  The fish looked as if he'd jumped out of the river and onto the cutting board in our kitchen.  Still bright eyed and fresh looking, the staff was fortunate enough to get a little taste of it before service this evening.  Fabulously buttery and silky and almost highway cone orange in color.  Really some of the tastiest salmon I've ever had...

The Copper River Sockeye also made its way onto the menu at James Saturday night where it was served poached and Katie's descriptors "fabulously buttery and silky and almost highway cone orange" were certainly the case for the piece I was served. It simply destroyed every other salmon I've had and I really don't know what else there is to say other than I need to get me some Copper River King!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been getting it from Wegmans Mt Laurel. When they first got it in, it was quite good, but I think its gone downhill over the past couple weeks. I think the price has gone down as well. They do have some gorgeous looking sockeye that I'm going to have to try. Their sockeye right now looks much better than the king color-wise, but I've been buying the king still because I like the nice thick fillets. Sockeye fillets are much thinner.

Made some of the king again tonight at home, incidentally - pan roasted, crispy skin served over a salad of field greens and avocado, dressed with an orange/shallot vinaigrette. Even if it wasn't the ideal piece of salmon, it was still pretty damn good.

__Jason

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Their sockeye right now looks much better than the king color-wise, but I've been buying the king still because I like the nice thick fillets. Sockeye fillets are much thinner.

Made some of the king again tonight at home, incidentally - pan roasted, crispy skin served over a salad of field greens and avocado, dressed with an orange/shallot vinaigrette. Even if it wasn't the ideal piece of salmon, it was still pretty damn good.

__Jason

I had some Copper River sockeye I picked up from Yi's in RTM. Don't think high-heat pan roasting would have worked terribly well on the thinner fillets. Instead, I used Vadouvan's short-cure-and-slow-roast method from

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=86937

which made for the most amazing buttery-soft, rich, melting fish I've ever had. Even if he did say it was only for King salmon. Call me a rebel. Had it with snap peas sauteed in butter and quinoa with almonds and lemon zest. Big hit, except for the one person who felt undercooked fish wasn't safe. Go figure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Their sockeye right now looks much better than the king color-wise, but I've been buying the king still because I like the nice thick fillets. Sockeye fillets are much thinner.

Made some of the king again tonight at home, incidentally - pan roasted, crispy skin served over a salad of field greens and avocado, dressed with an orange/shallot vinaigrette. Even if it wasn't the ideal piece of salmon, it was still pretty damn good.

__Jason

I had some Copper River sockeye I picked up from Yi's in RTM. Don't think high-heat pan roasting would have worked terribly well on the thinner fillets. Instead, I used Vadouvan's short-cure-and-slow-roast method from

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=86937

which made for the most amazing buttery-soft, rich, melting fish I've ever had. Even if he did say it was only for King salmon. Call me a rebel. Had it with snap peas sauteed in butter and quinoa with almonds and lemon zest. Big hit, except for the one person who felt undercooked fish wasn't safe. Go figure.

Just grilled some last night that I bought at Yi's on Saturday.

Made one mistake -- turned it during cooking. (Wrecked the flesh side, and the skin separated.)

No matter. It was absolutely delicious.

What do you use for the cure?

Sandy Smith, Exile on Oxford Circle, Philadelphia

"95% of success in life is showing up." --Woody Allen

My foodblogs: 1 | 2 | 3

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What do you use for the cure?

Check the link. It's in a Vadouvan post a bit of a ways down.

Saw it.

V. himself didn't mention anything; rlibkind mentioned "various boozy sauces" and gave a specific example of a bourbon marinade prior to V.'s post.

Sandy Smith, Exile on Oxford Circle, Philadelphia

"95% of success in life is showing up." --Woody Allen

My foodblogs: 1 | 2 | 3

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What do you use for the cure?

Check the link. It's in a Vadouvan post a bit of a ways down.

Saw it.

V. himself didn't mention anything; rlibkind mentioned "various boozy sauces" and gave a specific example of a bourbon marinade prior to V.'s post.

Post #11, Sandy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aaaaaand, to spread the good word, and make V's instructions easier to find, here they are, from post #11:

Again in my opinion, lengthy cures and dry spicing ruin the fish for slow roasting.

Mix together.

1/4 cup of Kosher or Maldon salt

1/4 cup Superfine Sugar not powdered 10x......superfine.

The zest of 2 large lemons, removed with a microplane, no other tool.

Rub your boneless salmon filets with this mixture.

About 1 tablespoon for every 8 oz of fish.

Top with one fresh bay leaf and wrap tight in plastic.

Refrigerate for 2hrs max.

Rinse of fish, dry well with lint free cotton or food grade paper towel.

Rub lightly with high quality EVOO.

Bake in a 225 degree oven till it just flakes and no white liquid (coagulated proteins) are oozing out of it yet.

Works great with Char,Ocean Trout, Mackrel, hamachi.

Cheers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I'd really like to get my tongs around is a pound of Yukon King River Salmon. It has a two week availibility according Kwikpack. A friend of mine sent me a link to his new fishmonger in Chicago Dirk's Fish.

I was on the phone to Samuel and Sons to see if I could land some. That's one pretty salmon.

They do, and I'm heading down to grab some, film @11:00.

Jim

Edited to update

Edited by marinade (log)

Jim Tarantino

Marinades, Rubs, Brines, Cures, & Glazes

Ten Speed Press

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...