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2011 Copper River Salmon Season


jsmeeker

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Central Market in Plano, TX

Sockey was ~$30/lb

King was ~$45/lb

If I recall correctly. That's just too spendy for me, especially for solo dining at home.

Jeff Meeker, aka "jsmeeker"

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I was in Santee/San Diego for this past holiday weekend and saw Copper River salmon selling for $12.99/lb. at Henry's.

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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The Copper River season this year is reportedly the best in 7 years. There are some reports that over 125,000 more salmon have returned to the Copper River this year over last year, assuring that the run will continue to show lower than average prices in the markets.

Tonight I combined three things I've been working with lately, Copper River Salmon, Crudo at Home and Chive Blossoms. I dressed the salmon with some applewood-smoked black pepper, preserved lemon oil and fresh chive blossoms out of my garden. There was just a hint of smoke, citrus and garlicky onion which married beautifully with this rich salmon.

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SCORE !!

Copper River goodness has hit at least one MegaMart chain (well two, technically, even though they're the same parent company, they've got different names and "images") in LaLaLand.

The weekly ad flyer this week for the Safeway-owned Von's and Pavilions chains had Copper River for $7.99 a pound, with their loyalty card.

Went on Wednesday (the first day the ad prices were effective) to the Pavilions right down the road, and they hadn't gotten any yet. Bummer.

Thursday, went to run another errand, and popped into a Von's a bit further away to get THIS lovely thing...

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....at THIS absolultely LOVELY price....

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(sheeeeeze...dontcha just love the look of those numbers??)...

...which yielded this spectacular piece of fish...

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...which was then portioned, and three of the pieces were double-wrapped in plastic wrap, then vacuum sealed and stuck into the freezer for future enjoyment....

...and the last of which made this splendid meal last night.

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With roasted orange cauliflower and roasted baby Yukon gold potatoes. The amazing fish was brushed with olive oil, S&P, seared on the flesh side, flipped, seared on the skin side and finished in the 450° oven alongside the potatoes and cauliflower. A little lime juice drizzle over the Copper River and the cauliflower.

I was happy. Very, very happy. The dogs were not. They got no fish. I love my Grrrlz, but not enough to feed them $20.00 a pound fish, even if I didn't pay $20.00 a pound for it.

Edited by Pierogi (log)

--Roberta--

"Let's slip out of these wet clothes, and into a dry Martini" - Robert Benchley

Pierogi's eG Foodblog

My *outside* blog, "A Pound Of Yeast"

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$7.99 a lb? what a steal. That's a lovely dinner.

My local Whole Foods had some last week. Needless to say it was $19.99 a lb. But I've never seen it offered before and they seemed uncertain as to whether they'd get any more. So I splurged and took their last piece.

It was my first taste of Copper River ever, and I can say hands down it was the best salmon I've ever had. No pics, but I served it with sauteed spinach, jasmine rice, drizzled with some nuoc cham and topped with cilantro and slivered radishes. Fabulous, worth every penny.


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After seeing Pierogi's post about local Von's markets having it on sale I dashed over the the closest one. Only 2 pieces were left. I snagged the slightly larger one. This is way near the tail and quite thin - it tapers significantly behind the price tag.

I plan to cook it as simply as possible and serve with 2 different dipping sauces. What method of prep would be the best - bake, saute, or broil? The piece is quite thin so the skin is practically as thick as the flesh on the narrow end - needs to really crisp up. The fats I have available if needed are coconut cream from top of can (would throw out some moisture), olive oil, butter, and hazelnut oil.

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Heidi, my cut was thicker than yours and it cooked quickly. I seared it, skin side down, over high heat and finished it in a medium oven for 5 minutes. Residual heat cooked it a bit more so that it was a touch overdone for my preference. if I'm lucky enough to find more, I'll cut the cooking time by a minute, or perhaps try the broiler.


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I opted to put it on a piece of crinkled foil, flesh side down, lined with 2 fresh grape leaves and 2 quarter sized chunks of frozen coconut cream. I liberally salted it first. Broiled on the low setting until the skin was getting a bit too much (6 minutes maybe). I pulled the thin parts of the flesh off the sides and ate them plain. Oh My! Sweet stuff both in terms of it tasted sweet and that the flavor is wonderful. This was my first time eating Copper River salmon. I peeled the skin off and put that back in the oven at 400 to finish crisping and let the thicker part of the tiny fillet finish for another minute or so. The pic is the finished skin (to be scissored over a salad) and the remaining thicker part of the flesh which I will probably eat just as it is or include in the salad. This fish is worth taking a price chance on.

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The wiki entry here talks about 3 types of salmon, I noticed the one I bought is Sockeye which has a June to August season versus the King which about a month. Are we all talking about the same salmon?

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The wiki entry here talks about 3 types of salmon, I noticed the one I bought is Sockeye which has a June to August season versus the King which about a month. Are we all talking about the same salmon?

Yes, they all return to the Copper River to spawn so whether it's a Sockeye, Chinook (King) or one of the other species of Pacific Salmon it all falls under the term Copper River. I prefer the Sockeye as I think it has the most oil in the flesh.

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Anyone make lox/cold smoked copper river salmon?

I got a couple fillets at Costco today at $9/lb was planning on vac packing and freezing 1 to keep until weather cools in the fall/early winter and cold smoking it.

Yes, it's delicious made into a gravlax. I made some last year using Aquavit as the liquor. I served the Copper River Salmon Gravlax with some dill creme fraiche and little Gougere's (cheese puffs).

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Anyone make lox/cold smoked copper river salmon?

I got a couple fillets at Costco today at $9/lb was planning on vac packing and freezing 1 to keep until weather cools in the fall/early winter and cold smoking it.

Yep, I have a fillet that will see smoke tomorrow. I went with the Modernist Cuisine proportions for lox-style salmon: simply 3% salt and 1.5% sugar.

 

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We shouldn't forget that steaming is also a delicious treatment of Copper River Salmon-retaining the moisture that is naturally a part of this special fish.

Steamed Copper River Salmon with "Crisp" Chili Oil with Soy-

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Perfect medium-rare-

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I worried that the salmon would be overpowered by the spicy heat of the chili oil, but I was pleasantly surprised-the chili oil was somewhat mild yet had just a kick to it so it didn't destroy the salmon. I marinated the salmon with some ginger, garlic, soy sauce and the chili oil. I'm not really sure where the "crisp" comes in, (that's what it says on the bottle), but I assume they "toast" or crisp the chili flakes before putting them in the oil.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I was in the Santee Costco (near San Diego) a week ago and they had their seafood "road show" going on. They were selling whole Copper River wild salmon for $5.99 a pound. :shock:

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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