!!!
February 1, 2005
OH YES!
For the first time in my life I have found ***real*** smoked salmon around here.
See, back when I was in Alaska for a while, Kate’s dad would smoke salmon almost once a week. Well, the resulting product was a deep pink/red color, dry, and extremely flavorful. Not this crap pink slime you see at most stores.
Well, tonight when I was at Nino Salvaggios I managed to find some salmon that looked similar. It’s Alaskan salmon (read: not farmed), nice and dry, and with flavor. I happened to get the cajun variety, so it’s got a bit of a spicy bite, but it’s absolutely amazing!
I might finally eat smoked salmon again!
Happy salmon munching.
Hehe… Thank you. :) Wait until you see the pictures of it…
Have you been to Trackleman’s in Ann Arbor? My parents get absolutely fabulous smoked salmon there. I know it’s pricey, but goddamn is it good!
Ooh, no… I haven’t. Where is it at?
omg where is this store you speak of?!?!
as much as i like trader joes, i recently ran into fishy pink slime and was not happy. ick.
Also, all the salmon I’ve seen at Trader Joe’s is Scottish, which means farmed. Alaska has a state policy against farmed salmon. They *do* ranch salmon, which is where it’s spawned in nets and raised a little, then released and re-caught, but I’m fine with that.
The one I went to is on M-59 near Romeo Plank (Clinton Township), but there is also one at M-59 and Rochester Road, and in Roseville. Their website is here and it lists all their locations, but the biggest one is the Clinton Township location. If you’re going to head out there, let me know. It’s about two miles from my place.
Also, see my most recent post for a picture of the salmon. This is how smoked salmon is supposed to look.
Hmm, a bit of story for you… See the wooden shed-like thing in the lower left corner of this picture? That was the Weisgram family smoke house. Kate‘s (the person I went to Alaska for in 1996) Dad would regularly head out to fish early in the morning, all by himself. Then he’d come back with his full catch of salmon, clean the salmon, mix up a brine, and marinate it. I remember more than a few times when he’d come up to me with a still-warm piece of salmon from the smoker, asking me to try some salmon and give my opinion of the new brine he came up with. One particular recipe I remember included lots of pineapple juice, kosher salt, and some other things.
This is the stuff I regularly ate there… Deep red finger-sized pieces of salmon, typically made a few days earlier. There was always large vacuumed packed containers of it in the fridge, and whenever I wanted something to munch on, I’d grab a piece, peel the skin from one side (a sign of better smoked salmon) and just munch on the piece. It was amazing! I had never had similarly good salmon until today.
Wow, I feel like I’m in love. < sigh >
Confusion
You are a bit confused.
There are two types of smoked salmon
Cold Smoked, wich is commonly known as Lox is the slimey variety.
And Hot Smoked or kippered salmon is what you have and love.
They are both very good but very different.
Re: Confusion
Oh, interesting. That would explain it then… I thought it was just smoked, then packed in water. It’s interesting how almost every time you find ‘smoked’ salmon then it’s the lox-type vareity. It’s really just not for me…