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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 50,627
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 50,627 |
I am about the least adventurous food person I know, but I had sardines for the first time just over a year ago, and they are great. You are missing out.
Fixt But a big 10-4 on the sardines.  Having been there for both events I can only say you are about the only human less adventurous than Chris... I liked the slaw... and the bait... Never said the slaw wasn't good; just differenter. Still enjoying the memory of him slivering them nuts! Uhhhhhh... What happens on the boat is supposed to STAY ON the boat...
Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,474
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,474 |
Copper river fish have the best marketing. This is the truth. They have great marketing and like Sitka Deer said, the CR fish are handled with care and brought to market faster and fresher and are treated with kid gloves from the moment they're brought onboard. Those early first of the season fish bring ridiculous money down here, like $39.99 a pound ridiculous at the Market. Everything being even, I doubt anyone could tell the difference between the two. Several years back I had a neighbor that was always FOS and was gods gift to knowledge. I smoked up some Chum I'd just caught and gave it to him as an early Christmas gift. A couple days later he told me that was the best smoked king he'd ever had and then spent 15 minutes explaining to me how he could tell it was a king (I removed the skin after smoking 😉). I'm not really a salmon snob and enjoy smoked chum. Hell I'm not too proud to admit that I enjoy fresh grilled humpy that I caught, bled, gutted and iced immediately. 😁 I draw the line at sardines, in mustard, in olive oil, in porcupine crap it won't touch my lips. I'm likely to eat rattle snake before eating baitfish. LOL, we eat both. Sardines and rattlesnakes. LOL
We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 24,136
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 24,136 |
I love to grill up bright pinks from the sound. And chum eats good too if bled out and on ice right away Copper river fish have the best marketing. This is the truth. They have great marketing and like Sitka Deer said, the CR fish are handled with care and brought to market faster and fresher and are treated with kid gloves from the moment they're brought onboard. Those early first of the season fish bring ridiculous money down here, like $39.99 a pound ridiculous at the Market. Everything being even, I doubt anyone could tell the difference between the two. Several years back I had a neighbor that was always FOS and was gods gift to knowledge. I smoked up some Chum I'd just caught and gave it to him as an early Christmas gift. A couple days later he told me that was the best smoked king he'd ever had and then spent 15 minutes explaining to me how he could tell it was a king (I removed the skin after smoking 😉). I'm not really a salmon snob and enjoy smoked chum. Hell I'm not too proud to admit that I enjoy fresh grilled humpy that I caught, bled, gutted and iced immediately. 😁 I draw the line at sardines, in mustard, in olive oil, in porcupine crap it won't touch my lips. I'm likely to eat rattle snake before eating baitfish.
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 27,091
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 27,091 |
All salmon I get is good.
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Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 684
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 684 |
Have you had the chance to taste Taku River sockeye? I prefer it to Copper River sockeye, but admittedly it is easier for me to get down in southeast. Companies like Taku River Reds and Alaska Seafood Company take very good care of their sockeye and the taste is excellent.
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 17,491
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 17,491 |
....... take very good care of their sockeye your fresh salmon and the taste is excellent. This applies to any of the five species of Alaskan salmon in bright form.
Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.
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Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 684
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 684 |
I have to disagree with you to an extent, or maybe I've misunderstood your comment. Not all bright salmon is the same, and some companies don't take as much care with either commercial or sport caught fish. The two companies I mentioned are a couple of my favorites, and they deal mostly with Chilkoot and Taku sockeye.
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 17,491
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 17,491 |
Never had a bad salmon if it was caught bright and handled properly while fresh. Perhaps some folks differ on what qualifies as fresh. I have never minded having to step aside to avoid those finals pulses from a still-beating heart.
Chums, while not often considered a premium salmon species, is excellent table fare when they are caught chrome bright and handled properly right away. (Better than much of what often passes for 'better' Coho IMO.) I can't imagine buying commercial keta salmon however.
Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 20,683
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 20,683 |
Ate a chum outa the ocean that was dime bright, good eating btw.
Far enough for me to get salmon at Chitina, I can't be concerned with which is best, just grateful for the salmon in our freezer
It's what I had for dinner last night and it was sooo good
Kinda like determining which beef is better black angus (all the rage these days) or Hereford the preferred beef of my youth. Used to be a great steakhouse named Hereford house in KC/MO back in those days
Klik has it correct, no matter the river or the breed, fresh meat handled properly can't be beat, and I doubt there's one person in 5000 that could tell the difference
I'm pretty certain when we sing our anthem and mention the land of the free, the original intent didn't mean cell phones, food stamps and birth control.
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 50,627
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 50,627 |
I have to disagree with you to an extent, or maybe I've misunderstood your comment. Not all bright salmon is the same, and some companies don't take as much care with either commercial or sport caught fish. The two companies I mentioned are a couple of my favorites, and they deal mostly with Chilkoot and Taku sockeye. Which is why much sockeye from Bristol Bay is not nearly as good as quickly-bled and chilled sockeye from anywhere else.
Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 25,091
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 25,091 |
As mentioned, it's all about fresh to me. Some may be better than others when handled equally, but I've never had them side by side with a guarantee that they were equal fish, equally handled. Might go catch some humpy tomorrow and toss one on the grill. 
“Life is life and fun is fun, but it's all so quiet when the goldfish die.”
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 17,491
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 17,491 |
Certain species of fish, and certain specimens of the same species 'turn' pretty fast if conditions are less than ideal.
The various species of whitefish soften very quickly after they are dead even when they are headed and gutted while still twitching.
Silvers tend to soften much faster than bright chums will; never figured out why - perhaps it's the fat content...or their most recent diet?
Pinks, whether ocean bright, or green/brown and humpying, tend to soften/slime faster than other salmon.
And a fish caught by the gills or beyond and struggling tend to get soft quickly while those that are snouted and drowned right away tend to keep much longer.
Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,697
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,697 |
Taking the time to properly handle the fish has worked the best for me. I personally prefer the higher oil content species but will eat all with out issue. A big Kenai red is a thing of beauty as are Chum and Coho with all scales in tact. I like cooking pretty fish and take the extra effort to keep them looking good. I will take ice at any opportunity. I don't think a chinook is as pretty as the other species fresh out of the salt but prefer them due to the oil content. I describe a king as a red with butter on it. I prefer Copper reds even from Chitna over those from the Kenai, Kasilof or those from the bay. I have not had reds or chum from the Kuskokwim(sp) and systems farther North.
'Often mistaken, never in doubt'
'Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge' Darwin
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