Smoked Salmon

 I had a side of salmon for dinner tonight.  I fired up the grill (gas)...didn't clean it off from the the last cooking.  (story behind that) Put the fish on a piece of foil with a little butter and lemon.  (Hurrying because of weather)

I had salmon and it was the best ever.   It looked poached but it had the best smoke flavor.  Sometimes problems have great rewards.

While it's not true smoked salmon it's always great when an opps turns into a wow!

I just bought a slab of Alaskan King Salmon at Russ Kendall's Smokehouse in Knife River, MN. It is still wrapped in the newspaper and in the fridge. I think I am going to make Salmon dip with it.

As late as the late 1990's We used to buy a 'chunk' of either Albacore Tuna or Salmon that had been smoked and used it for snacking while enjoying the view and the breezes on the Redondo Pier in SoCal. They weighed the fish to set the price, but you selected your 'chunk' from trays of available pieces in a meat-cooler display case.  I found that a 4-5 inch cube of the Tuna could last me an afternoon ! I couldn't eat that much Salmon, and the pieces were usually thinner than the Tuna, so we selected smaller chunks when Salmon was our 'prize'.

 My truck would smell of the smoked fish for a long time after one of those visits to the South Bay area ! Delicious Fish, though!!

Several years ago, I was driving from Seattle to San Diego.  I stopped in extreme northern California at Crescent City and bought some smoked salmon from a roadside stand.  It smelled delicious.  I bough a couple of six packs to wash the moist smoky salmon down.  It was super until about six hours later.  I burped salmon for two days and I have not had any form of salmon since.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Sundancer7


Several years ago, I was driving from Seattle to San Diego.  I stopped in extreme northern California at Crescent City and bought some smoked salmon from a roadside stand.  It smelled delicious.  I bough a couple of six packs to wash the moist smoky salmon down.  It was super until about six hours later.  I burped salmon for two days and I have not had any form of salmon since.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

You're crazy man...smoked salmon burps are the best.

I have got to travel more! Smoked salmon at a roadside stand? I have had barbeque, hotdogs, watermelon and even boiled peanuts from a roadside stand, but never Smoked salmon!

Some of the very best smoked salmon I've ever had was stuff I got in a swap for a couple of Kings my wife and I had caught out of Westport, Washington. There was a salmon processing place near the docks where they'd clean your fish, swap you smoked or canned salmon for your fresh salmon, and sell fresh, smoked and canned salmon at retail.

Down here it's smoked mullet at roadside stands.  We have some friends that own a fish market and they smoke about 50 at a time, good stuff but an aquired taste for some.  Love it fresh off the smoker and dip too.

mbrookes


I have got to travel more! Smoked salmon at a roadside stand? I have had barbeque, hotdogs, watermelon and even boiled peanuts from a roadside stand, but never Smoked salmon!

 
I believe the roadside stands are much more common in northern California in the coastal areas.  There is nothing like that here in East Tennessee
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

The only roadside stands that I can think of in Southern California are fruit stands.

Not enough roads you can pull off on around here.  You'd get run over.

Michael, how do they get around game laws by taking fish from a non-commercial fisherman?  I understand that they arent buying it from you, only swapping already proccessed fish rather than having to wait for yours to be cooked. Is it a bit iffy that they could take your fish and sell it to someone else.

brittneal


Michael, how do they get around game laws by taking fish from a non-commercial fisherman?  I understand that they arent buying it from you, only swapping already proccessed fish rather than having to wait for yours to be cooked. Is it a bit iffy that they could take your fish and sell it to someone else.

I really don't know what the game laws are in that particular regard in Washington and Oregon. I do know that many years ago, when I was running a charter fishing boat out of Miami, we were allowed to sell the sport-caught fish right on the docks. As I recall, the only thing we could not sell was sailfish.

Although I'm not a big fan of hot smoked salmon, I will eat it. Especially at places that do it themselves. I am however, a huge fan of cold smoked salmon. That's the smoked salmon you put on a bagel.

I posted a recipe for cucumber salad that pairs well with smoked salmon. I think it is in the side order forum. If it has been removed then I will re-post it here.


David O.

Oh jeeze. See what you made me do? I went and unwrapped my wild Alaskan King Salmon I bought this week at Russ Kendall's Smokehouse in Knife River, MN and started eating it.

  Well I looked in the side order forum and couldn't find the cuke salad recipe so I will re-post it here.

  CUCUMBER SALAD

 6 large cucumbers peeled cut length wise and seeded then sliced

 1 large red onion sliced on the vertical
 
 1 cup or red wine vinegar

 3 cups of water

 3 TBS. sea salt

 fresh ground black pepper to taste

 the zest of two lemons and the juice of said lemons

 1 bunch of fresh dill chopped fine

 2 TBS. superfine sugar

 1/2 cup sour cream

 1/2 cup mayonnaise

  First, combine the vinegar, water, salt, 1/2 of the dill and 1/2 of the lemon zest.
  Let this marinate for about four hours. Strain the mixture and let stand in the collander for about an hour so that all of the juice is gone. Combine all of the rest of the ingredients and then add the cucumbers. Let this sit in the refrigerator over night.

  This side dish pairs well with all fish but with smoked salmon especially well.

  Hope you enjoy this.

David O.

 

Mar-

  Once you get away from the L A area you can find lots of small fish stands near any of the town/county piers.  We often bought chunks of fish as I mentioned at the Redondo Pier.  Try Porto Nuevo about halfway between TJ and Ensenada on the old road down Baja (not the toll toad). For years it was a really rough little fishing village where Lobster and Shrimp were dirt cheap...Then they paved the streets and cleaned the place up and it's prices spiked...but it is still a great stop for all sorts of fish and seafood!

Morro Bay and the Monterey Pier have good seafood vendors too!

Back here in the MidWest, we look forward to our annual Fall ride around Lake Michigan from Wisconsin to Home via the U P.  Check the reviews here on RF of the smoked fish stands near the Mackinaw Bridge. We stock up on Salmon and Lake Trout chunks each time we pass thru that area.