"Wild Alaskan Salmon"

[Hunkydory]

Hunky's back (never been away, just lurking).  Today's topic - I'm brining some "Wild Alaskan Salmon", ready for a cold smoke.  It cost me an arm and a leg today in Waitrose......that's a ludicriously expensive UK supermarket, for those not based here.

This stuff is so incredibly red, it looks like it must have come off a farm.  My challenge to the Pacific contingent - explain how it gets its colour !

[nickld]

Hmmm... I have some Copper River Sockeye that has quite a red color. Been in the freezer for a few months as the season is fairly short if I remember correctly... 'Bout time I did something with them I suppose.

[Hunkydory]

How many varieties of salmon do you have ?  We have the atlantic salmon and that's it, as far as I'm aware, but you seem to have all sorts.....and so much more of them  :'(

[nickld]

I'm in the San Francisco Bay area. Most of what's available here at this time of year is farm raised Atlantic salmon. I try to avoid that like the plague. Occasionally Alaskan King salmon and Silver (Coho) are available. Sockeye are usually available here for a short time around the month of June I believe. There a a couple of other varieties but the ones I mentioned are the big hitters. Sockeye are my personal favorite....

[tsquared]

Hunky--your "wild Alaskan salmon" that is so red should be(unless your fishmonger is ripping you off) either sockeye (the fillets will from about a 6 or 7 lb fish) or "king" salmon. If it is from king salmon, they could be any size as they can be quite large. I just had fresh king (we call them springs here in Canada) on the grill for supper and it was a brilliant red. I just caught it yesterday and these winter caught salmon are always red and beautiful.
T2

[Kummok]

The bright-red color of wild salmon comes from a diet of shrimp, krill and crabs that contain carotenoids, natural pigments found in plants and animals. Beta-carotene, which makes carrots orange, is probably the most familiar one. The one exception to this is the white or "Ivory" King salmon (just caught a nice 25 pound white Saturday!).....which BTW are showing up more infrequently here lately T2....open the gates down there Tom and let a few more out!  ;)

[tsquared]

which BTW are showing up more infrequently here lately T2....open the gates down there Tom and let a few more out!  Wink

I'll keep that in mind when I'm back out this coming
saturday, Kummok--AFTER I get my limit! :D It's interesting that you are catching whites this time of year as we get them in the summer but our winter fish are always red. PS--did you get another boat or were you the gumboot deckhand?
(Sorry about the hijack, Hunky but you have to keep an eye on the crazy Alaskan or he'll catch all the fish in the North Pacific!)
T2

[Kummok]

The whites always seem to be winter catches up here T2...they're all feeders...I don't do the spawner King fishing much anymore so can't speak to them.

Hunky...Back to your original question....I've got photos of white King sitting next to "normal" orange King (took them today)....if you're interested, PM me with your addy and I'll email them. I've gotta get back to getting this batch in the brine tonight but may try later to post the pics here.........

Okay....here's added pics. They show White and Normal coloring. One pic is meat prepped for smoking and the other is the way I always process my Kings for everything except the occasional full slab presentation. From this configuration, I can grill, blacken, smoke, etc with minor mods......

12/13 edit
Smoking sized


Standard sized

[Kummok]

Opps! Shoulda done the pics as a new post instead of an edit....as edit, they don't come up on 'Unread Posts'....now they will...sorry about that........