Salmon II: Preparing Salmon

I mentioned in my previous post that there are many different ways to prepare eating salmon. This comment sparked a detailed conversation between the salmon experts in my family, my father WRC and aunt LAC. They came up with the following list of ways that the Athabascan Indians of Alaska prepare salmon to eat.

1. Salmon Strips - salmon strips cut vertically, soaked in brine and hung on racks to dry.

2. Canned salmon - can be salmon meat or strips

3. Half-dried Salmon - smoked in the smokehouse until half done and then stored long term in the freezer.

4. Frozen salmon steaks - just freeze the fish whole and cut steaks off the frozen chunk as you need them.

5. Salted salmon bellies stored in kegs

6. Pickled salmon bellies with spices

7. Jack Salmon - fillet the salmon very thickly and smoke inside an oven-like compartment in a smokehouse. After a few days remove the salmon fillets, pressure cook it and place in jars for long term storage.

8. Salmon Roe (Caviar) - cleaned with salt, garlic, and onions to get rid of the stuff that holds the eggs together. Roe can also be cooked and eaten plain.

9. Kippered Salmon - Similar to Jewish Lox salmon. Fillet the salmon, soak it in salt brine and sprinkle with brown sugar. Boards are placed on the top and bottom to squeeze out the juice. The salt and brown sugar make the salmon hard and flavorful. Very thin slices are cut off the slab and eaten on a bagel with cream cheese.

10. Fish Sticks - take a very thick fish and fillet off the thicker part. cut the fillet into long pieces, dip in salt solution, and dry it on mesh wires in a smokehouse.

11. Eating fish - salmon strips, cut horizontally, are soaked in a salt/brown sugar solution are for only a few minutes. They take up the brine quickly and then they are dried on racks.

Many thanks to my father and auntie LAC for allowing me to share all the ways to prepare salmon!

photo credit: Amazon