Smoked Salmon
March 26th, 2008
While the waters of the Atlantic have been devastatingly over fished today for Salmon to be placed onto countless million dinner tables each year, the waters of Alaska are still very well populated with fish due to the fact of the guidelines fishermen have to follow in Alaska. In the nineteenth century almost all commercial Salmon were pulled from the Atlantic. Being canned in New England to be eagerly shipped off to California in the 1840s, and by the middle of the 1860’s the tasty delights were actually being produced in California and then carried off to the east!
Without the salmon not only the people and animals would suffer, but the land as well. When salmon return from the sea they bring back nitrogen so that the trees and plants thrive, benefitting the herbivores also. The best way to honor this salmon gift from the gods is to take only what is needed and use all that is taken. So it was vital to develop a way to store the salmon caught during their breeding runs back up their natal rivers. That is where Alaskan Smoked Salmon comes in.
Today shoppers can easily find smoked salmon in their local supermarket. This is usually cold-smoked farm-raised fish. But the true connoisseur will look to Alaskan Smoked Salmon. The combination of brine recipes, the woods used in the smoking process, the different temperatures in the smokehouse, the species and the wild origin of the salmon produces an array of magnificent flavors that rival the vintages of fine wine.
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