Your favorite PNW seafood?

[UnionMillsNW]

The fishy flavor of commercial fish in US is associated with too long between catching and buying. Try fish in Japan. Even a fish market doesn't smell like fish. It smells like ocean.

Agreed. Which is why I only eat seafood in coastal states. I'm not ordering fish n chips in Colorado!

 

[po18guy]

Inspired by a couple of active threads here, I thought I'd toss this out, considering we live in a beautiful region filled with a great many ponds, lakes, streams, tributaries, rivers, and the ocean, teaming with much bounty:

• What are some of your favorite species from fresh and salt water sources?
• Have any delightful recipes to share?

Enjoy, friends.

Salmon smoked by local Native Americans.

 

[Mikej]

The fishy flavor of commercial fish in US is associated with too long between catching and buying. Try fish in Japan. Even a fish market doesn't smell like fish. It smells like ocean.

Some fish just smells fishy/turning bad, a day after it's caught. I've caught the black bass out on the Tillamook bay jetty, put it in wet burlap, cooling, and iced it within an hour or two. It got filleted shortly after that. 24 hours later it has a smell. Crab is the same way. Cooked, Iced, cleaned, put in a container. The next day, it has a smell. Where salmon, that's been taken care of and kept dry, won't have a smell 6 days later. Certainly top AAA quality taste and texture start to fade several days after.

When I used to afford fish from the grocery store I'd insist the clerk put on their little plastic gloves. Rub on a piece of fish I was considering buying, and allow me to rub my fingers on the glove, wipe it around on my finger tips and smell it.

Agreed. Which is why I only eat seafood in coastal states. I'm not ordering fish n chips in Colorado!

I've had terrible fish at the coast, and great fish inland. Look at it this way. Colorado is more than likely frozen. If the fish was quality when it was frozen it'll be at least the same quality when it's cooked. The little joint on the dock serving fish and chips might have been holding that extremely delicate ocean caught fish for 7 days. Until you order that last of that is.

I don't smell anything anymore though. So none of that means bubblegum now.

 

[OldBroad44]

Some fish just smells fishy/turning bad, a day after it's caught. I've caught the black bass out on the Tillamook bay jetty, put it in wet burlap, cooling, and iced it within an hour or two. It got filleted shortly after that. 24 hours later it has a smell. Crab is the same way. Cooked, Iced, cleaned, put in a container. The next day, it has a smell. Where salmon, that's been taken care of and kept dry, won't have a smell 6 days later. Certainly top AAA quality taste and texture start to fade several days after.

When I used to afford fish from the grocery store I'd insist the clerk put on their little plastic gloves. Rub on a piece of fish I was considering buying, and allow me to rub my fingers on the glove, wipe it around on my finger tips and smell it.

I've had terrible fish at the coast, and great fish inland. Look at it this way. Colorado is more than likely frozen. If the fish was quality when it was frozen it'll be at least the same quality when it's cooked. The little joint on the dock serving fish and chips might have been holding that extremely delicate ocean caught fish for 7 days. Until you order that last of that is.

I don't smell anything anymore though. So none of that means bubblegum now.

@Mikej --
A guy I knew lost his sense of smell in his sixties. A big deal because enjoying the flavor of food depends on sense of smell. Turned out he had a nutritional deficiency for zink. However, either too much or too little Zink can cause the loss of smell/taste. So getting checked by a doctor would be the best first step. Our ability to absorb and utilize various nutrients changes as we age.

 

[Mikej]

@Mikej --
A guy I knew lost his sense of smell in his sixties. A big deal because enjoying the flavor of food depends on sense of smell. Turned out he had a nutritional deficiency for zink. However, either too much or too little Zink can cause the loss of smell/taste. So getting checked by a doctor would be the best first step. Our ability to absorb and utilize various nutrients changes as we age.

I may have had rona and didn't even realize it. This took place over last summer/late summer. Wished I known/thought of going in to have an antibody check, for rona.

Just looked up zinc deficiency. Might be onto something there. I've had an issue with being tired, though it was because I just got old in the last couple years (66). My eczema has been flaring for a year or so. I've had it since I was young but it was mostly unnoticeable and small. I thought loss of appetite was because, I cant taste! I do virtually all the cooking, and have lost the passion for it because I can't taste it. Lost weight too, but thought it was because I wasn't eating as much.

 

[OldBroad44]

I may have had rona and didn't even realize it. This took place over last summer/late summer. Wished I known/thought of going in to have an antibody check, for rona.

Just looked up zinc deficiency. Might be onto something there. I've had an issue with being tired, though it was because I just got old in the last couple years (66). My eczema has been flaring for a year or so. I've had it since I was young but it was mostly unnoticeable and small. I thought loss of appetite was because, I cant taste! I do virtually all the cooking, and have lost the passion for it because I can't taste it. Lost weight too, but thought it was because I wasn't eating as much.

The guy I knew was my phd thesis adviser. He went to various high-falluting Eastern medico's and was working his way through smell specialists before he found someone who knew about zinc and checked out his zinc levels. Most American doctors know little about nutrition. So its not the first thing they think of. You'll need to find someone who knows about zinc. Apparently the loss of smell associated with zinc deficiency is often triggered by a viral disease.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Right. Catfish fry. With hush puppies.

We frequented the many "Catfish Houses" in Mississippi, 9" catfish were the BOMB. GOOD LAWDY they was good eatin!!!

 

[Aero Denezol]

Stuffed salmon w/ shrimp & brie. Or crab.

 

[Mikej]

We frequented the many "Catfish Houses" in Mississippi, 9" catfish were the BOMB. GOOD LAWDY they was good eatin!!!

Siltcoos Lake on the central coast has some of the ugliest, dirty looking, brown slimy bullheads you'll ever see. Good ones will run 12"-15". The meat is reddish colored. Two of them make a meal for two. Three is a feast. There's not the slightest dirty, muddy or mossy taste to them. Perfect! People don't like them and I think it's because they cooked them like you do other fish, quick and hot. You fry these up with some Louisiana Fish fry and take your time with them. To die for!

 

[AshWilliams]

Right. Catfish fry. With hush puppies.

Salmon smoked by local Native Americans.

You can buy fresh salmon caught and sold by native Americans near Bridge of God's at the gorge. I don't think there's any secret to smoking fish though, although I'd be interested to learn their techniques. Special type of wood?

 

[mkwerx]

I miss fresh dungeoness crab. I haven't had crab since we left Oregon. I know Texas has crab - blue crabs I think, but they're like, 1/3 the size of a dungie. And Dungeoness here is stooooopid expensive. If I were to pay stupid prices for seafood, I might as well spend a bit more and get the king crab legs.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I miss fresh dungeoness crab. I haven't had crab since we left Oregon. I know Texas has crab - blue crabs I think, but they're like, 1/3 the size of a dungie. And Dungeoness here is stooooopid expensive. If I were to pay stupid prices for seafood, I might as well spend a bit more and get the king crab legs.

15 years ago I was visiting my dad in Florida after Mom passed, we went to the local seafood restaurant and low and behold they had all you can eat Dungeness crab there.
They lost money that night, I guarantee it.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Siltcoos Lake on the central coast has some of the ugliest, dirty looking, brown slimy bullheads you'll ever see. Good ones will run 12"-15". The meat is reddish colored. Two of them make a meal for two. Three is a feast. There's not the slightest dirty, muddy or mossy taste to them. Perfect! People don't like them and I think it's because they cooked them like you do other fish, quick and hot. You fry these up with some Louisiana Fish fry and take your time with them. To die for!

Now that's fishing I could get into, I miss my younger days of going for warm water species back in North Carolina, Mississippi and Georgia.

 

[orygun]

Favorite? yes. Pretty much all of them!
Crab, trout, razor clams, salmon probably top the list, but I sea food and it's gone!

 

[Mikej]

If I were to pay stupid prices for seafood, I might as well spend a bit more and get the king crab legs.

Let me tell you, if you have any taste left in your mouth what-so-ever, and remember how good FRESH cooked, not frozen, Dungeness crab is, you had better make that king crab leg veerry small when you first try it. I considered it inedible. Same goes for that "Snow Crab" stuff. Salty and chewy. Opt for the surimi instead.

 

[osprey]

You can buy fresh salmon caught and sold by native Americans near Bridge of God's at the gorge. I don't think there's any secret to smoking fish though, although I'd be interested to learn their techniques. Special type of wood?

Actually smoking fish is somewhat of an art in my opinion. It has taken me many batches over the course of many years to hone in on my recipes, equipment and techniques. I have recently been experimenting with cold smoking thin strips of chinook and coho for long periods of time to make my version of salmon candy. After several batches I have got it down and the last batch is insanely good. It dries rather than cooks and ends up translucent with perfect texture with just the right blend of sweet, salt and smoke. It never gets above 85 degrees so strict adherence to sanitation and brining is needed to make it safe. Sure most smoked salmon is decent but some is definitely better than others. Cheers!

 

[Mikej]

Actually smoking fish is somewhat of an art in my opinion. It has taken me many batches over the course of many years to hone in on my recipes, equipment and techniques. I have recently been experimenting with cold smoking thin strips of chinook and coho for long periods of time to make my version of salmon candy. After several batches I have got it down and the last batch is insanely good. It dries rather than cooks and ends up translucent with perfect texture with just the right blend of sweet, salt and smoke. It never gets above 85 degrees so strict adherence to sanitation and brining is needed to make it safe. Sure most smoked salmon is decent but some is definitely better than others. Cheers!

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This ^^ is true. I messed up a buncha fish learning to make decent smoked fish. The trick is getting the salt/sugar concoction all through the meat. Whether dry rub or liquid brine. And the cooking heat, or lack of heat just right. It is indeed a science. I would wager, the smoked salmon that the Natives Americans smoked on the banks of the Columbia 200 years ago might not have been so great compared to what we've learned to do now. But it did what they needed it to do I imagine.

 

[Pete F]

Outside of the NW, I have had excellent NW salmon in Iowa (not frozen) and cheap delicious lobster while living in White Horse Beach Massachusetts. In 1983 they were $1.45 a pound for 3 pounders. We had lobster omelets, sandwiches, deep fried, tempura and all of the ways that lobsters are not normally served. Right off the docks up the beach. Unfortunately the bathtub was normally full of lobster, so only one shower left.

 

[CastleRocker]

Tonight was "leftover night". We had Weathervane Scallops, Halibut, and Razor Clams. This week has been a "clean-out the freezer" week, and my wife started with the fish freezer. (Actually, the clams were fresh...dug on Wednesday night, ate last night).

 

[sobo]

Actually smoking fish is somewhat of an art in my opinion. It has taken me many batches over the course of many years to hone in on my recipes, equipment and techniques. I have recently been experimenting with cold smoking thin strips of chinook and coho for long periods of time to make my version of salmon candy. After several batches I have got it down and the last batch is insanely good. It dries rather than cooks and ends up translucent with perfect texture with just the right blend of sweet, salt and smoke. It never gets above 85 degrees so strict adherence to sanitation and brining is needed to make it safe. Sure most smoked salmon is decent but some is definitely better than others. Cheers!

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I wants me summadat!