Pacific Northwest Smoked Wild Salmon - where to buy inexpensively?

[Dude]

Howdy,
I'm looking for a less expensive source of quality smoked wild Sockeye and/or King salmon fillets. I like the kind that is vacuum-packed in a pouch so that no refrigeration is required until opened (and they will keep for years).

I recently purchased a 12 pack of 1.25lb smoked wild Sockeye salmon fillets from a company called Seabear out of Washington during their once a year "VIP" sale so I saved 25% off normal price, but it still worked out to $1.50/ounce. It is a quality product and very delicious, but kinda pricey for an ER wannabe!

I live in Florida so will have to buy through internet/mail-order. Any recommendations?

Anybody tried salmon from Kasilof Fish Company? Welcome to Kasilof Fish Company

I saw on CostCo web site a Kasilof Smoked Sockeye Salmon 24oz for $12.99 which is about 1/3 what I paid at Seabear. Seems kinda low-ball so I was wondering if it's any good.

Thanks

[Dude]

I ordered a couple of the Costco fillets.....I'll let ya know how they are

[toofrugalformycat]

I buy the Kasilof brand filets at Costco here in Anchorage. I like them. They are moist and soft, with good flavor. Given my druthers I prefer a dryer smoke but it's hard to put that in a can or pouch.
I mail them to relatives for Christmas. Some rave reviews from them, and no complaints so far.
I smoke my own wild salmon for me, but not enough to give away!

[old woman]

I like to smoke my own too, I built a smoker that will smoke 3 salmon at a time. I only eat sockeye, I am a fussy eater but smoke humpies and kings for my boyfriend. I refuse to eat humpies at all but they are fun to catch.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Costco had about 4 different types of smoked salmon, from the cold smoked "lox" type to big thick chunks. They were handing out samples on Noahs onion bagels with a little bit of cream cheese. Yummy. They looked to all be about $12 for 2lbs. Tempting, but I didnt feel like figuring out what to do with 2lbs of salmon this week.

Gabe also highly approved and we had to go back to get a second taste.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny Costco had about 4 different types of smoked salmon, from the cold smoked "lox" type to big thick chunks. They were handing out samples on Noahs onion bagels with a little bit of cream cheese. Yummy. They looked to all be about $12 for 2lbs. Tempting, but I didnt feel like figuring out what to do with 2lbs of salmon this week. Gabe also highly approved and we had to go back to get a second taste.

This is very cheap; so cheap that it is hard to imagine that it is indeed wild fish, or sockeye. (I just went to their site; looks like all they sell is sockeye and Chinook so I guess it must be the real McCoy.)

Incidentally, as far as I know there is no farmed sockeye, so if it is sockeye, it is wild.

Trader Joe sells flash frozen sockeye for about 6 or 7 dollars a pound.

Ha

[cute fuzzy bunny]

They also have different stuff in-store than they have on their web site. Very little overlap in fact.

I'm not sure if the lox-style cold smoked salmon was wild or not, but I'll be over there later today and I'll check. It was thin sliced and laid out in a long package, pretty sure it was 2lbs and about $12. When I walked through the cold cabinet area, they had the same plus several other thick chunky versions, prices were in the 10-20 range. I've also seen them carry some shelf stable versions on occasion.

[Jarhead*]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha This is very cheap; so cheap that it is hard to imagine that it is indeed wild fish, or sockeye. (I just went to their site; looks like all they sell is sockeye and Chinook so I guess it must be the real McCoy.) Incidentally, as far as I know there is no farmed sockeye, so if it is sockeye, it is wild. Trader Joe sells flash frozen sockeye for about 6 or 7 dollars a pound. Ha

Hey, ha, remember a couple years ago when cuthroat was claiming that farm raised tasted as good as fresh.

Thanks for the heads up re: Trader joes.

I love animals. They taste good.

I currently have aboutr 200 lbs. of venison, Koehoe Salmon, pheasant, ducks, dove, etc. etc. in my freezer.

Farm raised, no way!

Incidentally, if you have an opportunity to fish for Koehoe Salmon, I really doubt that you would find much improvement over any other type of Salmon. (Caught fresh).

When I get low, though, will definantly check out Trader Joes.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jarhead* Incidentally, if you have an opportunity to fish for Koehoe Salmon, I really doubt that you would find much improvement over any other type of Salmon. (Caught fresh). When I get low, though, will definantly check out Trader Joes.

Jarhead- As usual, you are right! I love that fish too. Do you get winter runs?

Congrats on your freezer stash. Nothing like wild game, for taste or health.

Glad to see you around here again!

Ha

[Orchidflower]

Interesting you should ask this as I was reading Consumer Reports at lunch today, and their article on wild salmon said they tested all the brands and found 80% of the salmon wasn't really wild salmon, but farm raised salmon. FYI. I guess this is a "Buyer beware" item.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I can always tell if its wild or not, depending on whether it tastes like crap.

I used to love salmon, then it just didnt seem to taste very good to me so I sort of quit eating it. Then a few years ago my wife and I went to a friends house and they served some grilled wild salmon they got at costco. Delish.

I figured out what happened. When salmon got popular, the farming went up and the farmed fish became what was commonly available. And if I saw two pieces of fish that both looked good, and one was 50% more expensive, I'd have gotten the cheaper one.

We stick with the wild version now. Way better.

[RetireeRobert]

Don't know about the mailorder, but my wife just picked up some smoked salmon that came in wooden boxes with decorative NW Indian art designs on the box. At Safeway at half-price. 8 oz was $5.99. And when the salmon is gone, you still have the nice wooden box with art on it.

Does Safeway do online shopping?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Time to roll this out again...

YouTube - Good Eats S4E1P1: Where There's Smoke, There's Fish

YouTube - Good Eats S4E1P2: Where There's Smoke, There's Fish

Alton Brown makes smoked salmon in a cardboard box with garage sale items like an old hotplate, a cast iron pan and some other odds and ends...

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetireeRobert Does Safeway do online shopping?

They do around here, and they're being badly gored by the Fatwallet folks who have sorted out a myriad of combination coupons...

Safeway FREE FOOD DELIVERED B1G1 Cheap

[Orchidflower]

I buy Walmart's Wild Salmon in a plastic pouch. They are individually wrapped. I have no idea if the salmon is wild or not, but it IS good and not fishy tasting at all. I love it, in fact.

[Martha]

I buy all my smoked fish locally, driving 10 miles up the lake to Russ Kendall's and getting his smoked fish. The local favorite is ciscos and herring, but I prefer the trout and salmon but it is a lot pricier. I have had vacuumed pack salmon before, most recently some a friend brought back from Seattle. It just isn't near as good as the local stuff and I have no idea why.