Wild Alaskan Salmon: Buying it where???

[Orchidflower]

From my homework, it seems that the wild Alaskan salmon from Copper River or the Yukon is the best. Regardless, does anyone here buy wild Alaskan salmon that is shipped to your house?
I am looking to purchase good quality--at not ridiculous prices--good wild Alaskan salmon to eat.

[Moemg]

I have sent presents from great Alaska Seafood . I thought the prices were good and my daughter said the salmon was great . When we were in Alaska we brought home several cans of smoked salmon . You put it on a cracker with cream cheese and it is heavenly .

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg You put it on a cracker with cream cheese and it is heavenly.

Sure sounds like it...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg I thought the prices were god...

[bbbamI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Sure sounds like it...

You don't miss a thing...do you?

OF...I can't help you with the salmon. I think I'm the only person in the world that doesn't like it.

[omni550]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbbamI OF...I can't help you with the salmon. I think I'm the only person in the world that doesn't like it.

+1

omni

[kaneohe]

If you have a local Costco, they have, at times, some good deals.

[WhoDaresWins]

I can't advise on the mail order front, but I buy wild Copper River salmon here (southwestern PA) fresh when it is running, which is May-June. The cost this year was between about $16.00 and $25.00 a pound, and as I recall the higher price was for a different grade (King maybe?). I buy frozen wild salmon at other times. I also purchase cans of wild red Alaskan sockeye salmon, and I pile it on salads and crackers. Very tasty.
The only mail order fish I ever purchase is Scottish smoked salmon. It is expensive but I indulge so infrequently that I manage to justify it. I served it one year at a holiday party, and I was amazed at how indifferent my friends were. The takeout Chinese food was much more popular.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orchidflower From my homework, it seems that the wild Alaskan salmon from Copper River or the Yukon is the best. Regardless, does anyone here buy wild Alaskan salmon that is shipped to your house? I am looking to purchase good quality--at not ridiculous prices--good wild Alaskan salmon to eat.

Copper River is one particular Alaskan river. A late spring early summer sockeye run from this river is very heavily hyped around Puget Sound. For reasons I don't understand, it is the only species marketed like this. It is long gone from our markets now, it is mainly available late spring-early summer. There is still some good sockeye around, but not for long. IMO the best salmon in markets today (meaning this week) is the King, which is bigger and somewhat paler color than Sockeye.

Unless you have money you are really eager to burn, just go to Trader Joe and buy some nice quick-frozen Alaskan Sockeye. Japanese consumers are very particular about their fish, and they are not poor, and they buy a great deal of this very same frozen Alaskan sockeye salmon.

Today I bought both some king filet, and some sockeye. They were featured at QFC, I believe the king was $13 or $15, and the sockeye was $9 or $10/#. I believe they are selling whole sockeye-like 4-6# fish- for $6/#.

That is a great deal, but I don't have the freezer space for what I can't eat right away.

Ha

[Orchidflower]

Groupon had a coupon here by a local company just outside Phoenix for 2 lbs. of smoked and 6 lbs, of sockeye salmon--from Alaska--for $86+/- a few bucks. Course, if I buy again from this company the price doubles cause no coupon.

I will try Moemg's company and see what luck I have. If I can get some great salmon at a decent price, I'm buying.

[DblDoc]

When in season here in the PNW we will get the Copper River Sockeye. Usually cook it teriyaki style - don't over cook it! It is a once a year treat. The texture of fresh salmon, never frozen, is noticeable and the flavour is very, very good. There is NO substitute, but expect to pay $$$.

DD

[SteveL]

As of the day before yesterday, Costco had wild Alaska Sockeye fillets for $7.99/lb.

Lay skin side down on foil, add lime juice, fresh ground pepper, and some creamy blue cheese salad dressing. Slide foil onto hot bbq grill and cook for 10 to 12 minutes. Test with knife to see if cooked. Slide the foil onto a plate. The skin will generally stick to the foil, and the meat will easily come off with a spatula. Yum!

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orchidflower From my homework, it seems that the wild Alaskan salmon from Copper River or the Yukon is the best. Regardless, does anyone here buy wild Alaskan salmon that is shipped to your house? I am looking to purchase good quality--at not ridiculous prices--good wild Alaskan salmon to eat.

Hi Orchidflower
Are you referring to salmon fillet to cook and eat or smoked salmon to eat direct from the package on a bagel or crackers, in a salad, etc? If you plan to cook, do you have a preferred method? Copper river salmon is tasty but has less fat and is a bit challenging to cook.

[Orchidflower]

I have been just putting pam in a skillet and cooking the wild Alaskan salmon I recently purchased. Nuttin' fancy...but darn good.
And I love smoked salmon...just love it. And I ain't classy enough to put it with anything, but I eat it right out of the package when hungry..haha!
It's fantastic!

[skyvue]

They sell 3 or 4 varieties at my local supermarket including the Cooper River variety this time of year. It is much more expensive than the farm raised kind you get from Maine or Canada. I know people like Dr. Oz tell you to buy the "wild salmon" but I actually find the cheaper farm raised stuff to taste better. The fillets are thicker and the fish doesn't taste as "wild" or strong.

I also always pay for the "skinless" variety as the sight of the skin on one side just kinda grosses me out.

I cook my salmon on my George Foreman grill. It actually comes out real nice and only takes about 3-4 minutes after the grill is heated.

[HFWR]

Quote:

good quality--at not ridiculous prices

An oxymoron...

I buy frozen at Costco; around $10/lb.

[MichaelB]

Farm raised has a higher fat content, which affects taste and is easier to cook. Wild, like Alaskan, is a bit more challenging because it is so easy to overcook. We buy and eat both. For grilling, both stovetop and outdoor, we use farm raised. When wild Alaskan is on sale at Whole Foods we buy it but DW cooks it in the oven.

It is safer to buy wild from a large chain grocer. They are required to record the trail from water to market, and prove it is wild. These regulations do not apply to small grocers or fish markets. The last review I read, either in consumer reports or the NYT, was a year ago and it determined that every sample, without exception, that was purchased from fish markets or local grocers was called wild but tested farm raised. Every sample from a national chain that was sold as wild tested true.

I've never looked into buying salmon online but I have bought lots of bison online and shipping is very costly - it only works out with large quantities.

[haha]

if you know what these different fish look like, you cannot be fooled. To the best of my knowledge, the only US farmed salmon is Atlantic salmon. Sockeye, king, silver (coho) are all wild.

Look at the filet- if it has big whitish fat separating the myotomes, it is farmed Atlantic salmon. It may be farmed in BC, but it is still Atlantic Salmon. If it is a deep ruby red, and it looks as if the fish might have weighed 4-8 pounds whole, it is sockeye, always wild.

Learn to recognize what fish looks like and you will be fraud proof.

Same goes for meat. I see shoppers who are plenty old enough to have figured out what they are buying ask the butcher amazing questions.

There are places for trust( like mutual fund salesmen) , but not meat or fish counters.

Ha

[braumeister]

Extremely high quality wild Alaskan salmon is available for shipment from SeaBear. I've ordered from them a number of times.
SeaBear Smoked Salmon

It's expensive, but the quality and quick delivery are unbeatable, IMHO.

No connection, just a satisfied customer yada yada.

[Brat]

I know some of my Norwegian distant relatives will want to choke me but don't buy farm raised salmon. 1. They are fed fish processor scraps and unmarketable fish caught in nets made into pellets. 2. Wild fish are pink because they eat other fish, the pink color of farm fish is achieved through dye. 3. Farm fish poop and uneaten pellets kills life under the nets. The impact of the latter is diminished (not eliminated) by the farm in Rich Passage (WA) because the currents are hellacious there when the tides change.

[sanfanciscotreat]

The best wild Alaskan salmon I have had is caught by yours truly.
Also halibut. What we sent to Trappers Creek for smoking was out of this world.
Course the price was a bit more but included a lot of great scenery and bear watching. Going again in a couple of weeks.