SALMON SEASON AGAIN IN PARADISE...THE PACIFIC SOUTHWEST

I have to use the term Pacific Southwest as a British Columbian...it seems reasonable doesn't it?  I'll say Pacific Northwest when I'm in the Point...Roberts that is!
I was in my local Buy Low Foods store on the weekend and a cooler full of fresh Sockeye salmon grabbed my attention.  Yes it's salmon season again and it seems that despite last years disastrous and  mysterious disappearance of the Fraser River Sockeye .......they're back in good numbers again this year....we hope.
Head off, gutted and bagged, fresh, small Sockeye salmon were offered at $8.90 per kilo.  That's $.89 cents a 100gms. and around $4.04 per lb. (the country went metric in '76 didn't it?) That's a very low price for one of the world's most prized food fishes.   Consider the price of Blue Fin tuna or Atlantic lobster by comparison.... both would be many times the price.....perhaps ten times the price...even farmed Rainbow trout head on is over ten dollars a kilo and farmed Atlantic salmon even more.  Not having to buy the head lowers the price by about 10%.  It makes good stock but it's useless otherwise except for presentation and for the cheeks.
So for these couple of months, like the bears and eagles of the west coast temperate rain forest, we can feast on Sockeye.  And, while those creatures always eat their salmon sashimi style, humans get to make mouthwatering dishes that range from the BBQ to all the many ways to savour salmon.
One of the greatest kitchen gadget inventions to benefit salmon is the waffle iron type sandwich grill commonly known as the George Foreman Grill.  This item cooks both sides of the salmon fillet or steak at the same time while providing a moist, non stick, cooking environment and even better while cutting cooking times in half compared to a single sided heat source the necessity of turning and risking breaking the fish is eliminated.  These grills are widely available new and cheap or even free on Craigslist. I highly recommend this style of cooking for salmon.
So despite the pressures on wild salmon stocks from over fishing, loss of spawning habitat and sea lice kill, the resilient and fabulous west coast salmon are still there in numbers that permit even those with modest incomes to enjoy this fabulous delicacy.  Speaking of delicacies, my rant last year during the frightening dearth of Sockeye about the much maligned Pink salmon is worth another mention.   The  Pinks are back and the price is unchanged in the last few years.  Real Canadian Superstore
has head off, gutted, 2 fish per bag, fresh, small pink salmon at $0.39 per 100gms.  As an indication of just how cheap that is, consider that a 218gm. can of Pink salmon is in the $2 range generally....that's two and a half times the price and canning has to the be among the worst indignities that can be perpetrated on the little Pink.  Fresh Pink salmon should be first of all considered as sashimi or cooked quickly and carefully and eaten immediately.   Next freezing and or smoking are the methods that in my view most celebrate the Pink salmon.  For Julian's favourite  Pink salmon cooking technique here's a link to my blog of last summer.  In fairness, canning Pink salmon, traditionally, has been the preservation method of choice.  In decades gone by, it was the only way to preserve the salmon for future sale, which all arrived within a period of a few weeks.  There's was no flash freezing at sea.  Small fishing boats were lucky if they even had ice aboard to help them get to the cannery with their catch still fresh. But canning, while it has it's obvious advantages, certainly doesn't preserve the delicate flavour, and succulent texture of fresh Pink salmon.