8/19/09

It only took 3yrs & 10 months!

To (a) enjoy some fish here and (b) find Salmon that tasted like the Salmon back home!!

I am deadly serious, I have been continuously disappointed by the fish I have eaten here. Now I know the major reason for this is my geographical location, i.e. landlocked for about 3,000 miles in any direction! This means that all the fish here, unless you catch it yourself, is frozen only.

Being an 'island' girl, I was used to fresh fish in all supermarkets, presented on nicely iced fish counters. And there just isn't any comparison between this and frozen packaged fish. Even the tinned Tuna here is much more watery and not as good!

So I have regrettably pretty much become a fish free zone, especially as I don't like Catfish, the popular choice in Okieland. I have tried all store brands of Alaskan Salmon, my particular favourite fish and have found the flavour too strong and so different to Scottish Salmon.

But finally things have looked up and thanks to the generosity of friends, I have in the past month had two wonderful meals with fish. And I now know what I need to find, fish that has been caught in a freshwater source only, as this tastes just like what I am used to.

My first tasty meal was Trout caught in a mountain stream in New Mexico by a friend. It was just wonderful and I finally believed good fish might not be something I'd have to go home to get.

But the 'piece de resistance' was our meal last week, at last I enjoyed Salmon for the first time and with delicious 'new' potatoes. Everytime we have tried Salmon here and I have hated it, I have tried so hard to explain to the Hubster why it's not good to me. To him it's all he's ever known and so he just didn't get how different freshwater Salmon tastes. But now I think he finally gets it, the milder flavour, pink not orangey colour and soft flakier texture.

So if anyone has any Salmon caught in an Alaskan stream going spare, I'll gladly take it off your hands!

19 comments:

VictorianCobweb said...

Have you tried crappe or bass, they are a bit milder than catfish. Fresh are always better than frozen store bought!

Sandi McBride said...

You know Sarah until we lived in England the only Salmon I had ever had was the canned variety which I despise...it's an insult to the Salmon...you're right, tho...while the British beef is no great shakes (sorry but you it's so) there is absolutely nothing like the fish! My first taste of Salmon opened my eyes to the delights of that dish...sadly, I'll never taste it again unless I'm lucky enough to go back to the Mother Land!
Sandi

Sherri said...

Sarah, I'm so glad you had 2 great fish meals! I'm not a huge fish lover but if it has been caught in fresh water streams I'm all over it!

Pat said...

That looks delicious. I absolutely adore salmon. We have a salmon hatchery 45 minutes from here, so we can get really good fresh salmon. I'm not sure about how it compares with Scottish salmon. It might be stronger.

Daryl said...

After my mother ate Alaskan salmon she said nothing ever would compare .. I love trout, I love salmon, I adore tuna .. and canned/tin tuna here is very different from that in Europe .. or as a friend calls it Italian tuna .. its packed in oil vs the tuna here which is most often packed in water tho you can find tuna in oil

Jo, a retired teacher said...

Glad you found some salmon and trout you enjoyed; they are very good for you.

Hubby loves to fish--especially in Alaska--so we have salmon and halibut, fresh-packed and flash frozen in Alaska, in our freezer. The varieties of salmon taste a bit different too.

Good eating.

Anonymous said...

I know exactly what you mean. I haven't had decent fish since I last went back to England. Where I live, on the frozen tundra, the choice is walleye or walleye. Or sometimes walleye. I found a fish and chip shop run by Canadians close to where I live that sells great chips but not good fish. But now I have found a diner that sometimes has Haddock. Can you believe that? And it tasted great too. I don't want to ask any questions about where it comes from. Ignorance, and Haddock, is bliss.

Gaelyn said...

Nice that you sorted that out and now know what to look for in a fish. I like catfish so would love fresh caught.
It's funny how we miss certain foods from wherever we come from.

Stella Jones said...

Usually I agree with you, but not this time. I actually love the fish I've eaten in Tennessee, especially the salmon. Also there are 'millions' of prawns and I love prawns. Now I'm homesick for Tennessee. I want some salmon with honey pepper sauce please. Can we do swopsies?
Blessings, Star

Sherilyn -Dominee Huisvrouw said...

I just heard the Robbie Williams has a new album coming out Nov 9, with a single being released Oct 12!

Lynn said...

When we lived on the east coast I got used to Atlantic salmon, which understandably is all they have there. Here it's always Pacific salmon, which everyone says is the best but I like Atlantic salmon better. Or maybe the difference is that here it's all frozen. Anyway, I like most fish, freshwater or salt-water. Bass and trout are both very good.

Flea said...

Mmm! I squishy heart salmon, but it tries to kill my Hunny when he eats it, so I feel your pain in the missing of it. I also feel your pain, having moved from Florida and grown up on the gulf coast of Louisiana. I miss seafood. But I'm told that there's good fish to be found here in Tulsa.

Melessa Gregg said...

That is also the only kind of salmon I will eat, even though I was born and raised in Okieland. Fortunately, I have an uncle in Seattle who enjoys an occasional fishing trip to Alaska. And we enjoy an occasional trip to Washington state to see him.

Silverback said...

Spooky timing as I'm just about to have some Scottish salmon for my supper. I find it's best from my local Costco as not only is the price reasonable but it's sold as a full sealed fillet so it's beautiful and moist.

I've made myself hungry so I'm off to cook it now.

Anonymous said...

You are so right.I dont eat any fish apart from Salmon here. I dont like catfish at all here its flavor is not for me. I miss haddock and cod and plaice back home. Good old fish and chips! Maybe one day I will find a good fish here too

Unknown said...

Hey Daryl, you were slightly misguided on tinned Tuna in the UK! I only ever bought it in water, usually spring water there too. It outsells the oil based ones the same as it does here, but is much less watery.

Unknown said...

Sherilyn - I know :-) Ian a little further down these comments gave me the heads up a couple of weeks ago.

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

There is nothing like fresh salmon but fresh caught trout comes close. As a boy in Utah we could catch them in the morning and eat them for lunch.

Kay said...

Now that does look quite yummy for sure. We seem to keep eating mahi mahi over here. I love butterfish (cod) but they're so expensive.