Meat Dept. News - Frozen at Sea!

Some of you might have noticed or even tried some of the new "Frozen At Sea" Alaskan salmon that we now have in our Meat and Seafood Department. Many people have been asking us to offer wild salmon year-round. Now we have two species of salmon - the wonderfully flavored coho and world-revered king, salmon. We have this amazing product hand-cut every day by a member of the seafood department and it all comes to us from one boat that has been in the same family for over 20 years.

The boat is Nerka, owned and operated by the Power family. Nerka's captain Don Power, has been fishing salmon since 1968, and fishing his current boat since 1979. His lead skipper is his son, Joel and as Don tells it, Joel hasn't missed a summer even during his teen years.

The poles are set, lead weights of 45 to 60 pounds are attached to the wires, and then the lines are dropped into the water with about 10 baited hooks on each line. That is the start of a day aboard the Nerka. After the fish take the hooks, the lines are raised and each fish is brought to the boat by hand. Once aboard the Nerka, the frozen-at-sea process begins. The process starts with the bleeding of the salmon immediately after it is removed from the water. Next the fish are dressed and then put through a cleaning process. After a second cleaning the salmon are placed on plates in an air blast of -30 to -35 degrees F. After freezing, the salmon are kept frozen for a few days, and then dipped into a saltwater mix or glaze to prevent the fish from drying out during storage.

One might ask, why would you want to freeze the fish? There are two reasons for doing so: 1) wild salmon is not always available; and 2) the salmon stays fresher than if you were to buy, cook, and eat "fresh" salmon. Let me elaborate on "fresh" salmon. When the salmon fishing boats go out during the wild salmon runs of Alaska, they will stay out in the waters until they've caught all the fish their boats can hold - 2 to 7 days. Once they have a full load, they bring the fish to market.

"Frozen At Sea" salmon from Nerka Salmon has the advantage of being frozen before it goes into rigor mortis. When a salmon goes through rigor, it secretes an enzyme that breaks down the meat of the fillets. But once a fish is frozen to below -20 degrees F. the enzyme action cannot take place! Another great thing about a flash freeze is that bacterial growth does not occur. When a fish is frozen within 6 to 8 hours of coming out of the water, its meat is not degraded.

All of the health benefits that are associated with salmon, and the sustainable certification that the Alaskan salmon fisheries have received from the Marine Stewardship Council, make this product a perfect fit for the Wedge Seafood Department. I hope that you pick some up and enjoy it at your next meal!