My Ridiculously Expensive Dinner
Some expensive fish
Well, it’s that time of year again. No, not summer. Overpriced salmon season. Copper River salmon is back in the stores and while I might think it’s ridiculously expensive, it’s also very good. We paid almost $26 for a pound of Copper River salmon and grilled it up for dinner tonight. So why is Copper River salmon so dang expensive?
First, a brief history. The Copper River is located in Alaska. It’s 300 miles long and empties into Prince William Sound. It’s wild, cold, and clean. The salmon that come from these waters have a higher level of natural oils and fat. They store this extra fat for the long trip up the river to spawn. This makes the salmon very rich.
Each year, scores of fishermen fish the 35 mile wide Copper River delta, catching hundreds of fish in a set. The fish are carefully handled when caught and are immediately put on ice and shipped fresh to Seattle.
mmmm, dinner
Copper River salmon showed up at our local grocery store just the other day. So tonight, we picked up half a pound of king and half a pound of sockeye and got to grilling. We were hoping to finally taste some difference in the two types of salmon, but alas, all we tasted was copper rivery goodness. For those of you keeping score, the sockeye is on the left and the king is on the right.
It might have been insanely expensive, but it was fantastic and we’ll definitely buy it again.
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I held off buying at Ballard Market because it usually goes on sale there in a week or two. I’ve heard rumor Uwajimaya has decent prices on it already. Still quite expensive but not at the $30/lb level. It is some tasty, tasty fish.
When I worked up in Alaska for a summer I had the opportunity to buy 15 lbs of fresh caught Copper River Salmon for $30.00 (this was about 7 years ago). At the time I just got done working up there with salmon so it was the last thing I wanted to eat. I always regret my decision whenever I see it in the store now.