03.27.08
Posted in Talking Fish at 11:02 am by Will Ware
Tonka Seafoods has now been in business for over twenty years focusing on the custom processing of both sport caught and commercial caught fish. Many ask, “What is commercial caught fish?” Commercial caught fish is fish that is caught for the sole purpose of selling that fish. (If you’ve watched the television show “Deadliest Catch”, those crab were caught commercially. Sport caught is therefore, obviously fish that is caught strictly for the personal freezer and/or the bbq.
This leaves the question, why would we process custom process commercial fish if it’s sole intent is to be sold? Many commercial fisherman spend so much of their year out catching their commercial quota that they never get a chance to catch their personal fish. Therefore, many boats will retain some halibut or salmon for what they call their “homepack.”
Interesting enough, while most sport caught fish we process is from non-residents who come to Petersburg to go sportfishing and don’t have the knowledge or desire to process their catch while on vacation, we find that commercial fisherman simply don’t want to waste what valuable time they have in port processing their homepack.
So, when you come to Petersburg…home to some of the best fishing in the world, remember to bring your catch to Tonka Seafoods for your custom processing. You’ll find that catching your fish was only half the experience. The other half is enjoying it with friends and family.
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03.26.08
Posted in Recipes at 12:51 pm by Will Ware
I’ve been looking a lot lately at Rocky Point Resorts Cookbook and will move on to the next Alaskan seafood cook book real soon. However, here’s another one…
1 onion, chopped
1/2 c. celery, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 c. chicken broth
3 large potatoes, diced
3 carrots, sliced
1 1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. dill seeds
1 small zucchini, sliced
1 can corn
1 lb. peeled, cooked shrimp, which is on sale at www.TonkaSeafoods.com with free shipping!
1 can evaporated milk
Saute onion, celery, and garlic in oil. Add broth, potatoes, carrots, and seasonings and simmer till tender. Add zucchini, corn and shrimp and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in canned milk. Serve.
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03.25.08
Posted in Talking Fish at 11:25 am by Will Ware
I’ve been getting a lot of wholesale calls lately regarding Tonka Seafoods smoked salmon. The question is always the same, “How much is your smoked salmon?” This is like calling a car dealership and asking, “How much is a new car?” Although I always respond politely, knowing that the person on the other end of the line doesn’t know that like cars, there are an astounding amount of variety and therefore prices I respond, “Which kind?”
Even locally I find the same question, although due to a totally different reason. When a local asks how much is our smoked salmon, they are generally referring to our hot smoked strips. Yet, I have found that some “old timer” locals refer to smoked salmon as cold smoked, or what we call lox.
With that being said, I thought I would give a brief description of the variety of smoked salmon products we produce for retail sale.
Smoked Silver Strips in a three flavors: regular, peppered and cajun. Cold smoked or lox. Smoked and canned…Silver, Sockeye, King, Chum and Pink. Smoked fillets in retort pouches…Silver, Sockeye, King, and Keta. (These retort pouches are gaining in popularity as they are shelf stable for years until opened.) For special occasions, we offer hot smoked, diamond cut silver sides. These are a little more expensive, but the presentation is amazing. Finally, we’ve mastered the salmon pepper sticks. Much like a pepperoni stick , but much healthier.
Now we offer custom smoking of all kinds of game and fish, but there isn’t enough room on this blog to list them all. Therefore, have fun and enjoy trying all the variety we offer.
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03.24.08
Posted in Talking Fish at 4:40 pm by Will Ware
Weather has been a real factor in our fish deliveries this year so far. High winds, snow still occasionally falling , and cold weather has been keeping our trollers tied up at the docks, sitting at home next to the wood stove. Fortunately for the fisherman who bare the weather and are successful to bring in some Kings, the reward is pretty good. Right now, price at the dock is averaging $10.00 per pound here at Tonka…and with little sign of dropping in the near future.
On a personal note, my family and I went on a much needed vacation thinking that upon our return that spring would be just around the corner. Yesterday morning it was snowing so hard you couldn’t see across the street. My California tan has quickly faded to a lovely jaundice yellow.
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03.21.08
Posted in Friday Fish Forecast at 10:50 am by Seth Scrimsher
2008 is shaping up to be a strange year for Halibut sales. Statewide the quota has been lowered by 7.32%, almost 5 million lbs. Fisherman in the 2c area have had their quota reduced by 27.03%, about 2.3 million of the 5 million lbs. Even though this sizeable cut has been enacted prices are expected to be lower this year as there is still a considerable amount of 2007 product in the freezers. Prices to the fisherman at the dock have already been lowered by $1.00 per lb from the opening push two weeks ago.
The lower prices are being blamed on buyers pushing back against recent high prices. Prices moved from an average of $2.00 a lb 4 years ago to an average of $4.50 a lb in 2007. This year’s pullback in prices has been expected by many fishermen and they have been planning accordingly. It will be a tough year for the fishermen who recently bought their quotas in the $22 to $26 a lb range they have been recently selling for.
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03.20.08
Posted in Talking Fish at 5:12 pm by Seth Scrimsher
A couple of eagles found food near our dock this morning.
I have no idea what they could possibly be eating. Maybe someone dumped some guts after cleaning their sport caught fish.
The view from our dock:
Lunch is over:
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Posted in Recipes at 3:35 pm by Will Ware
Here is another recipe from Rocky Point Resort’s Cookbook.
Susan’s Ceviche:
1 lb. halibut
2 c. lime juice
1/4 c. cilantro
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 c. sliced green olives
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 large tomato, chopped
1 Tbsp. El Pato tomato sauce
3/4 c. Clamato Juice
Cut halibut into 1/2 inch cubes. Soak in lime juice until acid of juice “cooks” fish. Drain fish. Rinse slightly with cold water. Drain again. Stir in rest of ingredients. El Pato is the brand name of a tomato sauce in the Mexican section of the grocery store. It is very spicy, not your typical tomato sauce!
Mike, I don’t know if this recipe will help you or not, but I do know it’s better than your competitions.
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Posted in Talking Fish at 3:08 pm by Will Ware
Benefits of Farmed Salmon:
*You will no longer have need of taking antibiotics as you will receive more than your prescribed amount from having a portion of Farmed Salmon. (Farmed salmon are fed antibiotics as they are penned and prone to diseases.)
*Uniform meat color…Farmed salmon is often artificially colored with added synthetic pigments to mask its naturally-occurring, unappetizing pale gray color.
*Cheaper. But hey, who really believes you get what you pay for?
Benefits of Wild Alaska Salmon:
*Alaska’s marine habitats are extremely clean, and Alaska’s seafood is pure and remarkably free of contamination by pesticides, petroleum derivatives, PCBs, metals, and bacteria.
*Due to remarkable management, Alaska fisheries are topping the list as some of the most sustainable natural resources in the country.
*Texture…Wild Salmon is much more firm than farmed salmon, which tends to be mushy.
*Taste…in a blind taste tests, wild salmon repeatedly wins approval from chefs, food critics and fisherman.
*Options…most farmed salmon only comes in one species, Atlantic. There are 5 different species, and therefore flavors, of wild Alaska Salmon: King, Silver, Sockeye, Keta, Pink.
The list goes on and on. Also worthy of note, there are no farmed salmon produced in Alaskan Waters.
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03.19.08
Posted in Recipes at 11:29 am by Will Ware
Here’s a recipe featured in the Rocky Point Resort Cook Book. Rocky Point is renown for their cookbook recipes.
Tonka Seafoods Smoked Salmon Fettuccine.
1 lb. uncooked linguine pasta
1 lb. fresh asparagus, snow peas or broccoli
1 clove garlic
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large red bell pepper
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 c. whipping cream
1 (6.5 oz.) can Tonka Smoked Salmon
1/2 c. freshly grated parmesan
2 Tbsp. parsley
The dish goes together quickly so have all ingredients cleaned and sliced.
Cut asparagus in 1 1.2 inch pieces or if you choose broccoli, cut in bite-sized pieces. Snow peas can be left whole. Cut red pepper in strips. Mince garlic. Remove skin from salmon and break into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces. Start cooking pasta. Steam broccoli, snow peas, or asparagus just till crisp tender. Saute garlic in olive oil 1 minute. Add pepper and mushrooms; cook 3 more minutes. Add cream; bring to boil, then remove from heat and toss with hot cooked pasta. Gently toss in salmon , parmesan, parsley, and steamed vegetable.
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Posted in Talking Fish at 10:56 am by Will Ware
We have a line of seafood products we call Alaskan Pantry: Smoked Salmon Dip, Smoked Salmon Chowder, Zesty Lemon Sauce, Fiesta Salmon Soup. The products move well, especially our salmon dip which is second to none. However, our wholesale customers are telling us that our boxes need to have a picture of the product on the front of the box as customers purchase more from visuals than they do from reading what’s in the package.
Now, I’m a 300 pound Native Alaskan. Nobody can make food look better than a large person eating it. Therefore, I’m proposing to have my picture on the front of the boxes eating product.
All kidding aside, we are in the midst of redesigning our Alaskan Pantry Boxes so check back to see what we come up with.
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