Our new website, a cookbook deal, crabs, and more!

Hello from Alaska!

As we get into 2021, and hopefully smoother sailing on the horizon, we wanted to reach out and say you guys kick butt. Seriously, our customers are the best. Thank you. Each and every one of you play an absolutely critical role in supporting our families and communities by being active participants in our family fisheries. Read on to check out what's going on in Pelican and with the upcoming bairdi snow crab season. 

We just published our new website! Yakobi and Taku, all in one place on the web, together with a new blog, recipes, fishermen bio's, and more! And to celebrate, we have a great offer on a box of Coho salmon portions AND Coho salmon burger, delivered to your door for just $275! Also, the great Hank Shaw is publishing a new cookbook, and we're in it! Read more below!

Bairdi Snow crab, or as some folks call it Tanner crab season, kicks of in a week! The boat is all loaded with pots and we are waiting for the 50 knot winds to subside so we can head out to set gear. Crab fishing in single digit temperatures, what could be better? Go here to get your preseason share order in, and get your piece of the harvest of the best tasting crab around!

Goings on in Pelican in the dead of winter . . . 

Greeting from Pelican!  We finally have some snow and it finally feels like winter!  The snow has been fun for the kids and the sunshine on our faces feels amazing (we've REALLY needed it).  There has been a recent bear sighting, so that's, terrifying.  At the plant, the nice weather has allowed us to work on our projects that require good weather, like finishing the staircase outside of the old bunkhouse.  We will be housing crew in the plant this year, in addition to the City owned bunkhouse.  Inside the plant we are in full re-model mode upstairs.  We are putting in a new bathroom and hoping to have a kitchen and common area that can be used this season.  Seth and I are working away in our new office, Seth full time and me 3 days a week.  It’s different this year being in Pelican because we have a place to go to work, but nice too (although it is VERY COLD in the plant this time of year).   Luckily we have family members and local residents who are working during the winter as well and helping us to continue to grow and improve and make things happen.  I have an additional contributor to our Instagram & Facebook pages – so check us out @yakobifisheries!  We are also busily working at getting our website re-vamped and putting our online store live – so be ready to jump on that because we are selling out of inventory quickly!  We feel very lucky to be continuing to expand and grow our business during these COVID times – and that is all thanks to our family, crew, fisherman, and customers. 

 

Hook, Line, And Supper

New cookbook coming this spring from Hank Shaw - and we have a sneak peek inside!

Our friend and regular deckhand Hank Shaw will be releasing his latest cookbook in May. For those of you that don’t know of him, Hank is a curmudgeon of historic proportions, a James Beard Award winning author and all around solid dude. The entire cookbook is dedicated to new techniques and master recipes for everything caught in lakes, rivers, streams and at sea - and several recipes feature our fish, including the advance recipe he’s agreed to share with all of you below. In Hank’s own words, this cookbook is dedicated to “curing that stage fright once and for all by breaking down the essence of fish and seafood cookery, allowing you to master the methods that bring out the best in whatever you catch or bring home from the market.”
We look forward to more collaborative efforts with Hank and "Hook, Line, And Supper" this spring - including a special box containing an assortment of Hank-selected fish and  his new cookbook - so stand by! In the meantime, if you’re interested in learning more about Hank and perusing his fishing, hunting, foraging and culinary prowess, check out his phenomenal site here: https://honest-food.net/hank-shaw-books/.

Salmon with Avocado Salsa - from "Hook, Line, And Supper"

I use wild king salmon for this recipe, because that's what I catch. But any salmon or large trout would work, as would any other big piece of fish, really. I like this salsa with striped bass, mahi mahi and yellowtail a lot, and I bet it would be good with halibut, red snapper, cobia, redfish, walleye or black seabass, too. Don't skimp on the soak time for the red onion, unless you like the bite you get from raw onions. The acid in the lime juice really helps tame it.

Prep Time:20 mins
Cook Time:10 mins
Total Time:30 mins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds salmon fillets, skin on or off

• Salt

• 3 tablespoons high smoke point oil such as canola, safflower, grapeseed or rice bran oil

• 1/2 cup chopped red onion

• Juice of 2 limes, about 1/4 cup

• 1 large garlic clove, minced

• 1 to 3 hot green chiles, such as serrano, minced

• 1 Roma or other plum tomato, diced

• 2 avocados, cut into chunks

• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro

Instructions

• Take the salmon out of the fridge and salt it well while you start the salsa. Soak the red onion in the lime juice; this helps remove that sulfurous taste of raw onion. Let the onion soak and the salmon sit out for 20 minutes while you chop everything else.

• Heat the vegetable oil in a saute pan large enough to cook all the salmon fillets. Pat the salmon dry with paper towels. If you are using skin-on pieces, use a butter knife to scrape the skin -- this dries it out even more so the skin gets extra crispy. Lay the salmon down on the hot pan skin side down (or on the side that used to have the skin). Adjust the heat so the fish is sizzling like bacon: Neither an inferno nor a lazy pop. Let this cook undisturbed for 2 minutes.

• Meanwhile, put the onion and lime juice into a large bowl and add the garlic, chiles, diced tomato, avocado chunks and cilantro. Add salt to taste.

• Use a soup spoon to baste the salmon with the hot oil. Do this on each fillet until the meat tightens a little and turns completely opaque, about 30 seconds per fillet. If you like your salmon cooked all the way to the center, repeat this process a couple times. Do not flip the salmon. Let the salmon cook for a total of 6 to 10 minutes, depending on how thick it is and how well you like your salmon. A thin salmon fillet, such as a pink salmon or a small sockeye or silver, will take only 6 minutes or so total. A really thick piece of king salmon or Atlantic might require a little more than 10 minutes.

• Carefully remove the salmon from the pan with a spatula; it should come right up, or stick in only one or two small spots, and place it crispy side up on the plate. Give everyone some salsa on the side and open a beer.

Notes

If you want a starch to go with this meal, I'd suggest rice. Or you can break up the salmon and throw it and the salsa into a tortilla and make salmon tacos.

Nutrition
Calories: 359kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 35mg | Sodium: 75mg | Potassium: 866mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 391IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 1mg

Thank you for reading and we look forward to hearing you! Find us on our website and on social media.

~ Chris, Seth, Anna, Tyson & the Yakobi Crew