Albacore Tuna

While visiting the WA coast, we picked up a couple of fresh Albacore tuna to can. We cooked up a couple of pieces on the barbie for dinner while we were there, and saved the rest for the canner. The two tuna came to 25#, which netted 12 lbs. of meat. I got 12 pints and 4 half pints, so a total of 16 pints. One full canner load. The total cost was $75, or $3/lb whole, $6.25/lb. net. Dividing $75 by 16 pints, I get $4.69/pint. Most tuna you buy at the store any more are 5 oz. cans. They used to be 7 oz. That would be about 3 store bought cans to one of my pints which don't have any added water or broth. You can pull out whole pieces of tuna. We love home canned tuna! It is firmer and much tastier that the flakes and shards you get from the store. If you ever get a chance, buy a tuna and can some in your pressure canner. Or buy tuna canned at the docks by a small processor. We bought our tuna from the Seafood Connection and they also sell online at Canned Albacore Tuna.

Been at the PNW Coast

I've been away from my blog but I hope you'll all understand when I show you where we've been. Let me share some of what my family has been up to. We visited the beautiful Washington coast for some rest and relaxation.

I love how our beaches in the PNW are not crowded like California or the East coast.

Here we are enjoying an IPA on the beach. We loved this  beach because you could drive right down onto the sand, set up your chairs and enjoy the day!

See the closest person is a comfortable distance from us. We don't do well in crowds.

Here Cooper is loving the attention and the surf with our daughters. 

Some people are surf fishing, probably for perch. They didn't have any luck while we were there.

If you visit a fishing port you have to go down to the docks and get the FRESHEST seafood. We bought a couple of Albacore tuna in Westport and had the guy fillet it up for us. I'm canning most of it when we get home. If you've ever had home canned tuna, you will never go back to store bought canned tuna from Asia. Our tuna is caught with a hook and line, is smaller than Asian tuna and your jar is full of tasty tuna, not water. It is simply delicious!

My DD17 just caught this fresh tuna! What a catch!

Well, she caught it from the green barrel that she's holding the tuna over.

What do you have for dinner when you are at the coast? Fresh seafood, of course.We also bought some Dungeness crab and oysters.   Dinner was green salad, fresh picked crab, oysters and a bite of tuna. Oysters on the barbie.

Picking fresh crab.

No room for salad on the plate right now. Time for the important protein food items like crab and oysters!  Add fresh lemon for sprinkling and melted butter for dipping. Yum!

A random vegetarian showed up for dinner at our campsite. He wasn't interested in sharing our bounty. Too bad... that just means more for the rest of us.

That's how we've been enjoying our time. Enjoying the beach, browsing tourist shops, looking at boats on the docks, walking along the beach, and loving life.

Smoked Salmon

I love seafood and I really enjoy salmon. It probably helps that I grew up in Alaska and we regularly fished for salmon, halibut, flounder, Irish Lords (sculpin) and clams. I remember one year my father and his hunting partner caught so much sockeye that my mom and dad not only canned and it froze it the whole week long, but smoked it and then canned it as well. Delicious!! There are many brining recipes out there but I have adapted a simple, basic recipe that suits salmon well.
Here it it adapted from Luhr Jensen.

Brine:

1/3 C brown sugar
1/2 C non iodized salt
1 3/4 C soy sauce
1 C water
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp tabasco sauce
1 C dry white wine, or apple juice
Mix thoroughly to dissolve before adding salmon.

Cut dressed, chilled salmon into fillets, steaks or chunks. Brine in non reactive bowl overnight in the fridge. Rinse well, pat dry with paper towels, and place on drying racks for an hour or more until a tacky glaze coats the fish. This is important, because too many times I was impatient and wanted to get the fish in the smoker. It does not smoke as well and have the proper texture. It makes a difference, so don't rush it.

When it is tacky, preheat your smoker for 15 min.then load racks of fish into the smoker. Use 2-3 pans full of wood chips, refilling as needed. I like to use alder wood with salmon. Leave in smoker until drying is complete to your likeness. We like ours a little drier, so it may take longer. Of course, as the fish is drying, you want to make sure it is coming along okay, so be sure and sign up for quality control to taste test sample pieces throughout the drying process.

Now, very important if you want to can the smoked fish. Lightly smoke the fish before canning. By this I mean, use only one pan full of wood chips and only smoke for about 1 hour. Salmon that is cut into steaks work best for packing into canning jars.Then pack the fish into 1/2 pint jars and process for 1 hour and 40 minutes at the pressure for your altitude. You see, I have canned up smoked salmon that was completely smoked, cooked and done. After canning, it came out like little smoked rocks of salmon. My husband gnawed on them and told me how good they were, but really?? Anyway, it did not go to waste, but I have learned that when the directions say to lightly smoke before canning, do just that. If you would like more detailed info to brine and smoke salmon, please let me know.

I have some salmon in the smoker, and the salmon from the first pan full of chunks is in the canner. I have eight 1/2 pints of smoked salmon,and three 1/2 pints of plain salmon in the canner, and some salmon in the freezer, plus I am waiting to sample the fish in the smoker. Yum, yum, I can hardly wait!

Thank you to Shar and Johnnybgood for following my humble little blog. I appreciate your reading my blog and your comments.