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| Olympia Seafood Company
White "Ivory" King Salmon |
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Hello All!
And hello summer! If you're wondering what to serve in this lovely run of hot weather, consider a refreshing shrimp salad, some Hawaiian-style poke, or fire up that grill! This week we're featuring white king salmon but we've got the full line-up of saltwater fabulousness, so if you're thinking seafood... we've got you covered!
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| White King Salmon | | | |
Let me tell you a fish story.... this one has all sorts of twists and turns and very little of it can be scientifically proven. The more you research and read about it, the more fantastical (perhaps ridicluous?) it becomes. This is the story of the elusive and delectable White King.
Red and White King Salmon |
We begin with a quote from The Nourishing Gourmet:
"The most succulent and flavorful of all salmon, Ivory salmon is a luminous white fleshed King salmon native to certain rivers of southeast Alaska and Canada. Most salmon get their typical red or pink color from carotene in the food they eat (crustaceans such as shrimp and krill), but white or Ivory Kings are genetically prediposed with an extra enzyme to process carotene rather than collect it. Ivory salmon tends to be milder, silkier and more buttery in flavor than regular Kings. Ivory salmon are rare and difficult to find, but we believe they are worth the search and urge you to splurge should you encounter one at your local market. "
For years the best information we had was that White Kings were exclusively "herring fed" fish, so this extra enzyme theory is new and more realistic information. Knowing what voracious predators salmon are, it was rather difficult to imagine that a salmon was somehow swimming along in the ocean and deciding that they'd really just rather pass on the shrimp dinner. I will also say though, from years of personal experience, that White Kings are not exclusive to Alaska and Canada, we have a population of local Whites that are often caught out of Westport on our family boat. White King - the belly cut shows the color! | We've also heard some other interesting information about White Kings but please, take it with a rather large grain of salt! Some sport fisherman claim that they can actually tell by the behavior of the salmon after it hits a lure if it's red or white. Whites, apparently, swim for the bottom while the reds head directly away from the boat. Regardless how they do (or do not) fight on the hook, the reality is that it's impossible to tell if a King is a red or a white from the "outside". They are the same species of fish, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, and only about one in 20 Kings are white, so they're somewhat limited on the market as well. For years White Kings were sold at a lower price than red but over the past 5-10 years the tide has turned on the color preference and now whites are often several dollars a pound more. |
| Marbled King | |
Some whites are not completely white! We've looked extensively for an explanation for this phenomenon, but there's not much information regarding marbled or calico salmon.  For the most part, any salmon that has *some* white to it is considered a white salmon and it's been our experience that marbled salmon has flavor and texture qualities exactly how you'd expect them to. The more "red" to the marble, the more bold the flavor. |
| Everyone gets 15 minutes, right? | | | Back just a few short (okay, maybe 10) years ago I got my first brush with "fame". I was just beginning to broker the seafood that was being caught on our family fishing boat and on this particular occasion we had a nice load of kings. The wholesale buyers at the dock were paying a fair price for reds, but the price of the "undesirable" whites was so low as to be ridiculous, so I had my orders to call around to some of the Seattle restaurants and see if anyone was interested in some beautiful white kings. Of course they were! These were local chefs who were familiar with everything amazing seafood and white king was a treat, as they well knew.  So off I went, to McCormick and Schmick's in downtown Seattle. I was a little late getting there and a lot uncomfortable with making deliveries in such a busy urban area, so I parked front and center in some sort of loading zone and the kitchen guys brought out some trays. I climbed in the back of my truck at *just* the time that a tourist group from Japan was happening by. While I handed down these pretty white kings, I felt a bit like I'd landed in the middle of Hollywood. To this day I've never had my photograph taken so many times by so many people, been pointed at, exclaimed about and followed. I was a rock star with a chrome white king salmon.
So white kings have held a special place in my heart since the early days, not to mention a standing invitation to my dinner table! If you're looking for an excellent recipe, try the one located here: The Oceanaire's Ivory King Salmon or simply cook it as you would any other salmon. This time of the year we grill with a little salt and that's about it! Thanks so much for joining me in this "fish tale" this week. See you soon! ~Kira |
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| Kira and Tony DeRito
360 570 8816
The Olympia Seafood Company, Inc.
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| Special Pricing on White King this week! |
We have 100 pounds of whole wild white kings out of Alaska this week, priced at $14.99/lb. White king is notoriously difficult to source, so when they're gone, they're gone!
| | Offer Expires: Sunday, July 11th or until supplies last! |
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