tonymull wrote:
I have also eaten salmon with some of my friends who were Eskimo. Their method is to fillet the fish leaving the two fillets attached at the tail. Then the fillets are scored many times about every inch or so. This allows it to dry very quickly. They place it on racks out in the wind and sun with a slow, smoky fire just on the downwind side. The smoke lends some flavor and keeps the flies off as the salmon air dries. They loved it...me, not so much. But it does keep for several months just wrapped in wax paper, unrefrigerated...however the average high temperature out on the Kuskokwim is probably in the 60's during the summer.
This is exactly the same method described by Lewis and Clark in their journal entries about the practices used by Columbia River tribes during their salmon harvest seasons. L&C also used the same method to dry elk and even horse meat for transport during their travels.
For longer term storage of salmon, the tribes pounded the air-dried fish into compressed masses, which they then stored in baskets made for the purpose.
