Another Alaska Question.....What do do with the fish?

Smoke the fish and then can it. Half pint or pint glass jars are my preference. A Little Chief takes about 8 hrs to smoke a load, comes with easy directions. Or you can smoke the fish (you cut the fillets into 1 inch wide strips) and after smoking you can vaccum pack it and it will keep refrigerated for months. You could use one of those 7 day igloo or coleman coolers with block ice if you don't have refrigerator space and be fine. I'd change the block every 4 days (those smoked strips will cost you $30+ a pound at the store, take care of them). Sockeye are probably the best salmon for canning, or freezing. Kings a close second and Silvers are great. Kings and Silvers have more fat and don't keep as long. Personally I don't bother with Pinks or Chums, their flesh is not as firm or tasty as the others. I have seen people all the way out at Lake Illiamna sitting next to the Newhalem River with a pressure cooker on a Coleman store, canning away....they did have someone standing bear guard though ;-)

pigman1 wrote:

Big Katuna wrote:
You don't really need a pressure cooker to can. A big pot works fine. You can buy a big canning pot at Wally World.

For fish???? I sure wouldn't eat it. Acid vegetables perhaps, not definitely not fish or meat. Check University of Alaska Cooperative Extension Bulletins.

Times TEN!

Water bath canning is not for anything but high acid fruits and vegetables. Meats and fish must be pressure canned- and with the right equipment. Not every pressure cooker is also a canner.

Super_Dave wrote:
You will pay quite a bit to have it processed, frozen and shipped. I went a few years ago and the processing was paid by the lodge I stayed at. Fed-Exing it home was about $3/lbs. We had 200 lbs of fish between my wife and I so it was a pretty penny just in shipping. However, if you stayed a few days at spots with a processing plant, I'd recommend doing it. Every day they take your fish and vac seal it and put it in a locker with your name on it. When you get ready to leave, you can establish a ship date. For example, if you knew you were going to be home in a week, they would ship on the specified date and you'd be home to receive it and handle it properly.

We haven't been for a couple of years so I don't know todays costs but flash freezing and shipping back in 1992 was spendy and is the best way to your fish home. Most "experts" say not to keep frozen fish more than a year, well they probably never drank out of a rubber hose on a hot summer day or failed to wash their hands before eating. We had a few pieces go bad due to faulty vacuum packing but we had it for a year and a half and longer.

Frozen/defrosted halibut from AK is in the $30/pound range here in the Los Angeles area. And we figure it costs less than retail to process your fish and ship it home, plus you have an adventure to tell folks at your Alaskan Fish Fry. So go for it, even if you have to skip a trip the following year.

Big Katuna wrote:
You don't really need a pressure cooker to can. A big pot works fine. You can buy a big canning pot at Wally World.

For fish???? I sure wouldn't eat it. Acid vegetables perhaps, not definitely not fish or meat. Check University of Alaska Cooperative Extension Bulletins.

I want to vacation with Pigman1!

You don't really need a pressure cooker to can. A big pot works fine. You can buy a big canning pot at Wally World.

We use a big Mirro. same one we used to use for canning garden vegetables in quarts.

What kind of pressure cooker is that....I only have a small one that wouldn't work for doing a lot of canning..

Bob B wrote:
Wow, sounds like you really have it down pat.

How do you keep that freezer powered up? Are there any possession limits to worry about driving it back?

Think I'm going to have to learn to can salmon.....does one kind can better than the other?

We run a 110v line from the RV for when we travel. Works fine as we've seen 90 degrees in Ohio coming home. In Alaska, we drop the freezer outside. We carry 2 ramps and a 1 ton come-along to winch it back into the truck when it's full.

Canning is easy. We use Pinks as they are not as good frozen as the others. We fillet and skin. Pack the fish tight in the jar with 1/4 tsp. salt and 10 drops of liquid smoke. !00 minutes in the pressure canner and you're done. We smoke when we get home. The smoker takes up too much room and time. After we smoke we vacuum pack and freeze again. We find all vacuum packed fish will last at least 2 years without a problem.

Possession is an interesting issue. Basically, Alaska says you have a fish in possession when it's dead and still looks like a fish. Frozen or not, makes no difference. Once you fillet it, it's no longer a fish in your possession, so you can have as many as you want as long as you don't sell them. Getting fish through Canada can be another issue. Although many folks don't use it, we fill out a U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE DECLARATION FOR IMPORTATION OR EXPORTATION OF FISH OR WILDLIFE. A search on line for USFWS Form 3-177 will get you a form to fill out. On the way OUT of Alaska stop at US customs and they will sign and stamp the form and make extra copies for you. When you hand your passports to Canadian customs you include a copy of the form and you're home free. Get the form first as they want some particular info as far as number of packages and number of fish of each species and scientific names. Takes about 15 minutes in customs and we've never been questioned in Canada or going back into fhe US.

Have a ball. We've been up in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, and hope to make it next year again.

Big Katuna wrote:
I know my FIL had salmon canned at a processing place and traded some of the catch and paid $ too.

That would be kind of sweet....trade some of the fish for the processing and shipping.