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I saw Copper River salmon (sockeye) last night at the Costco on Clybourn. $10.99/pound.

My FIL, who fishes Lake Michigan, does the same thing. Although I can't say for sure what the smoking vessel is. I've had the end product in a "salmon ball". Basically smoked salmon, cream cheese, some lemon, fresh parsley, S&P,rolled into a ball, then through pecans and chilled. Excellent on crackers.

It's at Whole Foods, too...but 29.99.

Costco was a great source last year, but I did note that it wasn't always fresh. I learned to buy it only when it was packaged the day I bought it.

I have some friends over on Saturday, so can only hope that the fish is freshly packaged. Mmmmmm....it's been a long winter without wild salmon.

Is the fish at Whole Foods chinook/king or sockeye?

Not sure what it is...I'm on my way over there in a 1/2 hour or so to get some salmon to top the salad I'm making from the freshly picked lettuce.

Edited to add: I went a bit earlier and it was sockeye, $24.99 a pound. Since I was blackening some for a salad, I went with the cheapy Norwegian farm raised.

We had some Costco salmon tonight

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my food shots

Don't take this wrong, I love Costco in many ways. But, I've often noticed that the fish looks a bit ragged at times. The piece above looks fine, which made me think about it. Often it has pieces that are gouged or have piercings or other evidence of rough handling/deboning etc.

I don't know if it affects the fish in the least....but I often notice it and wonder about it, both why it happened and if it affects anything.

Yes, while this was a tasty fillet, it is not the finest example of salmon I've cooked. For $10.99 per pound there has to be a tradeoff somewhere I guess.

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my food shots

I was at the new Lincoln Park Whole Foods a couple days ago and the copper river salmon looked like someone had a rough time getting the pinbones out, was very ragged looking as well. Made my decision not to spend 29.99/lb very easy.

Interesting. The WF on Ashland and school has pristine, lovely looking salmon when I was there yesterday. It was down to $24 and looked worth it compared to the raggedy ones I sometimes see at Costco. As mhill noted, there is often a tradeoff. Unfortunately for you, Wheattoast, there was no tradeoff AND it cost more money. That's not something I stomach well.

I like salmon just fine, but there is no way I'd pay $25-30/lb for it.

Commercial fishermen in Alaska got on average 68 cents/lb for sockeye salmon in 2008.

http://www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/geninfo/ ... exvesl.pdf

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i used to milk cows

LTH,

Was at Dirk's Fish today, Copper River fillets for $23/lb. Good as the Copper River looked it was out shined by a drop dead gorgeous King Salmon from Sitka Alaska at $28/lb.

Chatted with Dirk a bit and he said his favorite salmon is Yukon River King, "big, oily, juicy, succulent" which should arrive in two weeks.

No salmon for me, I was on a soft shell crab mission, $5/per still alive and wiggling.

Enjoy,
Gary

Dirk's
2070 N. Clybourn
Chicago, IL 60614
773-404-3475

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

Costco on Clybourn/Diversey currently has a dozen 1.5-2.5lb "Fresh Wild Copper River Sockeye Salmon" fillets, going for $10.99/lb. Looks great!

It WAS great! I picked some up after reading your post and grilled it for dinner!

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"Baseball is like church. Many attend. Few understand." Leo Durocher

I stopped in Friday night, looking for a second item to go with the pulled pork I was serving to guests today. NO SALMON! Nary a package, wild or farmed. They had one package of tilapia. One! I don't normally go on Friday evening....according to the way things looked there, there is no recession. It was packed. The shortest line at checkout had 7 or 8 carts in it.

I settled for two chickens. I am always still amazed at how lovely chickens looked when spatchcocked and smoked. They always seem worthy of a photo. My guests loved them.....but I really wanted the salmon!

Seems like 5 is my lucky number, as my previous 4 visits to Costco did not yield any Copper River Salmon. Finally, when I was there one morning, they just received a shipment and were in the back slicing it up and packaging it. At first, there was a huge 2.3 lb piece, but as I lingered around for a few more minutes, more packages were put out. I was able to get a smaller piece for $9.99/lb. Grilled for dinner yielded a very tender and tasty piece of salmon.

Mr Views went the second time in a few days...no salmon. So, he chatted with the meat guy a bit. Apparently they keep getting shorted AND they have some shipments that do not show up at all. He said they usually run out within hours of putting out what they have and they don't have it every day.

Not sure if it's a bad salmon season (at these prices, you'd think not) or simply that they have a supplier problem.

I looked for it yesterday at the Lake Zurich Costco but only saw farmed salmon.

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"I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

you must have gone late... I got mine in the morning.

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my food shots

I think the key this summer at Costco is....shop early and shop often.

Anywhere to buy FRESH????
TODAY??
Without breaking your wallet???

Wally Wade

Hi- Whole Foods always has it about now, but it is usually around $14.95 a pound there. They put it on sale for $10.95 or less at least once a year. You might try Fresh Farms, but I am not sure if they carry it. Hope this helps, Nancy

I have not seen it yet, will look around town the next few days.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/archives/205883.asp
Looks like the first run of them just made it in this past Friday May 14, 2010.
Thanks for the reminder of this FINE fish. I will be getting my pit smoker ready for a few pounds of these soon!

I have looked a little around town and online at some local stores but have not found any Copper River Salmon at all? I am gonnna check a few shops on the way home today. Would LOVE a fat chunk of this tonight!!
Has anyone scored any 2010 Copper Salmon yet?

Got some at Foodstuffs in Glencoe about 2 weeks ago but it was very pricey; $30/pound. I'm guessing they have it at their Evanston store, too.

Whole Foods supposedly has it but when we checked the Deerfield store on Friday, their shipment had been delayed and wasn't expected in until Saturday. We opted for the Wild King instead, which I grilled on the Weber kettle yesterday. It was also $30/pound but it turned out great and was worth every penny.

=R=

Foodstuffs - Glencoe
338 Park Avenue
Glencoe, IL 60022-1575
(847) 835-5105

Foodstuffs - Evanston
2106 Central Street
Evanston, IL 60201-5810
(847) 328-7704

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I just wanna live until I gotta die. I know I ain't perfect but God knows I try. --Todd Snider

Twitter: ronniesuburban

They had a bunch of Copper River at the Peterson & Cicero Whole Foods westerday. I think it was $30.

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Steve Z.
Photographer/Pseudojournalist

"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook." - Julia Child

We stopped at Diamond Fresh Seafood in St Charles on Saturday for a nice lunch of a crabcake sandwich and a grilled salmon salad. Very good, everything made to order in front of you by the husband/wife team. On their retail side they had beautiful Copper River Salmon for $34.99 a pound. We looked but instead came home with a nice Arctic Char and some Halibut cheeks. They have a location in Lake Zurich as well.


http://diamondfreshseafood.com/

Diamond Fresh Seafood
311 North 2nd (Rte.31)
St Charles
630-444-0168

Right now everybody is over $ 30.00+ per lb.
I can wait 2-4 weeks until it gets reasonable.

From the Lake Zurich store
583 North Rand Road
Lake Zurich, IL 60047-3134
(847) 438-4900

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my food shots