During a bright Rogue’s full moon, Shaun went gillnetting for chum in the discovery passage between Vancouver Island and Quadra Island. Chum salmon has high quality roe so it’s often caught close to spawning grounds when the flesh is lower quality. We prefer to fish the highest-quality chum salmon, known as silverbright, which is caught in the ocean and known for it’s bright silver skin color.
Our good friend, Chef Ned Bell from YEW Seafood + Bar at the Four Seasons Hotel shows us how to make a simple and nutritious meal using our wild chum salmon. It’s so simple that your kids can help!
Chum Salmon Fillet Recipe by Chef Ned Bell
Ingredients
Pan Seared Wild Chum Salmon Fillets
Two 5 oz chum salmon fillets
1 tbsp kosher salt
Half a lemon
1 tbsp Canola oil
Knob of butter
Seasonal Salad, Example
The great thing about salads is that you can make them any way you want – with whatever veggies you have on-hand. The ingredients listed below were what Chef Ned used in the video recipe. A lemon vinaigrette is a nice compliment to the citrus-glazed salmon.
Butter lettuce
Canned chickpeas, rinsed
Roasted red pepper hummus
Sun-dried tomatoes
Black olive tapenade
Baby tomatoes (Chef Ned used Windset Farms heirloom style tomatoes in the video)
Lemon vinaigrette
Dried olives for garnish
Directions
Bring a cast iron or stainless steel pan to high heat, add the oil.
Sprinkle the salt over the salmon fillets on both sides.
Lay the salmon fillets in the pan – be careful not to splatter yourself.
Cook 2 to 3 minutes on the first side.
Flip the fillets and add the knob of butter.
Squeeze the lemon juice into the pan and continue cooking for about 2 minutes.
Tilt pan and using a big spoon to glaze the salmon with the lemon and butter… mmm, you’ll be salivating at this point.
Put together a seasonal salad using the veggies and ingredients your family enjoys. Add the vinaigrette.
Serve the wild chum salmon fillets over a bed of the salad you made, and finish with your favourite garnish.
Local food builds community. When you buy direct from a fishing family, you gain insight into the seasons, the ocean, and your food. It gives you a chance to show your children and grandchildren where their food comes from. Local food is also an investment in the future. By supporting local fishermen and farmers today, you’re helping to ensure that there will be fishermen and farmers in your community tomorrow.
Here at Skipper Otto’s Community Supported Fishery, we connect you with local fishermen to foster the protection of ocean resources while providing premium, wild, fairly-traded, Ocean Wise seafood.
We offer membership shares in a flexible, buy-down system where you can pick up what you like, when you like, at a location near you. We have pick-up locations all over Canada.
This project is supported by the BC Government’s Buy Local Program; delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC with funding from the BC Ministry of Agriculture.
The BC Ministry of Agriculture is committed to working with industry partners. Opinions expressed in this blog post are those of Skipper Otto’s Community Supported Fishery and not necessarily those of the BC Ministry of Agriculture or the Investment Agriculture Foundation.
Specific offerings can vary from year to year, but our mainstay products are flash-frozen, boneless, skin-on fillets and portions – in sizes that are usually around 1lb each. Lingcod fillets are usually available in both 1lb and ½ lb portion sizes. Lingcod cheeks are in roughly 1lb portion sizes. Halibut and sablefish collars are low cost options for stews and soups. Hake was not available in 2023.
2023 prices are shown here. Prices do fluctuate each year. Higher price ranges reflect the inclusion of shipping costs for locations outside of Metro Vancouver.
Halibut is caught between the months of March-November, lingcod in May, sablefish in the summer and rockfish late spring and summer. We aim to keep halibut, lingcod and rockfish in stock year-round while sablefish can be available mostly in the late summer and fall.
PRODUCT
SEASON
Halibut
MAR-NOV
Sablefish
JUL-SEP
Lingcod
MAY-JULY
Yellowtail Rockfish
JUN-SEP
PRODUCT
PRICE
Halibut fillets
$39-$44/lb
Sablefish fillets
$27-$30/lb
Lingcod fillets
$22-$27/lb
Yellowtail rockfish fillets
$13-$16/lb
Halibut collars
$10-$13/lb
Sablefish collars
$8-$11/lb
Lingcod cheeks
$28-$31/lb
Tuna
Our albacore tuna is flash-frozen at sea to ensure it is sushi-grade. We carry both full and ½ loins which range in weight between a little over 1 lb and a ½ lb. We also offer thin sliced cold smoked tuna lox in 100g packages and three types of canned products – regular, no salt and smoked tuna varieties. Unlike some other tuna species, albacore is a smaller species which is low in mercury which makes it safe to eat more frequently!
2023 prices are shown here. Prices do fluctuate each year. Higher price ranges reflect the inclusion of shipping costs for locations outside of Metro Vancouver.
Albacore tuna is caught between the months of June and September but we aim to keep it in stock year-round.
PRODUCT
SEASON
Albacore tuna
JUL AUG
PRODUCT
PRICE
Albacore tuna loins
$25-$31/lb
Sliced cold smoked albacore tuna
$11-$12 per 100g package
Canned albacore tuna
$9-$12 per can
Salmon
We carried a wide mix of salmon products in the 2023 season. While specific offerings can vary from year to year, we always have lots of salmon to choose from. Our mainstay products are flash-frozen, boneless, skin-on fillets and portions – in sizes between 1lb and ½ lb each. We also carry hot smoked and cold smoked salmon and a variety of canned salmon products too.
2023 prices are shown here. Prices do fluctuate each year. Higher price ranges reflect the inclusion of shipping costs for locations outside of Metro Vancouver.
2023 prices are shown here. Prices do fluctuate each year. Higher price ranges reflect the inclusion of shipping costs for locations outside of Metro Vancouver.
Arctic Char is caught between the months of November and March. We usually carry it from December onwards and often sell out by late spring or early summer.
PRODUCT
SEASON
Artic Char
NOV-MAR
PRODUCT
PRICE
Artic Char portion
$27 – 32 per lb
Shellfish
Our wild, pink and spiny scallops are individually frozen and packed into 2lb packages. They can be cooked from frozen in one of your favourite clam or mussel recipes. We also offer cans of smoked scallops. In Vancouver, we offer live options at various False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf pick-ups during the year. Mussels are a special treat and one we offer every week during their season, while live Dungeness crab and beach oysters are usually available a few times a year.
2023 prices are shown here. Prices do fluctuate each year. The higher price ranges reflect the inclusion of shipping costs for locations outside of Metro Vancouver.
Scallops are caught between Nov-Feb each year but we aim to keep them in stock year round. Live Mussels are available at weekly pick-ups between July-March. Live Dungeness Crab is available at on 2-3 occasions only between Aug-March. Live beach oysters are available on 2-3 occasions only between Nov-March.
PRODUCT
SEASON
Scallops
JAN-FEB
Oysters
JAN-FEB
Mussels
JUN-APR
Dungeness Crab
JUL-SEP
PRODUCT
PRICE
Scallops
$24-$29 per 2lb box
Beach Oysters (Fishermen’s Wharf only)
$13.75-$19.50 per dozen
Mussels (Fishermen’s Wharf only)
$8.95/lb
Dungeness crab (Fishermen’s Wharf only)
$20-22 per lb
Prawns
Our wild, flash-frozen spot prawn tails are special – even as spot prawns go. These prawns are caught live, quickly tailed and packed into 6 oz or 1 lb tubs aboard the boat, topped up with sea water, then frozen at sea to capture their just-caught freshness and negate the need for any preservatives. Our tubs of spot prawn tails are easy to thaw in minutes and perfect for your favourite shrimp or prawn recipes.
2023 prices are shown here. Prices do fluctuate each year. Higher price ranges reflect the inclusion of shipping costs for locations outside of Metro Vancouver.