{"id":1492,"date":"2009-06-04T10:47:32","date_gmt":"2009-06-04T17:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/?p=1492"},"modified":"2009-09-27T15:36:05","modified_gmt":"2009-09-27T22:36:05","slug":"hunting-for-halibut-in-homer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/hunting-for-halibut-in-homer\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunting for halibut in Homer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

\"homervista\"<\/p>\n

One of the striking ironies of Alaska is how difficult it is to find fresh fish in the ports serving North America\u2019s biggest fishery.<\/p>\n

Frozen fish is everywhere, neatly packaged in vacuum-sealed pouches.\u00a0 That\u2019s because all but a small portion of the huge harvest of salmon and halibut is destined for markets elsewhere.\u00a0 The fish are filleted and frozen within hours after they\u2019re pulled from Alaska\u2019s icy oceans.<\/p>\n

Homer, where we spent a couple of days earlier this week, is the hub of halibut fishing.\u00a0 The legendary Spit is lined with signs advertising halibut charters.\u00a0 Hundreds of commercial fishing boats fill the harbor.\u00a0 Several processing plants do nothing but pack and freeze fish to ship around the world.\"homerboat\"<\/p>\n

It seemed like the perfect place to find a nice chunk of fish for the seafood chowder recipe I had brought with me from California.\u00a0 Yet finding fish that wasn\u2019t frozen as hard as a chunk of marble proved daunting.<\/p>\n

The supermarkets didn\u2019t have any fresh local fish.\u00a0 When I went to the market on the spit recommended by the manager of the campground where I was staying, it didn\u2019t have any fresh halibut either.\u00a0 The case was filled with frozen fillets.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you have any fresh fish,\u201d I asked?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fresh frozen,\u201d the young clerk replied.<\/p>\n

Now I know that flash frozen fish is pretty good.\u00a0 It\u2019s certainly better than fish that has been sitting around in a cold case for a couple of days.\u00a0 But it still doesn\u2019t compare with the firm texture and sweet flavor of fish that\u2019s just been pulled from the sea.\u00a0 So I kept looking.<\/p>\n

Down the street, there was another processor that touted its fresh halibut.\u00a0 But the shop was locked and a sign on the door suggested calling for assistance.\u00a0 When I dialed the number, the man who answered said he did have fresh fish but he wouldn\u2019t be back to his business until the next day.<\/p>\n

I would be gone by then, headed north to Tok, and I began to despair of cooking the chowder I had been anticipating for weeks.<\/p>\n

Luckily for me, Joe of Kachemack Bay Seafood was walking by and overheard my cell phone conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can get you some fresh halibut,\u201d he offered.<\/p>\n

I followed him to his little shop, hidden near the docks, where he pulled a glistening halibut out of an ice chest and expertly cut off a fillet just the size I wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people are surprised how hard it is to find fresh fish down here,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cThe frozen is good alright, but it\u2019s just not the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

I thanked him profusely and took my beautiful piece of fish back to the camper, where I made this elegantly simple chowder on the two-burner propane stove.\u00a0 Light and fresh, it was the perfect showcase for this impeccably fresh fish.<\/p>\n

Resist the urge to add too much seasoning or take measures to thicken the broth.\u00a0 You want the sweet, slightly briny flavor of the fish to sing out in this dish.<\/p>\n

Halibut, firm and mildly flavored, is my choice for the chowder but any firm, white-fleshed fish would be good.\u00a0 Just be sure not to overcook it.<\/p>\n

Of course, fresh fish is best.<\/p>\n

\"chowder\"<\/p>\n

\n
DEEP SEA CHOWDER<\/strong>
\nServes 6<\/em><\/div>\n

1 large onion, chopped
\n\u00bc cup butter
\n4\u00a0 large russet potatoes, cut into \u00bd-inch dice
\n4 cups whole milk
\n2 cups clam juice
\nSalt to taste
\n2 pounds fresh, firm-fleshed fish
\n1 teaspoon ground pepper
\n2 tablepoons chopped fresh parsley
\n\u00bd teaspoon dried thyme<\/p>\n

In a large saucepan, slowly cook onions in butter until soft and golden.\u00a0 Add potatoes and cover with milk and stock.\u00a0 Season with a pinch of salt and simmer slowly until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

Cut the fish into 1-inch pieces and add to pot along with pepper, parsley and thyme.\u00a0 Cook gently until the fish flakes, usually about 5 minutes. Do not allow chowder to boil.\u00a0 Adjust seasonings and serve.<\/p>\n

Adapted from Joshua Slocum\u2019s Fish Chowder in \u201cThe Black Dog Summer on the Vineyard Cookbook,\u201d by Joseph Hall and Elaine Sullivan (Little, Brown, 2000)
\n<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the striking ironies of Alaska is how difficult it is to find fresh fish in the ports serving North America\u2019s biggest fishery. Frozen fish is everywhere, neatly packaged in vacuum-sealed pouches.\u00a0 That\u2019s because all but a small portion of the huge harvest of salmon and halibut is destined for markets elsewhere.\u00a0 The fish … Continue reading Hunting for halibut in Homer<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1492"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2027,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492\/revisions\/2027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}