A Bone To Pick

Customers often ask why we sell our salmon bone-in rather than having our processors remove the pinbones. It’s a good question, and one we wanted to address in detail.

Most people consider boneless salmon more convenient than bone-in, which is why mass market salmon is almost always boneless. Unfortunately, de-boned salmon comes with a cost. To achieve convenience, quality must be sacrificed.

Fresh Coho Salmon fillets ready to be hand portioned at our processor in Pelican, Alaska.

In order to pinbone wild-caught salmon, processors run the fillets through a pinbone machine. If the fillet is fresh and the meat is firm, the pinbone machine will tear up the fillet and ruin it. To avoid this problem, processors allow the fillets to soften under refrigeration for three to five days before running them through the pinbone machine. The industry terms for this softening period are “resting” or “maturing” which are actually euphemisms for “decomposing.”

I can’t count the number of times people have stopped by my booth at a farmers market and told me they don’t like salmon because it “tastes fishy”. What they don’t know is, fresh salmon doesn’t taste fishy…at all.

When you buy pinboned wild-caught salmon at the grocery store, you’re getting a fish that was purposely allowed to decompose for three to five days. Afterwards it goes through a chain of commerce that may allow for thawing and re-freezing multiple times, and then sitting in the case at the store for who knows how many days before purchase. It’s no wonder people are turned off by the wild-caught salmon they find in Texas grocery stores - it’s half rotted!

Mass market pinboned salmon that is not fresh and smells fishy. Photo taken in an Austin, TX area grocery store.

We would rather sell you a fresh piece of bone-in salmon that tastes like it just came out of the water than a smelly old fish that has oh-so conveniently been machine pinboned. Our salmon is processed fresh by hand before being vacuum sealed and flash frozen at the source for maximum freshness. Through careful handling and a direct chain of commerce, we are able to ensure that our fish are frozen once and stay frozen until purchased and thawed by the customer.

Wild, line-caught Alaskan salmon being hand processed in Pelican, Alaska.

When thawed under refrigeration and unpackaged within 24 hours after thawing, our fish won’t put off the “fishy” odor often associated with mass market grocery store fish. It will smell like the salty ocean air, and taste like you caught it yourself! Over the years we’ve turned countless people who thought they didn’t like salmon into salmon lovers simply by having them try fresh tasting salmon for the first time.

A full side of our wild-caught King Salmon, thawed and ready to cook.

Customers often ask how we deal with pinbones. There are two options: cook the fish bone-in and remove the pinbones by hand after cooking, or use pinbone tweezers to pull the bones before cooking. Deboning after cooking is the easier method because at that point the bones are more visible and much easier to remove.

Some of our customers want the best of both worlds: salmon fillets that are fresh and boneless (or nearly boneless). If that’s you, be sure to ask for tail pieces. Wild pacific salmon do not have pinbones behind the dorsal fin so tail cuts are naturally boneless or nearly boneless depending on how large the piece is and where it was cut. Tail pieces in the half pound range tend to have been cut behind the dorsal fin and are therefore totally boneless. Larger tail pieces will have been cut at or just above the dorsal fin and will have a couple bones but not nearly as many as a large center cut.

This wild-caught Sockeye Salmon tail cut will only have 2-3 pinbones.

If you’ve never experienced the fresh flavor of wild, line-caught Alaskan salmon, do yourself a favor and give it a try. If you’re in our local area you can order online for delivery or farmers market pickup, or stop by our booth at a market and select the portions that are just right for you. If you’re outside of our local area, you can order for shipping. Depending on your needs, you can order a one-time box or a monthly subscription. Either way, we look forward to hooking you up with premium, wild-caught Alaskan seafood that will blow your mind and your taste buds!