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2007 Fall Update!
I Had No Idea . . .
by Fran Hansen
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| Mae prepares to filet a King Salmon. |
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After spending a week in Togiak with the Vacation Bible School group, I was blessed to be able to spend three days in Dillingham with my very good friend, Mae.
While there I experienced a small part of what the natives go through to put up their fish during salmon season. I had no idea . . . .
The nets are set out on the beaches so that when the tide comes in the salmon are caught in the nets. You have to go to the nets when the tide goes out and “pick” the fish from the nets, take them home, and put them in big tubs of water to wait for the next step. I had no idea . . . .
Mae separates her fish into two categories. Small ones are anything under 15 pounds and big ones are over 15 pounds. I helped her get the fish out of the tubs so she could fillet and work her magic. You have to pick them up a
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The newly fileted salmon ready to be prepared for drying. |
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certain way, putting your fingers up through the gills and picking them up without touching the tongue. There are teeth on the tongues!!! I had no idea . . . .
She picked up 40-pound salmons and filleted them from the back fin to the stomach over the bones without blinking an eye. Then she cut the “backstrap” off to make the meat an even thickness. She would can the backstrap later. Then she took the fillets and cut them into uniform strips to hang up for drying and smoking.
The heads, tails, and cheeks were not wasted. The lower jaw was cut off and the head was split. Many people eat the heads. The tails were cut in a special way to hang and smoke, as were the cheeks. I had no idea . . . .
I helped dip the various parts in brine and hang them in the sheds. After about 20-25 king salmon, Mae had less than 1/3 of a 50-gallon barrel of waste. She is a true artist. There were some other little tricks of the trade, like leaving the
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| The finished filets hanging in the sheds to smoke or just dry. |
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waste nearby so the flies would go to that instead of the good meat and washing the meat several times to get the blood out so it wouldn’t taste so strong.
We took a whole salmon home with us, and I tried my hand at filleting. It looked like it had been caught in a lawnmower. I had no idea . . . .
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