Executive chef Melissa Craig hasn’t offered Fraser River sockeye at Bearfoot Bistro in Whistler, B.C., for years. Because of its scarcity, “I didn’t touch it last year. I wouldn’t put it on my menu for sure,” she says.
But this year, thanks to a near-record sockeye run, she is bringing the wild, red-fleshed fish back. Ms. Craig is planning to turn it into sashimi tartare and to smoke it and freeze it.
“Might as well use the bounty that we have right now,” she says.
B.C. restaurants that previously used Fraser River sockeye sparingly, or avoided it altogether, are celebrating this year’s unexpectedly strong run, believed to be the biggest in nearly 100 years – and for the first time in a long time, they’re serving it guilt-free.
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