My Salmon Stock Recipe

Finished salmon stock ready for the canner

Today I would like to talk about salmon stock. Not the music festival now known as Salmonfest, but the base for making soups.  Maria and I always participate in the annual Alaskan salmon harvest, whether we catch fish, or buy it directly from a commercial fishing boat.  I lean towards buying fish, because every time I go fishing, there’s another piece of gear I need to buy, plus ice, gasoline, and not to mention the wear and tear on all the equipment, including our truck, that all adds up. It also takes a bunch of my time, which takes away from activities and work that I prefer doing.  When Maria and I bring home the fish we start processing it right away. Maria is on the filleting, and she hands me the heads. I stock pile heads in a bowl, while I prepare the vegetables.  I get the vegetables sautéing in some avocado oil. When the veggies are ready I add a bunch of water, about 2.5 gallons, to my 5 gallon stock pot. I remove the gills and fins, and clean out any guts that might be lingering in the head cavity. I leave any meat there, it is good for the stock.  I usually use 15 heads. The stock needs to simmer/lightly boil for about an hour, or so, after all the heads are prepped and plopped into the stock pot. Then strain out all the particles. We normally wait over night to do anything more, in order to let the stock cool down, and then Maria makes a soup, freezes some, and cans the rest in quart-size mason jars.  We take the shelf-stable jars to the cabin, and Maria makes yummy ramen there. I always drink a pint straight from the pot. This stuff is nectar from the sea gods! Cheers to the liquid gold, and I don’t mean beer this time!

Salmon Stock Recipe

Ingredients:

2.5 gallons water

15 Salmon heads (Sockeye, Coho, or Chinook)

Avocado oil

2 large leeks

2 large onions

2 large carrots

1 bulb of garlic

1 bunch celery (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Sauté vegetables in avocado oil

2. Add water

3. Prepare and add salmon heads

4. Boil until the heads disolve into mush

5. Remove everything but the liquid

6. Can, freeze, or eat

7. Can at 10 pounds pressure for 25 minutes for quart jars

Stirring the pot

Salmon stock makes amazing ramen!

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I Paint What I See

My job as an artist is to document life and to make art that people like to look at.  I paint beers, because I am into beer.  I also paint trucks, planes, trees, mountains, and animals, because that is what I am surrounded by.  If you release a product out into the world, and I run into it, I might decide to put it into a painting.  

A pretty famous California brewery recently told me I am no longer allowed to sell paintings of their beer.  They told me they want to keep anything with an image of their product strictly under their control.  I understand this and respect their decision, even though it frustrates me that they decided to let me know after I have already made 6 different paintings (all original compositions) of their beers.  I even painted live at their brewery’s taproom with their permission.  Now that it has been revoked, I feel a little cheated.  It’s hard to describe, because I don’t really feel like I have done anything wrong, but I do feel like something negative has happened here.  I don’t intend to stop making paintings of beer, but I also don’t intend to drink any more of that brewery’s product, which is fine, because it is actually pretty hard to get, especially in Alaska. 

I will continue to make commissions of any beer you want (excluding the breweries that forbid it).  I like to tell a story when I make a painting, and a successful painting causes a response from the viewer.  I want to evoke positive responses.  Normally, beer paintings make a viewer thirsty for that beer, bring up a memory of a good time, or simply bring joy to the person who is looking at it.  That is all I really want to do.  I never want to offend.  

I hope there aren’t many more unpleasant messages that come my way, telling me to stop doing my work.  I will continue with the exercise of documenting life, and telling visual stories with my artwork.  The good news is that there are a lot of small breweries and 99.99% of them value my work.  So, I will work with the ones that like what I am doing.

So, a toast to positive future vibes, and I hope you all continue to view, purchase, gift, and enjoy my art, as I intend to continue making it.