Thomas Bay is a place of dark secrets and myths.

In this narrow, well marked entrance channel tide-rips and whirlpools greeted Jupiter with bergy bits and growlers riding the flows.  The water color changed suddenly to a slate glacial grey and the sea temperature plummeted to 38 degrees. Williwaws descended into the valley enveloping us in remarkably frigid air.

Entering Thomas Bay, on watch for Kushtakas

Bergy bits can do serious damage

This bay is under the influence of the Baird and Patterson glaciers, fed by the massive Stikine Icefield. Both are receding but still depositing extensive gravelly shoals.  Streams pour icy water and occasional bergs into the coves.

This place is overshadowed by the ancient ice-fields hanging above, and stigmatized by the strangest story ever told; of kushtakas, the horrifying shape-changing creatures from Tlingit lore.  We endured a disquieting night on anchor near Ruth Island with steady rain obscuring shape-changing clouds filtering down from the heights to settle on the water’s surface all around the boat.

Glacial runoff is an opaque green-grey

Scenery Cove near Baird Glacier

We secured this vessel as best we could against the probable appearance of kushtakas and tried to lift our spirits with a warming kedgeree for supper.

Smoked Salmon Belly Kedgeree

Prepare eight-minute boiled eggs. Chill and peel.  Place whole smoked salmon bellies into a sauté pan.  Add milk almost to cover and simmer for twenty minutes. Remove bellies to a plate.  To milk add butter, curry powder, salt and pepper, fish stock and basmati rice.  Cover and cook gently until rice is al dente and liquid is mostly absorbed.

Bellies simmering in milk

Pulled smoked salmon bellies

Top kedgeree with eggs

When bellies are cool enough to handle remove skin and discard, pull apart meat into bite-sized pieces and add back to rice along with diagonally sliced green onions.  Stir gently and cook five minutes more.  Plate kedgeree and top with egg quarters.   Serve with a simple salad.

What we’re reading:

• Off the Deep End: A History of Madness at Sea – Nic Compton
• Crab Bait – Murder in a Remote Alaskan Fishing Village – Carrie Enge

Seeking neither a famous totem pole carver nor a halibut recipe, we happened upon both in one gentle, languorous, soft-spoken man.

Having taken a walk to Saxman Village to see its famed collection of totem poles and workshop, we were beckoned, through a door marked No Entry, into a long barn by its sole occupant who was dwarfed by age, the size of the adze he was wielding, and the enormous tree trunk he was subjecting to its tender blows.

Inside the carving shed the air was still, warm, and redolent with the scent of fresh-hewn yellow cedar.  Time curved.  Nathan P. Jackson, born Yelch Yedi eighty years ago, son of the Sockeye Clan on the Raven side of the Chilkoot-Tlingit tribe, was creating a new pole.

Much as we wanted to discuss symbolism and carving technique, he wanted to discuss his coming supper: fresh halibut he had caught the day before.  When asked how he would prepare it Nathan invited us to step across the ropes and come closer.

The careful delivery of his family recipe took far longer than the cooking of the dish.  The adze was frequently laid aside, the universal sign for bowl rendered repeatedly with strong gnarled hands to signify its use in the preparation, the instructions delayed by numerous pauses while the artist dove deep into his memory, intent on gastronomic accuracy, then the adze would resume its temperate sloughing of the massive timber.

It takes a long time to craft a totem pole, an act of reverence.  We were honored to be so intimate with a moment of its creation.

Totem Carver’s Halibut with White Beans and Salad

Cook finely chopped onion until golden, add garlic and continue cooking until fragrant.  Stir in a small amount of well-flavored stock,  cayenne, and chopped tomatoes with their sauce.  Add rinsed and drained cannellini beans.  Simmer to reduce slightly, then turn off heat and allow beans to sit for a time to infuse beans with flavor.  Rewarm to serve.

Slice wild-caught halibut fillet into inch wide pieces and season.  Prepare a three step breading: flour, beaten egg, breadcrumbs seasoned and combined with grated parmesan – each in its own bowl.  Dip each piece of fish into each bowl in turn to coat well, then allow to rest.  Sauté until crust is golden brown and fish is cooked through.

Cannellini Beans in tomato sauce

Breaded halibut in the pan

Sauté until golden brown

Whisk a vinaigrette from good olive oil and white balsamic.  Cube a firm-ripe avocado, and slice an orange between membranes to extract the fruit.  Toss gently in the vinaigrette.  Plate over finely shredded romaine lettuce.  Salt lightly.

Meet Trish.  We did.  She is a remarkable woman who traded in her life in Illinois when Alaska called her name.   She jumped aboard an offshore, power-troller fishing vessel in Sitka, and for five years learned a new trade.   She brings a conscience to the table; the dream of anyone who wants to source sustainable, superior seafood.

Today Trish has a processing plant in an old cannery in the north end of Ketchikan.  We visited.   She teaches and cajoles her fishermen and women to catch, kill and pack line-caught fish to meet her exacting specifications, and she pays handsomely for compliance with these rigorous standards.  She taught us too.  No nets.  No bruising.  Fish bellies packed with ice.

Alika extracts pin bones by hand at lightening speed

Trish portions her fish according to eye and experience

She and Alika, a whizz at removing pin bones, were elbow deep in fresh King Salmon (also known as Chinook) which comes in two colors; red and white.   Same species:  Onchorhynchus tshawytscha.  

Each portion is individually vacuum sealed and labelled

Packaged fish is fast-frozen in the Blast Freezer at -20 degrees

We’re curious.  This obviously called for a taste test and Trish generously provided the raw material.   We cooked.

Red & White King Salmon with Kimchi Fried Rice and Shallot Lemon Sauce

Lightly season the salmon and allow to rest.

Roughly chop a generous ladle of kimchi and add it to a warm buttered skillet along with a shimmer of sesame oil.  Break in day-old, cooked sushi rice by hand.   Add a splash of juice from the kimchi jar and toss gently to combine.   Cook over medium heat without stirring until crispy on the underside.  Transfer to a warm oven.

Only one in twenty King Salmon has white flesh

Bok Choy ready for braising

Swirling in the butter

Sauté the salmon in the hot skillet over high heat, skin side down until the skin is crisp and golden brown.  Turn and cook until upper side is seared.  Set atop the rice in the warm oven until the interior flesh reaches your version of perfect.

Lightly sauté a handful of finely chopped shallots in the skillet.  Deglaze the pan with a generous slosh of crisp white wine and the juice of a lemon, and reduce until syrupy.  Swirl in cubes of chilled butter until your conscience gets the better of you.  Spoon the sauce over the fish.  Done.

The flavors are surprisingly distinct.  The red is classic intense salmon – oily, rich, earthy, delicious.  The white is more toothsome, has an almost squeaky chew yet melts on the tongue, milder, nuttier.   We each had a favorite.

Meet Trish here!