We just picked some Copper River up @ Costco for $14.99/lb.... looks good; we'll find out tonite or tomorrow when we throw it on the grill!

Whole Foods also has it... was $29.99/lb and they just marked it down to $24.99/lb today.

Isaacson & Stein said they'd probably have it in around Wednesday.

Alright, $15.00 a lbs. is good. Will have to check local Costco for some. Thanks for the headz up!

I saw some at the Glenview Costco this morning.
Can't cook it till Monday so I passed for now...

Thanks

Is Copper RIver fresh, or frozen at Costco????

Thanks

walter wade wrote:Is Copper RIver fresh, or frozen at Costco????

Thanks

Fresh

Today, no Copper River at Costco on Damen/Clybourn - I asked, the guy said "yeah, the volcano fouled the river so we aren't getting any".

Volcano? River? WTF????

None yesterday at the Costco in Lake in the Hills. Meat dept guy says they get their next shipment in on Friday, but he didn't know if that was true of other Costcos in the area.

I'm pretty sure the Copper River run is done for this year. That doesn't mean that there won't still be some great salmon in the markets over the next few months; it just won't be coming from the Copper River.

leek wrote:Volcano? River? WTF????

Since the fish they sell is harvested in the Ocean, (in the area near the mouth of the Copper River) I find any volcano reasons hard to swallow.

Ron

No copper river at the Whole Foods on Willow and Waukegan either. Burhop's seafood had some 2 days ago @ 29.99 a lb.

Could not wait any longer. As they said in Risky Business, " some times you just have to say what the #$%^".

Whole Foods, Deerfield. Had a shipment this AM and this afternoon.
$ 24.95 per lb. Got the PM load.

On the grill: olive oil, sonoma pepper, granulated garlic & lemon pepper. 1:30 directly over coals. 9:30 indirect. Could have been 8:00 - 8:30 minutes.
Made champaign mango salsa.
The fish is outstanding. Even had 1/4 lb + for my dog.

GET SOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!! Life's TO SHORT

Made our first trip to Isaacson & Stein today.... I think this will turn into weekly drives into the city! They had copper river salmon for $16.95 & they also said they should have it into August. In addition to the salmon, we picked up some halibut, shrimp & scallops. We'll be eating good the next few days

Had some at West Town Tavern last night. Very good, excellent fish, well prepared. They pan seared it, and topped it with very thin slices of preserved lemons. Yummy.

I bought my second Costco Copper River Salmon for $14.99 yesterday. When I was getting ready to grill it (cedar plank nice and soaked), I saw the littlest, almost invisible worm squirming around in the sink that I had just rinsed the fish in. Whole Foods was completely out of the CRS, so I am going to assume this batch at Costco was back from when I made my last purchase - 2 weeks ago. Of course I am going to return it. I should have known something was fishy (pun) when every other store is fresh out of it for a week, and here it is plentiful at Costco. Old fish.

I bought C.R.S. at Schaumburg Whole foods today. They seemed to have plenty so I'm not sure about the last posters comments..

Saw CRS at whole foods on kingsbury today, too. $25/lb.

Maria - it is not at all uncommon to find worms in the freshest and best fish. Like many animals, they can have parasites. If the fish was otherwise fine, and not riddled with worms, you can pretty much just wash it off or pluck it out and cook and eat the fish. One or two small worms is not usually cause for concern.

Which is why I don't eat fish

razbry wrote:Which is why I don't eat fish

Oh phoo - veggies, fruit, meat, whatever. It all can have bugs

Made a few calls today and no one around me has any Copper river salmon.
Burhops is Hinsdale said they had very little this season due to the poor fishing conditions, mentioned something about a lot of heavy ice still moving thru. I am not a big fan of Costco for fresh or frozen fish either!

http://burhopsseafood.com/

Hi- I was at the WF in downtown Evanston this afternoon, and they did not have copper river salmon. They did have wild caught king salmon for $24.95/lb. They also had wild caught Keta salmon on sale for $8.99/lb. Normally it is $11.99/lb. They were giving out samples of the Keta salmon, and it was pretty good. Hope this helps, Nancy

After judging in the E.T. Barnett beer competition, before pointing my bike back toward Chicagoland, I would ride around seeing the sights and stop to visit friends. One of those friends is Tom, the owner of Uncle Tom's Tavern in Chitna. ( http://uncletomstavern.com/ )

One day I was sitting there enjoying a tasty beverage and this lady came in seeking some help. Her fish trap got jammed up with some debris and she could not get it to spin. I offered my services and we took off a couple miles east to the Copper River.

Her trap was indeed stuck...



(looking South)

...and was in a prime space among the others



(looking North)

This was around the first week of August and while the run was not strong, folks were still collecting fish. If an Alaskan resident qualifies, (income level a key) they can get a permit to trap up to 500 salmon a year. I was talking to the local National Park ranger, (who himself had a permit & trap) who told me that he has never heard of anybody from the State coming by to do a count. He also told me he couldn't wait for it to get cold so he could stop buying propane to power his chest freezer.

For those wondering, the salmon swin upriver into the traps basket. The basket spins around like a ferris wheel and drops the fish into a holding area.

A branch was stuck in the works and after a bit of swinging an axe, I got it free...



The nice lady was happy and offered me a couple of fish from the holding area.



I grabbed some nice ones and brought them back to Uncle Tom's. After a bit of cleaning..




...I tossed the fillets (with just a bit of oil and salt & pepper) onto Tom's gas grill. I brought the cooked Copper River salmon into the bar for all to enjoy. (Heck, there was a lot of fish and I was tent camping) While I was thanked, nobody was all that excited. I then realized these folks were all locals who eat this fish several times a week. Every week.

I cooked it right and it's hard to screw up fresh caught fish. It tasted pretty darn good. Not the best salmon I've had though. I was staying at and visiting my friends at the Homer Brewery. ( http://www.homerbrew.com/beers.html# ) A commercial fisherman gifted them one of the kings he had netted that morning in Kachemak Bay. Simply prepared in a frying pan with olive oil and a bit of garlic...Fantastic.

Hope you all enjoyed my story....

Ron

RonJS wrote:Hope you all enjoyed my story....

Thanks, Ron. I most definitely did and the visuals were excellent, too.

=R=

fantastic Copepr River salmon fillets today at Isaacson & Stein for $16.99/lb.

Great pics and story RonJS, was this last year when you were up there and what kinda bike u cruzin?

Went to Caseys in Naperville to pic up some Heads Red BBQ sauce for this weekends Daddy'z Double J Smoke -N- Brew fest 2010 (father day LOL) and on the way out I noticed in the far left of the deli some Copper River Salmon, Looked great and was about $29.00 per Lbs. Had to pass for now becuase I was away from home for the night and had no way to store it. Caseys has a HUGH selection of dry rub, spice, BBQ sauce and GREAT looking fresh meats of all kinds!

http://www.headsredbbq.com/

124 West Gartner Road
Naperville, IL 60540-7556
(630) 369-1686
http://www.caseysfoods.com/

I wonder how much of the wild caught salmon being sold as Copper River Salmon this time of year is actually from somewhere else. I suspect most.

stevez wrote:I wonder how much of the wild caught salmon being sold as Copper River Salmon this time of year is actually from somewhere else. I suspect most.

All part of the salmon marketing hype. What other seasonal commodity doubles or triples in price when it is in abundance, and in the case of salmon, easily caught? You're supposed to believe that all the people who don't buy fresh wild salmon during the year all come out of the woodwork during the Copper River run, and there is just not enough to go around.

stevez wrote:I wonder how much of the wild caught salmon being sold as Copper River Salmon this time of year is actually from somewhere else. I suspect most.

OK I'll bite... why do you suspect this?

Kennyz wrote:

stevez wrote:I wonder how much of the wild caught salmon being sold as Copper River Salmon this time of year is actually from somewhere else. I suspect most.

OK I'll bite... why do you suspect this?

Because the Copper River Salmon Run is very short, lasting only a few weeks between late May and early June. The term Copper River Salmon has become a marketing buzzword (buzzphrase) and I suspect that the equally excellent salmon being caught in lesser known rivers (located increasingly further north as the season progresses) is being sold as Copper River because of the caché of the name and the price tag it brings.