Fall Means Salmon Running the Rivers

Saturday Arnie caught this five pound salmon in the Chehalis. This is me honing my skills at cleaning a fish. I'm getting pretty good at it. Look at those clean cuts! I don't usually give directions in my blog, but I thought I'd walk you through cleaning a fish. You start at the anus with a very sharp knife. With the blade at an angle toward the outside of the fish, make a straight cup up toward the head, right between the two pelvic and pectoral fins. If you keep the knife from cutting into the fish too far, the innards are less shredded and easier to pull out.

Once the cut is made, you should be able to open the fish wide. I usually dig out the spinal cord and cut the intestine/bladder cord that is connected to the anus. Then, I begin scraping the innards into the trash. Easier than I expected it to be. After dozens of fish, I'm quite adept at it.

We wrapped it in parchment and foil to refrigerate overnight since dinner was ready. Tonight I barbecued that beautiful fish stuffed with salsa. The skin slipped right off as I removed it from the foil I set on the grill. So moist and flaky. I served it up with garden beans - probably our last harvest of beans for 2010. We also served baked potatoes which is a Lewis family favorite. The potatoes were from the store - from Washington, at least. The kids love salmon. No ketchup needed anymore! Tonight Katie was laughing about how much ketchup we used to use. Now we don't even know if there is any in the refrigerator! How times change.