Oak Roasted Salmon from Santa Barbara Smokehouse

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but I wanted to quickly give you the skinny on a new product I’ve seen at the Richmond (CA) Costco my last few visits.

This is a chunk of hot smoked, oak roasted Norweigan salmon from the Santa Barbara Smokehouse, an outfit actually located in Santa Barbara. They smoke their stuff over open wood fires, old school.

Costco had this on sample a couple of weeks ago, and I couldn’t believe how good it was. Normally I stay away from hot smoked salmon because I find it too dry.

This one is tender, silky, fatty, salty and not too sweet — übersweetness being another of my kvetches when it comes to hot smoked salmon.

Oak Roasted Salmon from Santa Barbara Smokehouse (back view)

I should have realized from the get-go that this was made from farmed Atlantic salmon. Farmed salmon is fattier than wild salmon. Since I don’t buy farmed salmon unless it’s sustainable, I’ll hold off buying this again until I find out what the deal is.  The company’s website consists of only a placeholder right now.  UPDATE on 1/29/13:  I have not seen this particular brand for quiet some time, but Costco still carries roughly the same product regularly. Note also that Santa Barbara Smokehouse’s website indicates that their salmon is “sustainably harvested.”

We had this with some crusty bread and it was a big hit. The skin had been left on, which helps keep the product moist and tastes good in its own right. Berry, our companion Akita, was all over it.

It’s $11.59 per pound, but our 1.2 pound section fed four people.

All you need is plenty of good bread and wine.

Oak Roasted Salmon from Santa Barbara Smokehouse being served