Not fishing but eating… 8/4/19

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Not your every day dinner at the Kim residence: White (Ivory) King vs. Red King.We had the opportunity to do an un-biased taste test between the two using three different preparations: Sashimi, Nigiri/Chirashi, and broiled/baked.These two fish were caught a few weeks ago by me while in Neah Bay. I know how each fish was caught, bled, and iced to maximize the freshness and preserve its ultimate flavor. Both were separately vacuum sealed and frozen. Since you will never see Ivory king at your regular sushi restaurant I wanted to try it sashimi (raw) style with no other impart of outside seasoning so I could really compare the two side by side. I cut the collars off and de-skinned and boned off the neck by the pin bones. The sashimi was cut from the shoulders down to the belly and arranged accordingly to sample dorsal to lateral.I cubed some of the shoulder meat for shoyu based poke with a little minced jalapeno and sliced red onion. It would be sampled straight as well as over some freshly seasoned sushi rice chirashi style.The collars were seasoned the same: sea salt and a little garlic powder and baked/broiled in the oven. We didn’t put anything to waste and even broiled the skin to test.Results: the Ivory king was rich, smooth and buttery with little to no aftertaste. The similarity to Hamachi is un-canny. The fact that we don’t typically catch these and or may try them separately from its red colored brother isn’t a fair comparison. We enjoyed it as much or slightly better than the red colored variety in its basic and or seasoned and cooked forms. The red king was also rich, smooth, but finished with the lingering ‘fishy’ after taste. Not a bad thing, but for many the reason why some prefer Sockeye over King like myself. I couldn’t decide which king salmon was better than the other, they were both excellent and if I get into another white king it will be an extra treat for my family to enjoy again. Both fish were fun to catch and even tastier to sample side by side.