Ora King Salmon

[Rain City]

Went for a private, off menu dinner at Boulevard Restaurant last night. We're friends of friends of the chef. So the feature dish was this Ora King Salmon. I had no idea what the hell it was. I have to say I prefer our winter springs on charcoal any day. He's a master of sauces and fancy decorations for sure. But other than the table side cracking of the clay shell the salmon was pretty lackluster. Why anyone would pay god-knows-what to fly salmon into BC is beyond me. Anyways here's a read on them if anyone is interested.

Ōra King Salmon: About Our Unique Best of Breed Salmon

Ōra King: The pinnacle of salmon breeding, meticulously nurtured in New Zealand's pristine waters. Unique, carefully graded, and hailed as the Wagyu of salmon

orakingsalmon.co.nz

 

[fishin solo]

I’m very surprised you ate that farmed salmon, when you catch and eat fresh wild salmon. How much was it if you don’t mind sharing ? Do you feel sick today

 

[Rain City]

I’m very surprised you ate that farmed salmon, when you catch and eat fresh wild salmon. How much was it if you don’t mind sharing ? Do you feel sick today

Set menu and I didn't ask how much. It was my friends 40th birthday and his wife (he) paid for it all. My wife was kicking me under the table. I shouldn't be harsh though the entire meal was epic. Just the salmon thing hit me the wrong way.

 

[Claymaker]

Think I saw documentary on these and they get like 100+lbs in pens or something, like the website quotes "For such a mighty salmon, the flavors are remarkably delicate—the taste is both subtle and complex" must be the pellets that keeps them delicate LOL! seems crazy to me that we are even bringing in fish from 13,000km away !

 

[sly_karma]

For all the fancy words, it's still steamed fish raised in an open pen operation. Can maybe forgive the chef for being duped by slick marketing positioning the product as ultra premium, but they sure as hell should know that clay shell will produce soggy steamed salmon, no different to wrapping it in tinfoil or parchment.

 

[absolon]

soggy steamed salmon, no different to wrapping it in tinfoil or parchment.

You've clearly never tried salmon stuffed with a walnut dressing, wrapped in filo pastry, baked and served with hollandaise sauce.

 

[fishin solo]

Set menu and I didn't ask how much. It was my friends 40th birthday and his wife (he) paid for it all. My wife was kicking me under the table. I shouldn't be harsh though the entire meal was epic. Just the salmon thing hit me the wrong way.

totally get it…. My wife has kicked me many times during wedding season when salmon is served lol , I’m the guy who asks what type and where did it come from and usually they don’t know so I don’t eat it lol. My wife says it’s embarrassing

 

[ab1752]

You've clearly never tried salmon stuffed with a walnut dressing, wrapped in filo pastry, baked and served with hollandaise sauce.

I worked back in the day at the cannery seafood restaurant during my misspent youth and we sold salmon wellington by the dozens, sometimes hundreds, in a full seating. For me, it was all about the bernaise sauce...

 

[happy hooker]

totally get it…. My wife has kicked me many times during wedding season when salmon is served lol , I’m the guy who asks what type and where did it come from and usually they don’t know so I don’t eat it lol. My wife says it’s embarrassing

my wife and I have the same experience, I ask servers those questions when I’ve got no intention of ordering salmon, last answer I got was “wild Atlantic“. She gets so embarrassed lol

 

[Aces]

totally get it…. My wife has kicked me many times during wedding season when salmon is served lol , I’m the guy who asks what type and where did it come from and usually they don’t know so I don’t eat it lol. My wife says it’s embarrassing

Same here. I fill up on whatever else their is instead

 

[wildmanyeah]

Its a very fall themed menu not much on it is doing it for me. Wagu beef thing sounds good tho.

 

[absolon]

I worked day the cannery seafood restaurant during my misspent youth and we sold salmon wellington by the dozens, sometimes hundreds, in a full seating. For me, it was all about the bernaise sauce...

Probably was bernaise, it's been a long time since I made it. One of the best presentations for salmon ever devised.

 

[Rain City]

Its a very fall themed menu not much on it is doing it for me. Wagu beef thing sounds good tho.

The beef carpacio was great and the cold seafood starter was very interesting as well. Clams, oysters and uni all sorts of ways. Shot of the clay the salmon was in...

 

[Rain City]

Probably was bernaise, it's been a long time since I made it. One of the best presentations for salmon ever devised.

My mom used to make it for Christmas. Even as a kid I liked it. All about the different textures.

 

[Pippen]

I worked day the cannery seafood restaurant during my misspent youth and we sold salmon wellington by the dozens, sometimes hundreds, in a full seating. For me, it was all about the bernaise sauce...

Way back in the day I worked at the the sister restaurant (when both were owned by Bud Kanke), The Fish House in Stanley Park and salmon wellington would fly out of the kitchen like crazy.

 

[Rain City]

Way back in the day I worked at the the sister restaurant (when both were owned by Bud Kanke), The Fish House in Stanley Park and salmon wellington would fly out of the kitchen like crazy.

I bet it had the Caesar effect. My bartender friends always said when a Caesar was ordered they'd just make 5 because as soon as it was walked through the dining room they'd start flying out when people thought "Ooh that looks good!"

 

[ab1752]

Way back in the day I worked at the the sister restaurant (when both were owned by Bud Kanke), The Fish House in Stanley Park and salmon wellington would fly out of the kitchen like crazy.

Haha, i used to pull shifts there and at Joes' when you guys were short staffed, anyway those were some great times. See Aisenstat opened a Joe's in Whistler? Nice to see at least one of Bud's brands carries on, it was a damn shame what happened to the Cannery when it was sold. It actually started before over that whole coupon incident but that's another story haha.

 

[pdfish]

totally get it…. My wife has kicked me many times during wedding season when salmon is served lol , I’m the guy who asks what type and where did it come from and usually they don’t know so I don’t eat it lol. My wife says it’s embarrassing

I’ve threatened my wife with divorce if she ever brought farmed salmon home from the grocery store. Pretty sure there’s been a few times she’s had it in her hands weighing the pros and cons

 

[sly_karma]

You've clearly never tried salmon stuffed with a walnut dressing, wrapped in filo pastry, baked and served with hollandaise sauce.

I've wrapped salmon in phyllo numerous times. Pastry is thin so it breathes, closer to roasting than steaming.

 

[mikep]

Ora king is great marketing out of NZ. It's really popular in fancy sushi restaurants becuase of its super high fat content. Ora also markets their tyee king which are 30ish # fish. I think they have better farming practices than we have up here. In any event I have tried it in sashimi from as well as cold smoked. The oil content was out of this world and you really can't compare it to wild. I would take sockeye any day of the week over it.