Four years ago, Alaskan Leader Seafoods’ Alaska Black Cod in Japanese Miso Marinade won a pair of people’s choice awards at the Alaska Symphony of Seafood, prompting it to work on restaurant and retail expansion of the product.
Keith Singleton, who was president of Alaskan Leader Seafoods’ value-added programs, told SeafoodSource soon after that the success of the product was offering the company a potential avenue to shore-up demand for Alaska black cod and help the fishing fleet become economically viable. Now, the company is working to bring that same benefit to Alaskan salmon fishermen by creating a new salmon product using underutilized pink salmon.
Singleton told SeafoodSource that it is hoping to follow-up on its miso black cod, which has become wildly successful even beyond their original hopes.
“It has been very very good for everyone, including the fishermen.” Singleton said. “More than we expected by 10 times.”
He said that the product has taken off and expanded rapidly to retailers and foodservice distributors.
“Restaurant chains are picking it up because it’s so convenient. They don’t have to make their own miso anymore; they can just buy [miso black cod] in the 10 pound foodservice box that’s already pre-portioned and marinated, so that’s super successful – that’s taking off,” Singleton said.
That success has had fishermen going back out fishing again as the species – which is sustainably managed and has solid quotas – is now more economically viable to fish at Alaskan Leader’s going pay.
“If you ever got on a phone with some of these fishermen that were in peril – they really were, they couldn’t even find crew. Now there’s a line up of crew, everybody wants to go,” Singleton said. “We’re paying well over USD 3.00 [EUR 2.62] a pound average now.”
Fishermen in Alaska have taken note, and Singleton said there’s been demand to expand the success of miso black cod to other species – which is why the company is now creating a salmon product.
“The fishermen were calling us, saying ‘can you do something with pinks? Do something with chums?” Singleton said. “The story is the pink salmon and chum salmon and all the salmon species have had challenges; there’s a lot of them and there’s been a lot reliance on commodity sales overseas with H&G. Those challenges have come from tariffs, from freight rates, fuel expenses; there’s a lot of reasons why domestic market is much better.”
That was a main motivator behind Alaskan Leader’s latest product, a wild Alaskan salmon fillet topped with wild North Pacific shrimp scampi that is debuting at Seafood Expo North America.
Pink salmon has historically been a commodity product and is frequently used in canning, but Singleton said with the right treatment it’s more than capable of holding its own at the center of the plate. The scampi sauce it is topped with is part of that, as the fattiness of the sauce helps compensate for the leaner pink salmon.
“It just needs the right marriage, like peanut butter needs jelly,” Singleton said.
Because of its robust supply and commodity status, pink salmon is often at a lower price point, which also makes it more attractive for retail. Singleton said the philosophy behind the product is extremely similar to the miso black cod – take a underutilized species with abundant supplies and give it a premium treatment to create something desirable but still affordable.
“That’s exactly the same philosophy, and almost simultaneously the same situation. We have a fleet that can harvest a magnitude of fish; they just need a better outlet,” Singleton said.
The new product comes with cooking instructions and Singleton said the development made sure it was kept as simple as possible to prepare at home
“In this day and age, the consumer wants it easy; they want throw it in the oven or broiler or pan and have it done in 15 with all the flavors on it,” he said.
Singleton said the new product will be ready to ship within 60 days of Seafood Expo North America, and there have already been buyers interested in the retail space.
“We have a lot of people that want to look at it and are meeting us at the show,” he said.
Singleton said the ultimate goal is to bring a product to the pink and chum salmon fisheries that does for them what the miso black cod has been doing for that fishery.
“That’s really what’s driving everything we do, it goes back to keeping those boats healthy, keeping those fishermen employed,” Singleton said.
