Emma Teal Laukitis - The Salmon Sisters: Feasting, Fishing, and Living in Alaska: A Cookbook with 50 Recipes

Living by the sea has inspired the way our family works, eats, and lives. Good food is all around usat low tide, under rocks, deep in the ocean, swimming up rivers. It can grow on the beach, in garden beds, on the tundra, or in the forest. Good food can be fresh and simple, like salmon pulled straight from the sea that is seasoned with a sprinkle of salt and cooked over a driftwood fire on the shore. Good food can also be creativeunlikely ingredients combined in a single pot on a boats small galley stovetop. It can be resourceful, like a fresh batch of yogurt started with a spoonful from an old one. It can follow traditiona familys smoked salmon recipe or sourdough starter passed down through generations. Good food is eaten with recognition of the natural bounty that has provided its nourishment.

We have made this book to share our fishing familys love for cooking and to honor Alaskas wild bounty with the stories, recipes, and artwork in the pages that follow. From memories of our mom smoking salmon on our homestead to learning how to cook at sea, we offer a glimpse into our unique upbringing and way of life as fishermen. We hope it makes our readers feel more connected to the people working hard to bring seafood to their tables, more aware of the edible wild plants and ocean creatures around them, and inspired to make some of our favorite simple and flavorful recipes.

Straight from the big blue three-ring binder our mom has kept on the kitchen shelf since we were kids, the recipes in this book were collected from villagers and fishermen in the Aleutian Islands, grandparents, and friends who have become our Alaska family. The recipes focus on ingredients abundant in Alaskafresh seafood, garden-grown vegetables, and edible wild plants and berriesthat can be enjoyed by home cooks everywhere.

There are no supermarkets at sea, so when our family cooks on the boat, we often start with our freshest, most exciting ingredient (a rockfish, or maybe a bucket of wild blueberries picked on the shore) and then let creativity take over. Most of these recipes allow for an improvisational cooking style: they have simple instructions, often flexible ingredients, and tasty results. They are suitable for cooking in small spaces like a boats galley, or in a fully stocked kitchen with counter space to spare. Our family has been making these dishes for many years; the recipes have given us a strong understanding of how good food can be prepared and eaten. We hope these recipes encourage confidence in you too, especially with seafood. We invite you to write in the margins of the following pages and make the recipes your own, because going off the chart sometimes allows for the greatest discoveries.

The ocean has provided our family with nourishment and meaningful work. Our days revolve around the tides, the fish, and the weather in a fluid rhythm of the seasons. We spend our days working on Alaskas North Pacific Oceanbringing health, joy, and a story to the people who enjoy our wild catch.

Alaskas fisheries are anchored in strict conservation practices, to ensure that the ocean ecosystem continues to thrive and that delicious wild-caught seafood will be enjoyed for generations to come. Alaskas government is one of few in the world that is truly dedicated to sustainability. This commitment dates back to statehood in 1959, when citizens wrote protections for the responsible management of fisheries into Alaskas constitution. The secret to Alaskas success lies in two basic principles: First, fishermen, scientists, and government agree on fishing practices that take care not to harm fish, marine plants and animals, or the environment. Second, fish populations are managed for sustainability, assuring there are enough left to replenish the natural population. Alaska is one of the last places on earth where people still depend on wild salmon to thrive and return each year.

Were proud that the role our family plays in the delicate balance of harvesting wild seafood from the ocean is future-thinking, and that each year our pristine ocean continues to run wild with marine life. The fish we harvest are much more than a commodity to catch and sell; they are a source of nourishment, tradition, and connection to the wild places where we live and work. Reverence for fish in Alaska can be seen in Native arts dating back centuries, as well as in the fishing practices of the thousands of families who today make their living off the sea. In fact, fishing and seafood processing employ more people than any other industry in Alaska.