See below for recipes for salmon roe, lox and buckwheat blinis.

Upon arriving in Chignik Lake last summer, one of our first orders of business was to stock our freezers with enough salmon to see us through the coming months. Fortunately, catching plenty of Reds and Silvers was no problem as hundreds of thousands of wild salmon ascend the Chignik River from summer through fall. Although the Sockeye (Red Salmon) roe is somewhat smaller than that of other species, it nonetheless cures into a beautifully translucent ikura that tastes as good as it looks. Coho fillets (Silver Salmon) are our favorites for making lox. Separated by a slice of cream cheese, garnished with a wisp of nori and arranged on a savory buckwheat blini, these appetizers are perfect as Super Bowl party snacks or as a pre-dinner hors d’œuvre complimented with champagne or fine sake (酒).

Recipes:

Ikura: Curing Salmon Roe

Salmon Lox or Gravlax

Buckwheat Blini

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup buckwheat flour
• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• generous pinch salt
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 2 eggs, whisked
• 1 tbsp butter, melted
• additional butter for griddle

Directions

1. Whisk together flours, baking powder and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, eggs and melted butter.
3. Whisk wet ingredients into dry.
4. Heat griddle and coat lightly with butter.
5. Drop a tablespoon of batter onto griddle. Repeat with additional tablespoons.
6. Cook for about 2 minutes, small bubbles will form on top of blini, like pancakes.
7. Flip blini and cook an additional minute on flipped side.
8. Serve warm or at room temperature.