Subsistence – Athabascan Woman Blog

Salmon in the City

December 3, 2014October 8, 2015 Angela Gonzalez

I love eating salmon over the winter. My husband goes dipnetting on the Kenai or Kasilof River each summer, and we enjoy it all winter. We mostly fillet the salmon or make it into steaks, then freeze it. Maybe every other year, I smoke some salmon. There are a variety of ways to cook the salmon. I still have a lot to learn.

Read a previous post about this topic: Dipnetting on the Kenai Peninsula

I asked a few friends on Facebook why they enjoy salmon, and here is what they had to say.

I love salmon because…

“Is it brain food!” – The Winter Bear Project

“It’s something big from our childhood and tastes great! Also, yes, very healthy for us.” – Tanya Yatlin of Huslia

“The protein is essential for our health and sure tastes good when I fry it!” – Sarbelio Iglesias

Thank you for Planet Alaska for sharing it on their page. Here are their responses:

“It keeps you healthy…” – Peggy Kopkie

“It is the best! It never gets old.” – Roman Rice

“Its salmon that’s why.” – Stefan Taylor

Alaskans love their salmon and everyone has their own ways of preserving/preparing/cooking salmon.
I am not much of a cook, but I have learned how to prepare and cook traditional Alaskan foods. My mom and other family members taught me how to cook. Here is one recipe for baked salmon.

We dip-net for salmon on the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers in July. I bake salmon with a mixture of ingredients, never the same. Photo by Angela Gonzalez

RECIPE:

Baked Salmon in the City

Ingredients
2 slices – onion or 1 – lemon
1 tablespoon – butter
Salmon fillet or steaks (enough servings for the amount of people you are cooking for)
Seasoning (Examples: salt, pepper, dill seed, fish rub)

Defrost salmon (if needed). Defrost overnight in the refrigerator or place in microwave for eight minutes at 30% heat. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Soak up any fluids with a paper towel, then place salmon in an oven pan. Spread butter on top of fish. Season to taste with your choice of seasoning and spices. Add a few slices of onion or lemon on each piece of fish. If you use lemon, you can also squeeze some of the juice on top of the salmon.

Place fish in the oven (uncovered) for 20 minutes. If the fish is flaky (poke with a fork), then it is probably done. If it is still red and juicy, then you can put in for another five minutes. If they are thick steak size pieces, then you may need about 35 minutes to start with. Cook to the degree that you like to eat it, but be careful not to under cook it. It is ready to serve.

Notes

You can substitute other fish, like white fish or halibut. They may just need more time to cook.
You can improvise and use other ingredients you enjoy. Some people like to add salsa (like Tapatio or Lea & Perrins sauce) to season it.
You can also marinate the salmon for about 10-30 minutes before baking. In the picture above, I marinated the salmon in oil and some of the spices. It had a richer taste, so I am not sure if I will make it that way again.

Salmon with onions. Photo by Angela Gonzalez

It is a pretty fast meal to prepare with plenty of time to make side dishes. I mostly like to eat salmon with rice and vegetables. I grew up in the village, so I eat a lot of canned vegetables. There are plenty of fresh vegetables to choose from in the city. Enjoy your baked salmon in the city or wherever you may be!

Alaska life

Learning to Cook with Vera Lestenkof

November 12, 2014October 8, 2015 Angela Gonzalez

My friend, Vera Lestenkof, shared a heart-warming story about recipes. It brought up so many memories about learning how to cook with my mom and family. I admit, I am not the best cook, but I do know how to prepare some key traditional Alaskan dishes. I will share her story, then some of my photos of dishes I’ve cooked.

It’s story time. Not long ago I was in a group discussion and we were asked to share something about ourselves, to help get to know each other better. So, I choose my story about recipes. When I was young and had little babies. I didn’t know how to cook. I subscribe to cookbook clubs. My late father-in-law gave me books.

One time, when we lived with my in laws, I tried making bread. I tried to double the recipe and put too much salt. The bread loaves came out flat top. I was so sad, but my father-in-law said, “We can still eat it.” He ate with dinner and made toast, he made me feel better. I would read the recipe books like a book. Everything got jumbled up in my mind. So, I started to create my own recipe. They always turned out good.

A good recipe to share is take a bag of chicken, dip in milk, mix with Ore-Ida mashed potato flakes and Ranch powder dressing mix. Bake for one hour. My family loved it. I couldn’t grasp the measurements part of a recipe.

The group liked my story and said I should write it down and so I decided to share it today. To this day I cook by memory. Except for occasional box meal. And the hard part now is writing it down. When my children ask how I made something, I am challenged. I praise all good cooks and it don’t have to be perfect. My bucket list includes a few recipes. I hope you enjoy my story. Have a great day and much blessings.

-Vera Lestenkof

Thank you to Vera for sharing this awesome story! I think I am more like her in that I don’t follow recipes that are written down. Here are some photos I’ve taken of the dishes I’ve prepared this year. Alaska Natives and many Alaskans hunt, fish and gather for their foods. Most foods are nutritious and supplement the store-bought foods.

I got some muktuk from a relative. It doesn't take much preparation, besides cutting it up into bite-size pieces. It can be eaten with a meal or chopped vegetables. Photo by Angela Gonzalez — I got some muktuk from a relative. It doesn’t take much preparation, besides cutting it up into bite-size pieces. It can be eaten with a meal or chopped vegetables. Photo by Angela Gonzalez

Baked hooligan fish taste pretty good when baked in flour or another mixture. Photo by Angela Gonzalez

I like to boil, then bake moose ribs with barbecue sauce. I usually have rice and some vegetables with this delicious meal. Photo by Angela Gonzalez

I love moose soup or stew. I make it with a mix of pasta and vegetables. Photo by Angela Gonzalez

I grew up eating these foods and many more. Living off the land and having a connection to the land and animals is how Alaska Natives have survived. It is hard work and sometimes hard to get traditional foods, but they are all very delicious. I hope you enjoyed this post and didn’t get too hungry. 🙂 I’m grateful for my family for teaching me how to hunt, fish and cook traditional foods.

Alaska life

Smoking Moose Meat in Interior Alaska

September 22, 2014October 6, 2015 Angela Gonzalez

Many Alaskans go hunting for moose and caribou in September, and they rely on it to get through the winter. We try to use and preserve as much of the meat as we can, so nothing goes to waste. Many people make steaks, soup bones, stew meat, ground meat, sausage, jarred meat, and much more. Many Alaska Natives like to make moose jerky, also known as dried moose/caribou meat or dry meat. Everyone preserves and prepares their meat and fish differently.

Josephine Derendoff of Huslia shared some photos of her process of making dry meat.

A moose quarter hangs in the smokehouse for a day or so, then people put it away in a variety of different ways. Photo by Josephine Derendoff of Huslia

You start with a chunk of meat, then start cutting them into smaller pieces. Photos by Josephine Derendoff of Huslia

Many people make their own hooks for drying moose meat strips. Twist it into this shape, then spear the meat onto each tip. The next step is to hang it up in the smokehouse. Photo by Josephine Derendoff of Huslia

Many interior Alaskans use garlic or seasoning salt to add flavor their dried moose meat (aka dry meat). Photos by Josephine Derendoff of Huslia

People in the interior Alaska hang moose meat in their smokehouses on polls, and smoke them for two to three days. Photo by Josephine Derendoff of Huslia

Old cottonwood is used to smoke dried moose meat in the interior. Many residents make homemade stoves to cook and smoke meat and fish in their smokehouses and camps. Photos by Josephine Derendoff in Huslia

After smoking and drying for a two to three days, the dried moose meat (aka dry meat) should be ready to take down and put away or eat. Photo by Josephine Derendoff of Huslia

The fat is smoked along with the dried moose meat. Photo by Josephine Derendoff of Huslia

After a few days of smoking and drying, the dried moose meat (aka dry meat) is ready to eat with some Pilot Bread crackers and hot tea. Photo by Josephine Derendoff of Huslia

Ana basee’ to my cousin, Josephine, for sharing her dry meat making process. It is a lot of work, but the results are pretty tasty!

My husband, Sarbelio, cuts up dry meat in Huslia. We cut is up, then bag it for the freezer. We eat some along the way. Photo by Angela Gonzalez

Speaking of a lot of work, it is helpful to work as a team and help each other when putting away moose meat. I went to Huslia in September and we lucked out and got to work on moose meat. I created a time lapse video using the new Hyperlapse app. It is basically eight minutes squeezed into two minutes. We had fun watching and laughing at the video! The guys (Sarbelio, Ross and Al Jr.) were mainly cutting the meat up and my sister, Tanya and I, were bagging the meat.

Many Alaska Native people still subsist off the land through hunting, fishing and gathering. It can be expensive to buy fuel for ATVs or boats to go out hunting, but it is very much worth it. Transportation is not cheap, and many rural Alaskan communities can only be reached by plane. This brings the prices of food up exponentially. That is why having moose, caribou, fish and berries is to important to have in your freezer. Plus, the way we prepare foods is delicious.

Many people hunt and fish along the Koyukuk River. Here is a photo of Solomon Yatlin, Janessa Gonzalez, Sarbelio Gonzalez, Ross Sam and Al Yatlin, Jr. in September, 2014. Photo by Angela Gonzalez

Alaska life, Alaska Native culture

If I Were A Warrior

August 12, 2013August 20, 2015 Angela Gonzalez

Arctic Valley near Anchorage. Photo by Angela Gonzalez

A poem written by Angela Gonzalez in November 1997

If I were a warrior,
We would all be warriors,
Fighting for our birth rights,
Inherent in all of us.

To survive we need each other,
This we call a war,
A war we all strive to understand,
To understand ourselves, our culture.

A culture we believe in,
Spirituality at all corners,
Of keeping moose meat and half dried fish,
On our tables – our sustenance.

Dry meat and fish. Photo by Eleanor Yatlin

With baaba (food), we feel good and healthy,
Healthy enough to say “I care”,
I care for all of my family,
Cousins, aunts, moms, dads, friends.

Friends and family help us remember,
Remember our past only to,
Help us get through the future,
A future that is unwritten.

Our future is unwritten,
We are the future,
What a thought to behold,
Keep your head high.

We have to remember who gave,
Gave us a future – grandparents,
We take care and love them,
They taught us all that we know.

My grandmothers, Lydia Simon and Alda Frank. Photo by Angela Gonzalez

Grandparents taught us through,
Our parents cared for us daily,
Little things like, anaa’sa’ baaba,
Yes, we are beholden to them.

If I was a warrior,
Only means that we are all warriors,
Our future is in our hands,
A war worth fighting for.