Anchorage Daily News

Black cod is an Alaska fish that seems to escape many people’s plates. That’s too bad because it’s one of the tastiest fish found here and has genuine health benefits more often associated with salmon.

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In addition to being rich in omega-3 fatty acids, it also furnishes minerals such as iodine, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, iron, zinc and calcium, according to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. The fats are polyunsaturated, so they benefit a low-cholesterol diet.

When you ask your fishmonger, call it black cod. But it’s not a true cod. Its true name is sablefish. In some areas it’s called butterfish, which should give you an indication of how it tastes. By any name, it’s something the uninitiated should try.

And if you care about sustainability, sablefish gets high marks from the National Marine Fisheries Service’s FishWatch program, which says the Pacific Coast sablefish is at 96 percent of the biomass needed to support maximum sustainable yield. Alaska’s Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands population is better than that at 5 percent above its necessary biomass. Still interested? Cade Smith at Fisherman’s Express has some on hand.

As fresh salmon prices go through the roof, this is a great time to give sablefish a try. Smith has the fillets for $16.46 per pound and steaks for $11.21.

Smith has plenty of crab as well, ranging from $9.95 for snow crab to $27.95 for his Captain’s Reserve red king crab legs that weigh as much as a pound each.

If you don’t like to shell the crab, he sells just the king meat for $34.95, but that kind of takes the party out of it.

SALMON STILL AVAILABLE

Over at 10th & M Seafoods, Dannon Southall says troll-caught king salmon continue to roll in from Southeast Alaska. Some are the white-fleshed fish that the ritzy folk call ivory salmon.

He also plans to have fresh side-stripe shrimp by the end of the week. Those will run $9.95 per pound. His fresh halibut costs $6.95 per pound for the headed-and-gutted fish. The fillets are $13.95 per pound. Fresh rockfish and Dover sole fillets run $7.95 per pound, and true cod fillets are $6.95.

Bivalves are $10.95 per dozen for fresh Alaska oysters, or $9.95 for 12 Pacific oysters. Live mussels are $4.95 per pound, and live clams are $5.95 per pound.

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

The Anchorage Farmers Market opens Saturday for the first time this season, only a week after more than a foot of snow dumped on us.

Of course the pickings will be slim, but Sarah Bean writes that she and River Bean of Arctic Organics will have arugula, leaf lettuce and basil that they’ve been growing in the greenhouse.

The Beans will also have vegetable and flower seedlings, tomato plants and apple trees adaptable to Southcentral’s growing conditions.

The market will be at 15th Avenue and Cordova Street in the Central Lutheran Church parking lot. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.

Find T.C. Mitchell online at adn.com/contact/tcmitchell or call 1-907-352-6716.

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