Tuesday Market

Does anyone know what it takes to get a booth in the Tuesday Market?

Used to be some committee had to approve you, had to be organic or whatever if not food.. Some fee was involved. Maybe talk to an already existing vendor to get the angle on it. Casa Vegana (Greg) is easy to find on FB..or look at the list of vendors/contacts on Lake Chapala Farmer's Market FB page.

Or just go on Tuesday and have a chat with the staff. Maybe bring a sample of your wares. As CG said, you do have to be approved and they have rules and regs and are quite strict about them. They run a tight ship and that's probably why they have seen such success for so long. 

There is also the Monday Market . . .

What are you planning to make or sell?

Smoked Salmon

fyi, there is a smoked salmon seller at both Monday and Tuesday markets.  They used to sell at (now defunct) Thursday market off Ajijic Plaza.  

Someone told me that Costalegre fish market in SAT sold smoked salmon but when I asked there a few months ago, they said they no longer had any.  Maybe be a another outlet for you?

I miss getting smoked salmon at the Thursday market (bought it weekly); I find the Mon. and Tues. markets just too crowded for me.  Parking at the Monday market is crazy.  

Where are you getting your salmon from?

CBob have you considered smoked steelhead?

I bet your smoked salmon is good! However, Fred and Maria's Slammin' Salmon has been a mainstay at both markets since the very beginning. Fred recently passed but Maria continues and it is delicious - as well as their other products. Last I saw, anyway.

Tuesday Market is strict about duplicate products. Maybe find another eay to bring your product to market? Sell to stores? Home delivery? Takeout? Maybe Traitte???

I don't go to the markets anymore either but I'd swing by for pick up or use Traitte to buy your salmon.

Is it wet or dry?

It is flaky. I smoke between 120f to 160f for about 6 hours. I brine the fish in my secret sauce for 24 hours in advance then let it dry for 2 hours in front of a fan to develop the pecile (sp) before going into the smoker.

I usually get my fillets at least at Wal-Mart. Fresh or frozen taste equally as good after being brined and smoked. Where are they selling steelhead? Dorado is a great tasting smoked fish too.

Trailrunner wrote:I bet your smoked salmon is good! However, Fred and Maria's Slammin' Salmon has been a mainstay at both markets since the very beginning. Fred recently passed but Maria continues and it is delicious - as well as their other products. Last I saw, anyway.

Tuesday Market is strict about duplicate products. Maybe find another eay to bring your product to market? Sell to stores? Home delivery? Takeout? Maybe Traitte???

I don't go to the markets anymore either but I'd swing by for pick up or use Traitte to buy your salmon.

Is it wet or dry?

It is flaky. I smoke between 120f to 160f for about 6 hours. I brine the fish in my secret sauce for 24 hours in advance then let it dry for 2 hours in front of a fan to develop the pecile (sp) before going into the smoker.

Sounds good, CB. Maybe try using wild-caught from Costalegre, I think you'll get a better finished product.

Fred told me years ago he had a connection to wild-caught PN/Alaskan salmon (he used to work in the industry) and had it flown in to Guad frozen which is where he went weekly to pick it up. Don't know if Maria is still doing that though. . .

I buy my salmon at Costalegre and it is excellent.  Just picked up an order this morning.  They prefer you pre-order; they only get it on Wednesdays.  Currently they told me it is coming in from Canada (used to be AK).  It was 400p per kilo today.  

Bob...you may want to check Chapala Crime FB; a person claimed they found a 4 inch tapeworm (alive!) in their salmon from our local Walmart.  Eeeeww!!

I have also purchased salmon from Costco, but Costalegre's is superior.  Sometimes Costco's is sold skinless.  I prefer skin-on salmon.  

FWIW, I've bought salmon weekly for 40+ years; Costalegre's is a light-colored orange with a lot of white fat streaks.  When I buy wild salmon in the US it is always much redder with far less less fat.  I am not claiming to be an expert, just saying what I notice and what I see when I google wild v farmed.  Frankly we prefer the fattier salmon (we grill it and the extra fat makes for a moister end product).

Whatever the source of Costalegre's salmon it is the best around here.

There are 5 kinds of Pacific salmon, and one kind of Atlantic salmon... which was basically fished out years ago. I have researched this so many times, lol. Alaska salmon are the reddest because of the amount of krill they eat. Farther south, less colour. (Farmed are grey, with pigmenting in their food to colour them. And that has to be noted on the package, although I doubt we see anything like that around here.)

Having lived on both coasts of Canada, I was also told that Atlantic is tastier, because they have more fat due to the cold water. I can neither prove nor disprove that claim.

So at this point when shopping, I don't care about colour, just freshness and the reputation of the seller.

Costco right next to the Salmon.

Good report, CG. I've read a lot about farmed salmon and give it a wide berth. Nasty. Wild is the only way to go and agree with you guys to stick to the Wed salmon from Costalegre. Or Fred and Maria. 

After so many years in the bay area, I really miss crab and those deep dark red oval shaped salmon steaks that were so readily accessible. Oh well. Traded them for street tacos, I guess. Fair trade.

Boy do I agree: I really miss real crab. This fake stuff that everyone uses is not only fairly tasteless, but way over-priced when you get it at a restaurant. Bobby at his Terrazza has a couple of items with real crab, and I love them.

I only visited San Fransisco twice, and both times I ate fresh crab down on the Pier. Inside and outside. Now I guess that recent fire destroyed a lot of livelihoods on that stretch by the water.

Well, in terms of crab, you have had the best of the best!    Man that is good. 

In terms of surimi that fake crab junk, it's wheat gluten as far as I know. I did some research once to see if I could eat it and the answer was a big no.

Ok, here's a question for you . . . why don't they cut salmon steaks here like they do in SF? Always skinny little filets? I love a big thick juicy salmon steak on the grill.

Trailrunner wrote:

Ok, here's a question for you . . . why don't they cut salmon steaks here like they do in SF? Always skinny little filets? I love a big thick juicy salmon steak on the grill.

Until a few years ago, you could say the same thing about beef steaks around here (Jalisco).

The so called "juicy" beef steaks are cooked rare with a lot of blood in them. What makes salmon "juicy", blood, grease, water, or ???.

Fat! Of course. Good tasting artery clogging fat.

Trailrunner wrote:Fat! Of course. Good tasting artery clogging fat.

So Atlantic salmon is best as CG says that contains more fat?  We eat a lot of wild Atlantic salmon in Ireland, hot smoked, but I never noticed it being greasy or watery,...... or juicy . It is usually flaky and firm.

Maybe you cook it longer than I do?

Trailrunner wrote:Ok, here's a question for you . . . why don't they cut salmon steaks here like they do in SF? Always skinny little filets? I love a big thick juicy salmon steak on the grill.

This is an excellent question. Only since I got here have I had the cross-sliced stuff. I prefer the meaty steaks, too. Maybe it's the smaller fish being delivered: not big enough to cut as steaks. It's also easier to BBQ a salmon steak, because it doesn't have that thin little end bit. (However, for smoking, that little bit practically turns into candy, because part of my marinade is rum or brandy or whiskey.)

But generally, almost all the fish served at restaurants here are these thin little cutlets. They are not thick enough to cook properly, so they come out mushy and frequently underdone. Same with the beef; maybe that's where it comes from. The only place in town that serves a thick ribeye is Tango. And you can't cook a thin ribeye properly. But the custom for cutting meat here goes back, waaay back, when all beef was too tough to eat and was never hung. So they chopped it up in little pieces to make it at least chewable. Thus tacos were born, and so many other varieties of Mexican dishes.

Even Pancho's much-flaunted weekend ribeyes are awful. They were popular, I guess, because people like Pancho, it was a cool new place, and prices were "good".  I see they added a pricier ribeye some time ago, but I can't bring myself to go back.

Used to be a bumper sticker you saw a lot around coastal British Columbia- "Real fish don't eat pellets".

I think you're right, MG. The fish are probably smaller and skimpier. I guess one would have to buy a whole salmon and cut it into steaks ones self. And, you're right the filets can't be cooked properly like the steaks can. And mushy usually means farm-raised.

Good bumper sticker.

So, does Pancho still have a restaurant? He advertises the store all the time but nada about the restaurant. He used to post lots of pics of customers and food.