Cold smoked sablefish is unlike any cold smoked fish you’ve had before. It’s mild and salty like other varieties of smoked white fish, but it’s especially silky and luscious in texture. This rich quality reflects sablefish’s unique omega-3 fatty acid content, and has also earned it the nickname “butterfish.”
Cold Smoked Sablefish 101
This rich, buttery species is dry-brined in salt, then smoked with a blend of hardwoods. This preservation process produces a cold smoked sablefish that is silky in texture and pleasantly oily, ready to enjoy right out of the pack. Note that unlike some other cold smoked fish products, no sugar is used in the brine, making cold-smoked sablefish appropriate for someone who is following a Whole30 diet.
An 8-ounce pack of cold smoked sablefish contains 10-12 slices of fish, or about 4 servings. Each serving contains 140 calories and 10 grams of fat, with plenty of that in the form of those prized omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA. It’s a good source of vitamin D with about 20 percent of your daily recommended intake.
Sablefish Facts
Although they’re not actually a part of the cod family, sablefish are often called black cod for having a similar appearance but with a darker upper body instead.
Sablefish are avid migrators that live along the Pacific Ocean from northern Mexico to the Gulf of Alaska. They occur in deep water along the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea beside the continental slope of the state and feed on fish, squid, krill and jellyfish. Wild sablefish from Alaska grow larger in size than sablefish from the American west coast. Their size is the reason why they’re considered a premium product, as they’re likely to have a higher oil content than their counterparts.
How to Enjoy Cold Smoked Sablefish
When you're ready to enjoy your pack of cold smoked sablefish, remove it while frozen from its packaging, then thaw it in a separate airtight container in your refrigerator. A slice of cold smoked sablefish would be heavenly on blinis. If you have a little time to spare, make your own easy batch of blinis at home to give your smoked fish the treatment it deserves.
Try mixing in salty morsels of cold smoked sablefish into an easy broiled scallion dip/schmear that you can dunk into with your favorite crackers.
Or, include it in a seafood charcuterie with a citrusy compote, alongside a few slices of cold smoked halibut and cold smoked sockeye.
