Alaska might not be San Francisco or Paris, but you will find the Last Frontier offers many delights for foodies. The North Pacific Ocean provides endless seafood and the near-endless daylight combines with the rich soil to produce an abundance of fruits and vegetables.
Here’s a list of the foods and libations to whet your appetite:
- Seafood – Alaska is one of the best places to sample wild-caught seafood with guilt-free dining due to the strict federal and state management ensuring sustainable harvests. The fish and chips and the smoked salmon chowder are amazing! Here are some of the most popular types of seafood to try.
Chinook Salmon is the largest species of Pacific salmon and Alaska’s State fish. They have a strong flavor that comes out when cooking over an open flame. The red flesh has a tender melt-in-your-mouth quality.
The Sockeye salmon is the most commercially important salmon in Alaska. They’re rich and meaty with firm red flesh and a medium flavor that’s filling and satisfying.
Coho salmon has a more delicate and subtle flavor with the flesh a bit more orange than red.
King Crab is an authentic world-class delicacy not to be missed. The three commercial species, blue, red and golden king crab can be one of the most expensive seafood on the menu. Snow Crab is the most widely caught crab in Alaska. The meat is sweet, tender and slightly salty with a delicate flavor. The king crab bisque and king crab cakes are delicious.
Spot Shrimp Is the largest shrimp in the North Pacific and can grow to almost a foot in length. Sweet and filling, Spot shrimp are large enough to grill and a unique dining experience.
Oysters served in a variety of ways: The most popular preparations are mornay, rockefeller, bienville, bruschetta, casino, oscar, pan-fried, and saint jacques.
- Reindeer is a must-try Alaska experience. Sausage containing reindeer is on the breakfast menu of full-service restaurants. Some street vendors and restaurants offer very tasty reindeer hot dogs at about twice the price of a regular hot dog.
- Wild Berry Cobbler is made from an extraordinary annual berry crop of over a dozen species from the sweet alpine berries to the tart wetland salmonberries. Ripe varieties of berries will range from grey-blue to almost black.
- Alaskan Eskimo Ice Cream is a dessert made of dried fish, dried moose or caribou meat and fat and berries or mild sweeteners such as roots of Indian potato or wild carrot, mixed and whipped with a whisk.
- Baked Alaska was “coined” at a restaurant in New Orleans to honor the acquisition of Alaska by the United States from the Russian Empire. Did you ever wonder why it doesn’t melt? The ice cream is covered by cake and meringue and when it bakes in the oven, the meringue acts like an insulator around the ice cream. Early versions of Baked Alaska, according to historians, say Thomas Jefferson was one of the first presidents to serve ice cream at a state banquet in the White House. Jefferson requested the ice cream to be served encased in a hot pastry.
- Alaskan Craft Beer is made in over 35 microbreweries operating in about 20 communities around the State. The ales, lagers and pilsners are often associated with a specific restaurant or pub. Anchorage features several popular venues with visible brewing tanks. Big Swig Tours is a great way to sample fresh tapped beer. You can bike from brewery to brewery on tour and another popular beer tour is taking a ride on the Alaska Railroad.
Alaska cruises for 2022 are available a well as Alaska land tours and vacation packages.
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