Fish Links

Gerard & Dominique

P. O. Box 1845

Bothell, Wash. 98041

(800) 858-0449

MasterCard, Visa

The Pacific Northwest is where you’d expect to find great salmon, so you would assume that the smoked salmon in that part of the country must be great too. But Dominique Place, who established his smoked seafood company four years ago with Gerard Parrat, isn’t so sure. The partners are smoking Atlantic salmon in Washington State.

Hmmmmmm. Isn’t that a bit like bringing coal to Newcastle? “Pacific salmon is the greatest fish to eat fresh,” says Place, “but Atlantic salmon is better for smoking. It’s oilier and more luscious.”

The two French chefs sell their seafood mainly to hotels, restaurants and by mail. Their clients include Four Seasons hotels, Morton’s of Chicago restaurants and the Bon Marche department stores.

They use no chemical preservatives or additives in preparing any of the products, and all fish is guaranteed to be cured and smoked within 72 hours of the catch. “We don’t have any seafood that hangs around,” says Place.

Besides making the European-style smoked salmon and an array of other smoked seafood, the company also makes its own sausages. Stuffed with fresh and smoked salmon, chunks of shrimp and scallops, and fresh herbs and spinach, the mildly smoked seafood sausages are great grilled or lightly sauteed and served with a side of pasta.

The sausages are shipped frozen by second-day air and cost $32.95 for two pounds, plus another $12 for shipping.

That translates into about eight good-sized sausages at $5.50 each--not bad considering the quality.