ANACORTES, Wash. — Salmon tastes great on its own, but when it’s smoked, the flavor reaches another level. That’s one of the reasons Anacortes-based SeaBear Smokehouse has been making seafood lovers happy for 65 years.
"Smoked salmon out of the Pacific Northwest is unlike any other smoked salmon in the world. It's moist, flaky, and fully cooked. It's a wonderful culinary experience," said Mike Mondello, CEO of Seabear Smokehouse. "And it's got literally centuries of history out of this part of the world."
"Company started with a local fisherman named Tom Savage," Mondello said. "He decided to build a backyard smokehouse one day, poured concrete over his wife's tomato plants, built the smokehouse, and started selling salmon locally."
The smoking process has changed a bit since it started 65 years ago.
"We're using a five-wood blend that is proprietary to us. We don't believe in heavy smoke, we want the salmon to be the hero," Mondello said. "That smoke is applied for anywhere from 6 to 10 hours plus, depends on the fish depends on the particular product. But that's where the magic happens."
"Once it's prepared and ready to go, we will package it. And that's our signature smoked salmon in the gold seal pouch," Mondello said. "It goes into the pouch, we suck out the air, and then we put it in what's essentially a monster pressure cooker and it gets cooked in its own natural juices. And that pouch will stay good for 4 years or more."
Today, SeaBear sells much more than just smoked salmon.
"We offer about 200 different products and some of those we wholesale and all of them we sell on our website."
The holidays are a super-busy time for Seabear Smokehouse. They'll ship out around 3000 orders a day all around the country.
"For people who love great food, it's such a celebration of the pacific northwest," Mondello said.
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