Cool, rainy climate and volcano-enriched soil make the Pacific Northwest a chef’s dream.
People in the Pacific North-west like to think that when it came to colonization, settlers saved the best for last, and in many ways they would be right. The area of North America made up of the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho—and, if one wants to look farther north, Alaska—and the Canadian province of British Columbia is one of the richest farming areas in the country, both from the land and the sea.
The mostly cool and damp climate—the coastal area is considered the largest temperate rain forest—and its location on or near the Pacific Ocean combine to create an area with the means to grow and harvest a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and seafood. The plains east of the Coast and Cascade mountain ranges are rich with farmland for livestock that produce meat, eggs, milk and cheese. Finally, the rich, light volcanic ash-infused soil of Idaho is nearly perfect for the growing of the russet Idaho potatoes so popular for baking, despite the relatively arid nature of the region, which is considered a northern extension of the Great Western Desert.
Menus that celebrate the agricultural tradition of this region are well received by customers because the diversity of the region provides a great opportunity for variety. Here are some of the major products that have made the Pacific Northwest a culinary paradise.
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Any Pacific Northwest menu has to be rich with seafood, and that starts with salmon. There are five varieties of Pacific salmon, and each mature at different times of the year, providing a near continuous supply of the fish.
Chinook, the largest species, is the earliest to arrive. This fish is soft-textured and oily, and is an excellent choice for salads or recipes calling for large pieces of fish. Sockeye is slightly smaller and less oily than Chinook. Its meat is firm and deep red in color. Coho is an all-purpose salmon, good for a variety of dishes. Its meat flakes easily into large pieces and is a lighter red than Sockeye. Chum is a light-colored fish, low in oil, and is used in dishes where color is not important. Pink salmon are the last to arrive in the fall. This smallish fish is the one most often used for canned salmon.
Other fish of note in the region are halibut, the large flatfish found primarily off the coast of Alaska and used for roasting, sautéing and grilling; trout, found in the lakes and streams of Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Alaska; and smelt, a herring-like fish that is rich in oils.
Shellfish—primarily clams, crab and oysters—also can be found in abundance in the area. In the southern half of the region Dungeness crab rules, while closer to Alaska the king crab is—excuse the pun—king for a brief season each fall. A chef at The Olympic Club in Seattle, at the turn of the 20th century, is often credited with capitalizing on crab’s popularity by creating the famous Crab Louis Salad.
There are about 500 varieties of clams found in the Pacific Northwest, with razor, littleneck, Manila and geoduck being the most well-known. Most species are either fried or chopped up for chowders, although the monstrous—for a clam—Geoduck has a firm flesh that can be used for sushi, sashimi and ceviche.
So much produce is grown in the Pacific Northwest that is it hard to know where to start. The cool, damp climate makes the region perfect for growing apples and pears, with an estimated 75% of these fruits consumed in the U.S. coming from Washington and Oregon. The area is known primarily for five varieties of apples: Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Fuji, Gala and Granny Smith. The abundance of the fruit in the early decades of the 20th century led two growers, Armen Tertsgian and Mark Balaban, to begin dehydrating apples. Tertsgian and Balaban also created a version of Turkish Delight using apples, walnuts and gelatin. Aplets, as it was called, was introduced in 1963 at the Seattle World’s Fair.
Pear varieties are even more numerous, with the region home to Yellow and Red Bartletts (good varieties for cooking), Green and Red Anjous, Bosc, Comice (an excellent dessert pear) and Seckel, among others.
In addition, the region produces 20 varieties of highbush blueberries, along with bing cherries, hazelnuts and huckleberries, a blue-black fruit similar to the blueberry but with a thicker skin, more tart flavor and seeds that give the fruit a crunchy texture.
A number of different types of mushroom, including cremini and morel, can be found in the Pacific Northwest. One such fungus that is relatively untapped is the truffle. Both white and black varieties can be found, primarily in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. They are available mainly between November and March, and chef/author James Beard has been quoted as calling Oregon truffles “at least as good as Italian white” truffles.
Finally, Idaho is most valued by chefs for its potato-growing region in the state’s northern panhandle. Potatoes were introduced to the state by a Presbyterian missionary in the early 19th century. But the russeted potato Idaho is best-known for is credited to a Coloradan, Lon Sweet, who developed it from a bud from the Burbank variety of potato developed by Luther Burbank. The Burbank is a smooth white-skinned variety, while Sweet’s mutation has the famous brown, reticulated skin that made the potato resistant to blight. The result was a boon to baked potato lovers everywhere.