In search of Chubs

haven't seen any for quite awhile, anyone see any whole smoked chubs for sale anywhere lately?

Sweet Willie wrote:haven't seen any for quite awhile, anyone see any whole smoked chubs for sale anywhere lately?

Kauffman's had them last time I looked. Also, Boston Seafood had some a month or so back.

Hagen's Fish Market has had them pretty regularly. There are supply issues with chubs from Lake Michigan.

Hagen's Fish Market
5635 W. Montrose
773-283-1944
http://www.hagensfishmarket.com

Thanks for the replies.

I called Hagen's, Kaufman's, Boston Fish Market on Friday.

Hagens said no chubs & they haven't for awhile & don't know when they will have them.

Kaufmans said no because chubs are overfished

Boston Fish Market said not but they might get some in later in the day.

Personally if the article I posted in this Chub thread viewtopic.php?f=16&t=20377 is correct, there won't be any chubs for quite awhile if ever, as chubs do not seem to be economically viable to fish for.

Hagen's did have them on one of my visits in June. I recall my wife commenting about how small they were.

just got an email from Dirk's Fish & Gourmet Shop

to be clear, the following isn't my verbiage it is from the email

"CHUBS, CHUBS, CHUBS!
The Great lakes are still pretty frozen but there is fish becoming available from there too.
We even have fresh Lake Chubs for the first time in about 2 years! They are just as good as I remember them to be, moist juicy and smokey! The price is not as I remember though, these tasty morsels are now running at $22.00 lb. We have about 7 pounds in the shop right now."

Yup! Lake Michigan Chubs have been priced out of my price point for a few years!-Dick

Bloaters! Ciscos!

tough find these days so says US Widlife And Game:

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/news/bloater.html

kenji wrote:Bloaters! Ciscos!

tough find these days so says US Widlife And Game:

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/news/bloater.html

Interesting article, thanks for posting. I admit I'm confused, though, why they would be taking fish spawning in Lake Michigan and move their eggs/spawn to Lake Ontario - it's not like Lake Michigan has a surplus of these fish.

So chubs are bloaters?
I get the wordplay but it isn't clear in the article.

As luck would have it, I happened to buy a 'smoked Lake Superior herring' from Jewel (Harlem & Foster) a few days ago.
It is from the Suzi-Q fisheries mentioned in Kenji's linked article.
While perhaps not as, I dunno, creamy (?) as I remember chubs, at $6.99/lb and apparently more plentiful, I can enjoy a similar snack for $four and a quarter a fish and without guilt.
They are really good.

For the past few years I've been playing around with my oily fishes smoking them myself. I've come to love mackerel of course, Great Lakes whitefish, yellow croakers (ocean fish) from Asia, my absolute favorite is what Japanese call sanma. Filipinos call it galungan.

I'm hot smoking between 185-195 degrees F using fruitwood tree wood.

For the galungan I'll take the smoked fish let it cool and re-roast it too to get it crunchy.

The samna/galungan can be had for under 4 bucks a pound at Joong Boo and HMart

Lake Superior Herring or Cisco's are a native species.
http://michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10 ... --,00.html
I have not eaten them.
As much as i like Sanwa grilled, they are not a substitute for Chub's and there does not appear to be a species that is, hence the supply/demand pricing.
So I do without.
The closest substitute to my palate is a Lake Superior or any other Great Lake Whitefish.
I purchase at Fresh Farms, brine and smoke.-Dick

I was at Assi Market in Niles last week. At the fish area were fresh herring. I believe they were labeled US but not positive. Likewise, I'm not possitive, but my guess was they came from one of the great lakes. I did not buy, but they looked buy-worthy, fresh and all. It's just you (me) would have had to cook them very soon, and I did not have that opportunity. Likewise, they had a whole bunch of bluegills that looked gorgeous. I imagine they were a farmed product. Overall, the opportunities for small, freshwater fish are not quite dire, at leat in the un-smoked versions.

budrichard wrote:As much as i like Sanwa grilled, they are not a substitute for Chub's

I'm telling you….smoke that sanma THEN grill it. Give it a whirl.

Not on sale, and not chubs, per se.... but every so often, I buy my smoked whitefish at Costco. Individually vacuum wrapped, and occasionally outstanding. Sometimes dry, but really brings me back to the smoked fish of my youth (price notwithstanding.)

Real clubs spotted at Dirks last week.

Hagens has had both smoked chubs and ciscoes the last several times we have stopped there. Not cheap, somewhere in the order of $16 to $18 per pound.

Max & Benny's, in Northbrook, is usually an excellent source for chubs -- and most other deli fish. Excellent lox and sable.

461 Waukegan Rd.
Northbrook, Il 60062
847-272-9490

http://www.maxandbennys.com

There's a semi-vague post getting buried on the Eating Out forum about chubs recently spotted at Calumet Fisheries... Hopeful we're having a comeback!!