This Cheesy Dip Is a Closely Guarded Alaskan Secret
Salmon may be Alaska’s most renowned dish, but in the coolers of the people fishing for salmon, you very likely to find Kenai dip. In midsummer, when the sockeye run thick in the Kenai (pronounced KEEN-eye) River, Echo Lake sells 500 pounds of it per day.
A mouth-tingling, mayo-forward cousin of pimento cheese, it travels well and is usually served with sturdy tortilla chips or crackers.
…the basics are Cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, jalapeño and liquid smoke.
The crack dip I used to make was mayo, shredded cheddar, hot sauce , Worcestershire sauce, chopped green onions. (no ranch powder) Somewhat similar, as well!
I also used to make a Gilroy dragon Garlic dip which was made with mayo, cheddar, sour cream, green onions and roasted garlic.
I also love pimento cheese! On the way to fl we typically stop at smiths red and white pork store for a big container that lasts us a month or so. They sell about 1000 pounds a week, more around the holidays. Couple that with 4 pounds or so of their sausage and we’re happy campers.
Somewhere I have a recipe for a smoked fish dip, it’s a big hit at parties, usually I’ll smoke a filet of salmon. I’d guess there’s a lot of that sort of dip in Alaska, maybe I’ll try to combine it with this recipe.
1 to 1-1/2lb smoked salmon
1 lb cream cheese
1 cup mayo
1/2 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon dill weed
3 dashes black pepper
Since this came from a bbq site, i believe it’s meant to be salmon coming off a smoker as opposed to lox. It also works beautifully with smoked bluefish.
One of our friends had some sort of small smoking device in their kitchen, maybe a pan with a cover, and it worked wonderfully for salmon, maybe it was this:
If you see home recipes for Indian restaurant dishes like kababs and dal makhani, there is usually a last step to “smoke” the dish by putting a small piece of coal in a steel bowl, putting some ghee on it, lighting it, and then covering the pan. Very effective.
Great call on the bluefish. Mackerel could be really good too. I really like stronger flavored fish for applications like this. Unfortunately at least around me they’re nearly impossible to find, so I’m probably in the minority.
In the ny/nj area, we catch blues during striper season, the first day they are delicious but after, not so much, so smoking extends the use of the fish.
Interesting! Apparently they’re fished and caught in the Boston area too. I don’t know what becomes of them. There’s a local company that makes a great smoked bluefish dip that I regularly buy, and aside from that and the very occasional restaurant sighting – like once every couple of years – I never get a taste. Mackerel at least, I have seen on rare occasions at a fish market, and I also used to be able to get a smoked version but that disappeared during the COVID timeframe. I could use a lot more of that too. I’d love to regularly buy fresh or even smoked versions of both…
