Quotes from Tom Douglas

I think about sustainability all the time, whether it's with fish or farmers in Eastern Oregon.

Another way I like to barbecue king salmon is as a whole fish stuffed, literally to the gills, with sweet onions, sliced lemons, and summer sage.

I want to do the basic things, like putting my daughter to bed. It's the sweetest thing.

I don't know too many kids who ask to weed the garden.

Pork is my friend.

If you just feel lazy and don't want to cook, then don't cook.

I didn't go to university. I didn't go to culinary school, barely made it through high school.

Farm to table is a personal choice.

There's something majestic about a 30-pound Chinook salmon roasted and served whole - people get excited when you present it with the head and tail on. It has beautifully browned skin and extraordinary bright red flesh when you cut into it.

When you watch 'Shark Tank,' everything is about off-shore this, off-shore that.

I don't ever preach to people.

Spanish chorizo is a spicy cured sausage that's especially tasty with clams.

The flesh of king salmon, which varies in color from white to pink to red, has a high fat content, making it perfect for grilling.

It's important that your shucked oyster is clean and pristine.

My dad never explained anything growing up.

Who doesn't love digging into a plate of crab cakes or going after a chilled cracked crab with crab cracker, cocktail fork and a plastic bib for protection?

I'm kind of fat.

For a group of friends or a family dinner, fish tacos are popular and fun to make.

At the fishmonger, choose fish with bright scales and clear eyes.

Catfish's mild taste adapts well to a wide array of flavors, especially strong assertive ones, which is why you used to see it 'blackened' Cajun style on so many restaurant menus - a trick which soon became a tired cliche.

Over the years I've tweaked my stuffing recipe many times, adding a variety of ingredients like sauteed wild mushrooms, dried cherries, fresh chevre, toasted hazelnuts, chopped ham hock meat, and other taste treats.

Summer in Seattle allows me to indulge in some of the region's top culinary delights - I'm talking about wild king salmon and fresh, ripe Washington stone fruits and berries like cherries, peaches, plums, and blueberries.

Around the time I opened my second restaurant, Etta's, I had just finished judging at the Jack Daniels World Invitational BBQ Championship in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Back home in Seattle, my goal was to recreate the sweet and smoky taste of that BBQ using our local wild king salmon instead of pig.

Most of the catfish you find at the fish counter has been farmed. Though I usually prefer to buy and eat wild fish, farmed catfish taste cleaner, without the muddy taste of their wild relatives.