Recipe: About Oolichan (small silvery fish belonging to the smelt family)

About Oolichan
Source: Oolivhsn Northwest Stewardship Society

There are many ways to spell oolichan: eulachan or eulachon, oolachon, oolican, oulachon, oulachen, hoolican, ulichan, hollikan and ooligan. They are also referred to as candle fish or lampfish. The Haisla call them Juk'wan, which translates to "jittery fish".

They are a small silvery fish belonging to the smelt family, Osmeridae, and are found in glacier fed rivers from northern California to the south Bering Sea.

Once harvested, the oolichan are either eaten fresh, preserved for consumption at a later date, or made into oolichan grease.

Fresh oolichan can be boiled, broiled or fried. The fish can also be preserved by salting, sun-drying, smoking, canning or freezing.

The recipe to render oolichan grease differs slightly from one Nation to another. The general recipe is to allow the fish to ripen for approximately two weeks under evergreen branches, cook the fish in fresh water, and then skim the oil from the surface of the water. Specific recipes differ in the dumping and stirring of the fish, straining the carcasses, placing rocks in the water to reheat the mixture, and filtration methods. Whatever method used that is unique to the individual First Nation, those involved in making the oolichan grease were, and still are, proud of the end product. The grease was, and still is, shared and sometimes given away as a gift. The valuable and nutritious end product is used on many foods; salmon, halibut, herring roe, and berries, similar to the way butter is used. The grease was used for trade with other First Nations that did not harvest oolichan.