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Crimson Cove Smoked Specialties of Poulsbo

Last modified on 2009-04-24 17:44:45 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

While many local farmers await fresh produce that may be delayed from yet another cold spring, there is one local food producer whose been literally smokin’!

Meet Mark and Jody DeSalvo, owners of Crimson Cove Smoked Specialties of Poulsbo.  Farmers market devotees of Poulsbo (and soon Kingston and Suquamish), rave about the couple’s only two product lines – smoked wild-caught king and sock-eye salmon and a variety of smoked cheeses.

The DeSalvos: Mark and Jody, Ashleigh and Aspen At The Poulsbo Farmers Market

Originally from Issaquah, Mark became a Navy pilot upon graduation from WSU and while stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas, he met future wife Jody, a Chicago native who was obtaining a business degree at Texas A and M.  She’d never experienced the culinary delights of the Northwest and Mark was missing them, especially after they moved to Florida and North Carolina.

“I wanted Jody to taste really good smoked salmon so my first batches were made on a Little Chief smoker for her and some of our friends,” says Mark.

It was love at first taste for Jody and the couple soon found themselves making more and more for their friends in the south who would normally pay more than $40 a pound for smoked salmon. At the same time, Mark began experimenting and perfecting his secret recipe of wine-soaked  salmon that now includes soy sauce, sugar and sea salt. He currently uses a mixture of alder and apple wood for smoking.

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“I love everything about smoking food – the wonderful scent while it’s smoking, the special flavor the right blend of wood smoke produces, and the delight people experience with our product,” says Jody who adds that nothing pleases her more than having people come up to her at the market and tell her theirs is the best salmon they’ve ever tasted.

The cheese product line was developed soon after the smoked salmon. Mark says he has always loved cheese and it was a natural pairing though he originally tried to smoke cheese in a little foil boat in his Little Chief but soon realized that cheese needed to be cold smoked unless it was going to be of a melted variety.

With the DeSalvos, it’s a true partnership and this is one of the main reasons the couple decided to go into the business. While Mark attends to the development of new product, smoking and sales, Jody uses her business degree to do some of the farmers market selling with their daughters and performs most of the behind-the-scenes business tasks.

Building A Business

After Mark served his stint as a Navy pilot, the DeSalvos decided to return to the Northwest where the couple eventually chose Poulsbo to raise their two daughters, Ashleigh and Aspen.  Mark stayed in the active Navy reserve, retired from that 6.5 years ago, and became a commercial pilot captain for Jet Blue Airlines.  He’s still serving in the individual reserve as a Lieutenant Commander.

With his airline schedule allowing him several days off at a time, Mark says with a laugh that his days “off” are really now when he flies.  On a recent Thursday, he returned from a flight at 4 a.m. and was off to work putting the finishing touches on Crimson Cove’s new digs in a small industrial park off of Bond Road.   With their expanding smoked product business, the couple discovered they need more space and bigger, better equipment.  By late spring, they also hope to have a small retail outlet open in their new space, which will also be licensed with a commercial kitchen.

Though both the cold smoking of the cheeses and the hot smoking of the salmon is done (in 300-40o pound batches at a time) using  a huge stainless steel, walk-in smoker with racks layered taller than Mark and Jody, much of Crimson Cove’s  equipment is recycled.  A large carved wood counter that will also serve as a desk was rescued from discarding by an office, a Craig’s List find brought in an 8 by 10 foot refrigerator unit that Mark refurbished, and a Newport, Oregon fisherman who no longer smoked fish, provided another smoker that arrived in pieces that Mark reassembled.

Presently the product line includes smoked salmon and the smoked cheese line-up includes a delectable variety of pepper-jack, cheddar, blue, and jack.

In addition to the farmers markets, Crimson Cove Smoked Specialties may also be found at Lemolo Market in Poulsbo and Real Foods Market and Café on Bainbridge Island.  Several restaurants feature their products including Mor-Mor, Whiskey Creek Steakhouses, Manette, Side Bar and farther a field – the Cheesemaiden of Boston, Maine. Arrangements may also be made in advance for free product delivery to the Port of Poulsbo Marina for special event orders.

“I really have to credit John Nesby of Mor-Mor and Jackie Aitcheson of the Poulsbo Market in helping me to further launch our business and make it what it is today,” says Mark.

For more information on Crimson Cove Smoked Specialty Products, call (360 265-3683 or go on-line at www.crimsoncove.com