Types of salmon from coast to coast
Canadians love salmon: it's one of the most popular types of fish to toss on a grill or poach for supper. Salmon is abundant, easy to cook and is available fresh and without a high price tag throughout the country. It is also high in protein, low in saturated fat and cholesterol and full of healthy fish oils (both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) and their associated antioxidants, making this fish a nutritional powerhouse. Best of all, salmon is delicious, with attractive pink to red flesh, and it is extremely versatile in the kitchen.
Atlantic and Pacific salmon
In Canada, we have two basic categories of salmon, both of which make for exceptionally good eating. Atlantic salmon, the vast majority of which is farmed, accounts for the largest share in the market, while Pacific salmon, most of which is wild-caught, is vastly behind on market share. The whole Atlantic ocean and its tributary rivers have only one native species of salmon -- Atlantic salmon -- while Pacific salmon comprises five distinct species, two of which (Chinook and Coho) have been introduced to the Great Lakes water system.
Atlantic and Pacific salmon
In Canada, we have two basic categories of salmon, both of which make for exceptionally good eating. Atlantic salmon, the vast majority of which is farmed, accounts for the largest share in the market, while Pacific salmon, most of which is wild-caught, is vastly behind on market share. The whole Atlantic ocean and its tributary rivers have only one native species of salmon -- Atlantic salmon -- while Pacific salmon comprises five distinct species, two of which (Chinook and Coho) have been introduced to the Great Lakes water system.
Types of Pacific salmon
- Chinook (also called spring or king) salmon is the largest; its flesh ranges from ivory to deep red (depending on its diet) and it has a fine flavour.
- Chum salmon is small with delicate pink to red lean flesh.
- Coho salmon has fine-textured lean red flesh with a wonderful deep flavour; it is wonderful for eating raw as well as cooked.
- Sockeye salmon is the most common, accounting for about two-thirds of the commercial harvest; it has deep red flesh and a medium-light flavour. It is used for canning as well as for selling fresh.
- Pink salmon is used almost exclusively for canning; this salmon is the smallest of Pacific salmon types and has an acceptably light flavour and a delicate pink colour.
Landlocked salmon
I should also mention a specialty salmon that I have enjoyed fishing along the New Brunswick and Maine border: landlocked salmon. Perhaps millennia or centuries ago, in many of the large lakes in Eastern Canada, ocean-dwelling Atlantic salmon were trapped on their treks to rivers and lakes to spawn in fresh water. They now comprise a sub-species of landlocked salmon with a distinct and fantastic flavour somewhere between trout and salmon.
Click to continue and get salmon cooking tips from Andrew...
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- Chinook (also called spring or king) salmon is the largest; its flesh ranges from ivory to deep red (depending on its diet) and it has a fine flavour.
- Chum salmon is small with delicate pink to red lean flesh.
- Coho salmon has fine-textured lean red flesh with a wonderful deep flavour; it is wonderful for eating raw as well as cooked.
- Sockeye salmon is the most common, accounting for about two-thirds of the commercial harvest; it has deep red flesh and a medium-light flavour. It is used for canning as well as for selling fresh.
- Pink salmon is used almost exclusively for canning; this salmon is the smallest of Pacific salmon types and has an acceptably light flavour and a delicate pink colour.
Landlocked salmon
I should also mention a specialty salmon that I have enjoyed fishing along the New Brunswick and Maine border: landlocked salmon. Perhaps millennia or centuries ago, in many of the large lakes in Eastern Canada, ocean-dwelling Atlantic salmon were trapped on their treks to rivers and lakes to spawn in fresh water. They now comprise a sub-species of landlocked salmon with a distinct and fantastic flavour somewhere between trout and salmon.
Click to continue and get salmon cooking tips from Andrew...
Page 1 of 2
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PAUL SMITH wrote:
2009-09-22 10:48 AM
Marie M wrote:
2009-09-22 10:50 AM