Thank's y'all. With these Salmon prices the way they are, i have been intending on propper smoked salmon.
Maybe this weekend. Last night was pretty much just "baking with smoke".
So, I've got a question for you TB, all I've ever smoked, were Humpies.
Well, they don't bother bringing those fat bastards to the market. Although a great smoking fish.
We have King's and Sockeye right now, (and Fat-fish, but I don't like that stuff).
Both are the same price. Question is, which one would you recommend for the smoker?
Maybe I should try both just for shitz and giggles.
Lemme' break it down a bit Scov.
For pacific salmonoid's the 5 species largest to smallest are..
Chinook/King
Chum/Dog/Calico
Coho/Silver
Sockeye/Red
Pink/Humpy
The two with the highest fat content are the king and coho which make them the perfect choice for grilling but also are excellent for smoking. These two species arguably have the strongest salmon like flavor and not everyone's favorite table fare because of it. Myself, I'll take either of them and eat them smoked, grilled, sauteed, poached, I don't really care, I love it!
Chum, unless it is silver bright its just okay but upon entering freshwater, the meat goes mushy very quickly. In Alaska, while some people will smoke chum, it almost has the status of trash fish. Chum however has the best roe and is considered the first choice of eggs when making salmon caviar/ikura. Most excellent!
Sockeye doesn't have near the fat of their larger cousin's and thusly is much more mild in flavor and why many people prefer it. Care has to be taken with sockeye when grilling or smoking as that lack of fat can lead to it drying out. When properly done though under a watchful eye, it is very good when smoked or grilled. Personally, I think it is at its best when baked or sauteed, but as I mention, if proper attention is given to the fish, it can be as good as any salmon in any preparation.
Pinks, like chum, are to be desired only when super fresh, and like sockeye have a very mild flavor. I have only seen fresh pink sold in stores maybe once as the almost all of it caught commercially is canned. I always keep several cans of it on hand. It makes for an excellent salmon salad and will make a salmon cake as good as anything.
So my first choice for all around best would be coho by a nose over king but they really shine on the grill or smoked. After that would be sockeye which if done properly can be every bit as good as the either king or coho.
Now if you are going with fresh or farmed Atlantic, I would place it in the same class as coho.
In the past I have argued the merits of farmed fish, especially salmon, as its the same quality product, same price, and available all year long.
I no longer toot that horn. The fish is the same and still great but I no longer support seafood imported from outside the USA. Even at much cheaper prices, I would rather give my money to the seafood industry right here in this country. Fish that is farmed here in the good ole' USA, are still fine with me and I will continue to buy USA farmed catfish, rainbow trout, and steelhead.
Steelhead is generally not really farmed but the adipose fins are clipped to distinguish them from wild stock. They are bred from and raised in hatcheries and released as fry into freshwater rivers. They live out the remainder of their lives the very same as wild stock but will return to hatchery waters where they are caught in weir's or netted for harvest.
I should mention that these hatchery steelhead, which are really a sea run rainbow trout, are generally less expensive than salmon in general and are pretty damn awesome eats. In fact, I rate them right up there with coho but without the salmon like flavor. They are a very clean tasting fish and the meat is almost indistinguishable in color from salmon. Some of the best smoked or grilled fish I have ever had has been steelhead.
I discourage the buying of any steelhead marketed as wild caught. Steelhead are too valuable as a sport fish and wild stock of them is limited. Due to their numbers, wild steelhead cannot sustain the pressure of commercial fishing. Pacific salmon outnumber them by the hundreds of millions, if not billions.
Now, watcha' gonna' do?
