Product cuttings: Buying salmon

Despite its popularity on restaurant menus, salmon can be tricky to purchase. Wild varieties are numerous and varied and farmed fish can be sourced from countries and facilities with very different standards. Aside from price and availability, what impacts your choices? Bret Lynch, corporate chef for Ocean Beauty, a large Seattle salmon supplier, provides guidance and leads us through a product cutting.

•King or Chinook salmon is the largest and top-quality variety. It’s distinguished by rosy color, succulent flesh and high oil content

•Sockeye has the deepest red color and a rich flavor; average market weight is four to ten pounds.

•Coho or silver salmon has orange-red flesh and a more delicate flavor. It’s slightly larger than a sockeye and often sold frozen or smoked.

•Pink or humpback salmon is the smallest Pacific species. It’s characterized by lighter-colored flesh and milder flavor; least expensive of the wild varieties.

•Chum or keta salmon is orange-pink in color and firmly textured with an average weight of eight pounds; second most abundant species.

•Atlantic or farmed salmon is the most abundant species. Flesh ranges from pink to orange with broad white fat lines between layers of muscle tissue. Average weight is seven to 12 pounds.

Salmon: Farmed vs. Wild

Farmed salmon 

Pros
•Ability to scale production to meet market demand
•Uniform size for portioning
•Consistency
•Oily texture

Cons
•Lack of variety (price, appearance, size, eating quality)
•Supplier consolidation
•Feed supply concerns
•Environmental impact

Wild salmon

Pros
•Product variety (common Alaskan species include king, sockeye, coho, pink and chum)
•Sustainability message
•Bolder flavor and meatier texture

Cons
•Fresh availability largely limited to summer
•Isolated run disruptions
•Often only “twice-frozen” is available

Buying value-added frozen fillets

Using mild-tasting, sustainably farmed tilapia as a base, Owen Tilley, corporate chef of Fishery Products International, creates a range of products with on-trend flavor profiles, such as smoky Southwestern and wasabi pea and miso. The latest are IQF Pan-Sear Selects, tilapia fillets that are processed with a proprietary coating that allows the fish to be sauteed, grilled, griddled or baked. Here are his product cutting guidelines.