fresh vs farm-raised salmon


 
S

Scott Hoofman

TVWBB Super Fan
Back in May, I started a couple threads about salmon and some forum members basically, in a very nice way
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, told me I was an apostate for using farm-raised salmon as opposed to fresh. My only defense was price. Fresh salmon around here can be pretty pricey. Well, my family just recently purchased a membership to Costco. A couple days ago I was there and hanging out in the meat department. And what to my wondering eyes did appear, but two very ruby colored fresh Alaskan salmon fillets at 6.99 a pound. I happily purchased them and today I smoked them according to the Chris's brown sugar rub recipe. All I can say is wow! What a difference in taste, texture - everything. Absolutely the best salmon I have ever had. I just gotta say, never going back to the farm on this one.

For all those posters, especially the Canadian, Pnw, and Alaskan ones, who encouraged me to try fresh, thanks a lot. I probably would have never thought to do it without your encouragement.
 
I watched a show on the Food Network one time where 2 chefs (and brothers) had an ongoing debate as to whether farm raised or wild fish tasted better. Everyone figured it would be wild, so they did a tasting with a few recipes made with the farm raised and the wild fish. I believe out of 10 tastings, the numbers were something like 8 for wild, 1 for farm, and 1 undecided.

Plus, you have the stigma of farm raised fish which contain dioxin or mercury levels in much higher concentrations than wild fish.....
 
Scott,

In Lowell you are close to some very fine salmon fishing out of Holland, Grand Haven or Muskegon. Plus, there's the added bonus of potential Lake Trout, Steelhead and/or Brown Trout. Smoking a salmon fillet that you caught that morning would be the ultimate in fresh.
 
Alan
It is recommended that you eat farm raised salmon once a month, maybe better than no salmon just don't do it often.
Jim
 
In Lowell you are close to some very fine salmon fishing out of Holland, Grand Haven or Muskegon. Plus, there's the added bonus of potential Lake Trout, Steelhead and/or Brown Trout. Smoking a salmon fillet that you caught that morning would be the ultimate in fresh
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Your right of course, but it comes down once again to price. I'm not a fisherman, go figure living here in Michigan, so getting some fresh coho is not easy - at least I don't think it is. If I find some though, I'm certainly going to grab it now that I have a wsm and can do it true justice.
 
I'm thinking your subject title is a bit conflicted, as it's quite possible and very common to have farm-raised salmon that IS fresh. I think you mean Wild vs. farm-raised. And understand that some wild salmon is frozen - is it then not fresh?

Anywhoo, yeah, there's nothing like fresh-caught salmon though Lake Michigan salmon (and steelhead, an anadromous salmonid) aren't technically wild. They are the result of hatchling programs that place fingerlings into the fisheries. That doesn't mean they aren't good eating (I love steelhead I catch up on the 'west' side in Wisconsin rivers) but they aren't wild IMO if they've been cultured by DNR (though they aren't farm-raised either). The DNR, through our purchased fishing tax-stamps, does a great job of keeping this stocking program going but one shouldn't confuse the Lake Michigan salmonids with true 'wild' salmon - but it is fresh.
 
I did not know that Karl, thats interesting information. Thanks, always like learning new stuff. And, your right, the post probably should have been wild vs. farm raised. I stand corrected. Actually, all the info in this thread. I just learned about the dye a couple of days ago. And can't hardly believe that farm raised has higher dioxin and mercury levels
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Originally posted by Karl:
I'm thinking your subject title is a bit conflicted, as it's quite possible and very common to have farm-raised salmon that IS fresh. I think you mean Wild vs. farm-raised. And understand that some wild salmon is frozen - is it then not fresh?

Anywhoo, yeah, there's nothing like fresh-caught salmon though Lake Michigan salmon (and steelhead, an anadromous salmonid) aren't technically wild. They are the result of hatchling programs that place fingerlings into the fisheries. That doesn't mean they aren't good eating (I love steelhead I catch up on the 'west' side in Wisconsin rivers) but they aren't wild IMO if they've been cultured by DNR (though they aren't farm-raised either). The DNR, through our purchased fishing tax-stamps, does a great job of keeping this stocking program going but one shouldn't confuse the Lake Michigan salmonids with true 'wild' salmon - but it is fresh.
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Actuallly very few of the fish I've put in the boat had the hatchery fin clip or DNR wire tag. Yes, some are planted. However there are some naturally reproducing populations now. Not meaning to nit-pick or anything. Just bringing the point to the table that not all the fish are planted, though their forebears may have been one or more fish-generations ago.
 
There’s no way a “farmed” fish (fed an artificially made diet for all it’s life) will taste the same as one who has been eating natural foods. However, most of what you are buying in the store labeled “wild” are a product of a hatchery or juvenile plants. They were reared (up to one year) in a hatchery, fed artificial fish food, until ready to migrate to the ocean. When released they migrate to the ocean and spend 2-5 years there getting big on natural foods before returning to spawn. This method is often called “ranching” when done by private aquaculture companies. This is how state fisheries agencies operate their hatchery systems for salmonids (salmon and steelhead). It would be impossible to tell the difference, by taste, of a salmon that was reared in a hatchery and released versus one that was the result of natural spawning. Almost 99% of their growth took place in the same area with the same diet.

The only way to know if a salmon was the product of a hatchery would be if it was fin-clipped. Most hatcheries (excluding those in Alaska) now mark salmon so that we can have fisheries/harvest and only impact wild stocks minimally (all non-clipped fish must be released). They do this by removing a small fin, the adipose fin, from the juvenile before it’s released. The adipose is located on the top of the salmon between the dorsal fin and the tail. Unfortunately, you will not see this on a fillet, only on a whole fish. Be aware that farmed salmon will not be fin-clipped since they were never released.

There are a few reasons why some, not all, farmed fish have higher levels of pollutants. First, they are reared in net-pens that are typically close to the shore and hence closer to pollution sources. The second reason is that they are fed a man-made diet that is made from fish meal. This fish meal is primarily made from small fish (herring, anchovies and sardines) and the meal making process can concentrate fat soluble pollutants.

The products they add (canthaxanthin and astaxanthin) to the fish food to make the meat color up is harmless. Salmon normally get these products by eating krill or shrimp in the ocean. Without it the meat would be a pale gray color. The big stink was that the producers were not labeling the fish as “dye added”.

Would I eat farmed salmon? Only as a last resort and only smoked.
 
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