Difference in taste between Salmon species

Sockeye, King, or Atlantic Salmon: What is the difference in taste and texture between those Salmon ? Atlantic is the cheapest in the store. King Salmon, is going for $39.99 a Lb .

No experience with Atlantic. All the Pacific species are good.........the fresher the better. My favorite is Yukon King. Very rich, keeps well in the freezer. Great smoked.
mt

I'll rate them as to "intensity" of flavor.
Red, king, silver, Atlantic, dog, humpy. The Atlantic is more like an eastern steelhead.

Atlantic is going to be farmed fish, and since the flesh is muscle a penned fish will be softer.Yukon king has highest oil content of any salmon and is the best I’ve tasted. White king comes next. Then sockeye,coho , chum and pink in that order for me.

What 3fingers said! ;0)
Stay away from Atlantic salmon. Farmed raised and full of food coloring, antibiotics etc.
Sockeye are a little dry for me. I will take a Yukon Chum over a sockeye any day. But hard to find them in a store.

First time I had some Yukon Chum last year and I am with FT! especially smoked

Have to hit YJ's smoke house

A winter King is in first place. When cutting steaks off the knife blade is covered in fat. Second place is Steelhead, not a Salmon.

drasselt

Where is YJ's?

I believe he is talking about yukonJeff.

Thanks

atlantic is the worst, and even worse for the ocean. my favorite is reds then kings. the ultimate those is king strips dried and smoked!

lol The kings here are good but very rich, they grill excellent without sticking.

We have two runs of chums the early summer run that goes with the kings,and a late summer fall run of bigger fatter fish that go farther up river, We call them fall Chums. Very nice fish ,have a higher oil content than king salmon in other parts of the state.

I fished in BB and ate a lot of reds,too dry IMO, although the dry fish and strips were pretty and tasted pretty good.I get a lost one or two every summer fishing chums and try one for nostalgic reasons,and ususaly goes to the dogs

Most here will take a chum home for dinner over a king , just too oily for every day eating,, but also make good oily dry fish and strips. Great for winter.

Ps we are going to get to sell the incidental catch of Kings this year so should be available this summer, Wont be cheap for sure.

I think that more important than the species, is the run it comes from, and where it is caught. A fall chum in the lower Yukon is not the same as one that is caught in the Chena. An ocean caught chum is better than a Copper River red at Chitna or up the Gulkana. A Stikine king or red isn't the same as a Bristol Bay king or red.
And like YJ said, a fall chum is way better than a summer chum.

Also what goes into it is how you are going to prepare it. Some fish take to smoking or drying better than others, and then others are better on the grill than they are baked or blackened in the pan.

But without a doubt, stay away from the Atlantic Salmon. It is farmed, and is about as good as eating farmed tilapia. Just gross all the way around.

-TJ

Yep

Well, the very best salmon is always the first fresh one of the season….And here that means either king or sockeye. I had some sockeye dry fish strips in Pilot Point one June, they had been made in Chignik or Chignik Lagoon….anyway it was amazing, best fish I've ever had.

…but then I've never had any fall dog from YJ's smokehouse either! LOL

Winter king is my favorite, but don't fillet it on the boat before it goes into rigor. I made that mistake a few times and wondered why those shriveled fillets tasted like a pink. They were plenty cold, snow on the deck. Next would be steelhead or WILD Atlantic salmon. Very similar, but Atlantics are very rare now after what fish farming has done to the bays the rivers empty into. Reds are excellent especially a big bright Kenai or Chignik red. Reds are easily overcooked and are best eaten raw after being frozen first, then dipped in soy wasabi and eaten at room temperature. I have never had a yukon chum but people I trust speak highly of them. I like a bright ocean chum better than a silver, and then comes a pink which is fine when bright and fresh. A big, bright Dolly out of saltwater is very good eating as well. Never eat farmed fish.

You sure about that? Fish Board hasn't met yet. I know there was some opposition.
mt

They met already I hear,and passed.
Got an email on it too from FnG.

Grilled king bellies are unbeatable. Just for general eating I prefer silvers (coho) they have good flavor and a good amount of oil. Even though I commercial fish for sockeye they aren't my favorite, very good color and nice to look at but too dry imo.

Right you are. Didn't realize the BoF meets so often. I was the only Fairbanks AC member to support that proposal. Rampart, Tanana, Manley AC has a proposal in for this up coming meeting to limit mesh size to 6 inch.

Yea the upriver folks have been trying to shut us down forever. I hear they got a new gillnet fishery upriver out of the deal. Too bad they never have the board meeting down here so we can all propose silly laws on them upriver.
I know what type of morons we are dealing with.