Salmon

Brat said:
I do not eat Atlantic Salmon which is always farmed.

We lived for 15 years on a bluff overlooking a salmon farming operation in a waterway that 'flushes' very well (the current is swift and changes direction with the tides). Husband dove in the area around the pens before we built our home, then he dove again 10 years later. The impact on the sea bed was stunning, the sea cucumber decimated by the waste from the fish and fish feed.

Farmed salmon are fed pellets made from fish processing 'awful' and contain a red dye.

The other issue is that the fish farming operations claim that the fish are neutered and to not mate with the wild salmon, however, genetic tests on wild salmon in British Columbia raise doubts.
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+1. I won't touch farm-raised salmon, for the reasons cited above.
 
Buying fish is hard. It's one of the hardest things to buy if you want "good" and "responsible". That's why I leave it to DW. Then I can plug my ears and say "la la la la" when threads like this come up.
 
We read up on seafood safety/sustainability guidelines pretty often.
 
Just saw an ad for Aldi's "wild caught salmon" 32 ounce frozen with skin on, boneless. $7.49 for the package, meaning $3.75 per pound. Not a bad price. Think I will pick some up and try it.
 
The other problem with farm-raised salmon (for me, anyway) is that the Omega 3 content of the fish is far less than wild salmon. I like the taste of salmon, but I also eat it for the health benefits (Omega 3, primarily), so wild salmon is my preference. Also, the beautiful pink color of wild salmon comes from the foods they eat........the pink color of farmed salmon comes from an artificial coloring agent in the pellets they are fed. I try to minimize that kind of stuff in my diet.
 
RAE said:
The other problem with farm-raised salmon (for me, anyway) is that the Omega 3 content of the fish is far less than wild salmon. I like the taste of salmon, but I also eat it for the health benefits (Omega 3, primarily), so wild salmon is my preference. Also, the beautiful pink color of wild salmon comes from the foods they eat........the pink color of farmed salmon comes from an artificial coloring agent in the pellets they are fed. I try to minimize that kind of stuff in my diet.
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From what I have the read carotenoid pigment they feed farmed salmon, is the same astaxanthin type carotenoid pigments the salmon and crustaceans get from their food in the wild. In both cases the color comes from the food. Of course the feed details depend on the supplier - you have to pay attention to the sources used by your retail vendor.

It's great if someone has access to a wide variety of wild salmon. Not all of us do. So the question becomes - do you just not eat salmon?

Striking a Balance

Avoiding fish is certainly one way to avoid mercury or PCBs. But is that the wisest choice, given the benefits of eating fish? Drs. Mozaffarian and Rimm put this in perspective in their analysis in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (1) First, reviewing data from the Environmental Protection Agency and elsewhere, they calculated that if 100,000 people ate farmed salmon twice a week for 70 years, the extra PCB intake could potentially cause 24 extra deaths from cancer—but would prevent at least 7,000 deaths from heart disease. Second, levels of PCBs and dioxins in fish are very low, similar to levels in meats, dairy products, and eggs. Third, more than 90 percent of the PCBs and dioxins in the U.S. food supply come from such non-seafood sources, including meats, dairy, eggs, and vegetables. So, given these limited health effects, low levels in fish, and major sources from other foods, the levels of PCBs and dioxins in fish should not influence your decision about which fish to eat (just as it does not influence your decision about whether or not to eat vegetables, meats, dairy products, or eggs, the major sources of PCBs and dioxins). One exception: if you eat local freshwater fish caught by friends or family, it makes sense to consult local advisories about the amounts of such fish you should eat.
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and a lot more at Fish: Friend or Foe? | The Nutrition Source | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Honestly, from some of the comments, I get the impression that some folks hold salmon sources to a much higher standard than they hold their beef, dairy, pork, poultry, etc., or land-based fish farms and land farming/agriculture in general.
 
Those of us in the NW, Alaska, develop strong opinions about salmon farms. I have no issue with land based fish farms IF the species is native to the nearby waterways because escapement is common. There are some fish farming operations in warehouses where one would expect escapement would not be an issue.
 
I would not knowingly eat the salmon you listed because it is partially grain fed.
 
I guess I've been living the Golden Corral of salmon - I buy the $4.97 one pound frozen bag at Walmart (four fillets) - throw them in a big Pyrex, put some butter on top and a bunch of lemon pepper, cover and microwave for 7 minutes and I've been pretty happy with how it turns out.
 
audreyh1 said:
Honestly, from some of the comments, I get the impression that some folks hold salmon sources to a much higher standard than they hold their beef, dairy, pork, poultry, etc., or land-based fish farms and land farming/agriculture in general.
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Actually, I try to hold most foods that I consume to the same high standards, although I admit it would be difficult for everyone to do what I do. I do buy all the beef and lamb we eat from local farmer friends, in addition to most of the chicken we eat, and all of the eggs we eat. So, I know how these animals are raised, and what they are fed. I also eat wild game (deer, etc) that I harvest, and wild fish that I catch in local lakes. I love seafood, but I eat only wild Gulf shrimp, not farmed shrimp (for many reasons, including the ecological damage caused by shrimp farms). I avoid buying GMO grains and vegetables whenever possible (sometimes this is an educated guess......we need a law that requires labeling of these products, so we know for sure what they are!). I grow a big vegetable garden, and so a fairly large percentage of the veggies that I eat every year come from my own garden and soil.

Again, I don't expect everyone to eat like I eat, but I do have high standards for the food I consume, both from land and sea.
 
Mango1956 said:
Yes! This is the way to treat salmon! And the main thing is, don't overcook it!
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Yeah, that^^^

I use the one-third rule for grilling salmon: top and bottom slightly done, with the center pink.

Haven't looked recently, but my local Costco used to carry frozen wild-caught sockeye.
 
John Galt III said:
Just saw an ad for Aldi's "wild caught salmon" 32 ounce frozen with skin on, boneless. $7.49 for the package, meaning $3.75 per pound. Not a bad price. Think I will pick some up and try it.
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It's pretty good, and cheaper than beef around here. I think they have a 1 lb package that's $4 and already skinned. So you're paying the same price per pound of actual fish that you eat, except the 1 lb is already skinned (saving you some prep work).

The 1 lb packages also have each filet individually sealed in a second bag, thereby preventing it from getting freezer burn or drying out. Also makes it easy to thaw quickly in a lukewarm water bath if you want to fry it up but didn't have the forethought to defrost it before meal time.

The only problem is the fillets are on the thin side (4 oz salmon fillets can only be so thick), so it only takes a little extra pan-time to overcook it. It's also wild salmon so not quite as fatty as the farm raised variety (more dry to start).
 
FUEGO said:
It's pretty good, and cheaper than beef around here. I think they have a 1 lb package that's $4 and already skinned. So you're paying the same price per pound of actual fish that you eat, except the 1 lb is already skinned (saving you some prep work).

The 1 lb packages also have each filet individually sealed in a second bag, thereby preventing it from getting freezer burn or drying out. Also makes it easy to thaw quickly in a lukewarm water bath if you want to fry it up but didn't have the forethought to defrost it before meal time.

The only problem is the fillets are on the thin side (4 oz salmon fillets can only be so thick), so it only takes a little extra pan-time to overcook it. It's also wild salmon so not quite as fatty as the farm raised variety (more dry to start).
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This is not drier because it is wild, it is drier because it is a different species. Usually called Humpies, this is the most common variety of pink salmon. In Washington, big runs are only every other year. Pinks are less fat than the species called red salmon, mainly Sockeye canned or frozen, and Sockeye, Chinook or (somewhat less fat) silver salmon mainly sold fresh and never as cheap as pinks.


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/ca...caught-pink-salmon-product-of-china-143680379

Ha
 
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HFWR said:
Haven't looked recently, but my local Costco used to carry frozen wild-caught sockeye.
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I haven't seen it recently, but they used to.

I haven't been satisfied with my results cooking sockeye yet. I find it rather challenging.

Other than hot smoking it where it does great.
 
Our local Kroger and Publix have good Salmon. We just look for product of China and avoid If so. Grilled or baked.
 
fisherman said:
Our local Kroger and Publix have good Salmon. We just look for product of China and avoid If so. Grilled or baked.
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Update: I went to my Aldi's store to check out the $3.75 per pound wild caught frozen salmon. Nice packaging, on the thin side though, as was noted before, 4 nice portions each in its own additional package. So far so good. Then I turned over the package and read some details. Sourced from Northwest Pacific and from Northeast Pacific. Also product of China. Envisioned Chinese trawler scooping up radiation-laced salmon near Japan. Got paranoid, went to Giant next door and bought fresh $7.95 per pound Atlantic farm-raised, whatever it has at least it isn't radiation. Supposedly! :)
 
We hot smoked some farm raised salmon from Costco last week, it was excellent! Salmon was laid on a bed of cinnamon sticks using a recipe from the Bradley Smoker site and was perfect, stayed nice and moist, we used alder wood for the smoke. Warmed it in the oven wrapped in foil for a second meal and it tasted just as good as the first time- hmmm, maybe time for a run to Costco to pick up some more salmon!
 
davemartin88 said:
We hot smoked some farm raised salmon from Costco last week, it was excellent! Salmon was laid on a bed of cinnamon sticks using a recipe from the Bradley Smoker site and was perfect, stayed nice and moist, we used alder wood for the smoke. Warmed it in the oven wrapped in foil for a second meal and it tasted just as good as the first time- hmmm, maybe time for a run to Costco to pick up some more salmon!
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Hot-smoking is one thing that I think sockeye is perfect for. I like the stronger taste of sockeye as that really stands up to the smoke flavors.
 
John Galt III said:
Update: I went to my Aldi's store to check out the $3.75 per pound wild caught frozen salmon. Nice packaging, on the thin side though, as was noted before, 4 nice portions each in its own additional package. So far so good. Then I turned over the package and read some details. Sourced from Northwest Pacific and from Northeast Pacific. Also product of China. Envisioned Chinese trawler scooping up radiation-laced salmon near Japan. Got paranoid, went to Giant next door and bought fresh $7.95 per pound Atlantic farm-raised, whatever it has at least it isn't radiation. Supposedly! :)
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Yeah, my dad was excited about his Aldi's wild salmon purchase and then we noticed "product of China".
 
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