fresh or frozen salmon

Hi,
I was reading about the frozen coho salmon at whole foods...sadly the post was written in 2004. How do you guys rate the frozen salmon at whole foods and trader joes today?

Hi,

There is nothing wrong with adding a post to an older thread. In fact it is preferred because the collection of information is kept together with occasional updates.

Regards,

The Wife has been procuring very good wild salmon at Costco.

The color is gorgeous deep pink.

I'm sure the price is right...or she wouldn't have bought it.

Hammond

You know, I tried the wild salmon (coho) from Costco and didn't like it. I liked their farmed much better. Sad, I know.

I find the higher fat content in the farmed fish makes it much better for the smoker than the wild.

kuhdo wrote:I find the higher fat content in the farmed fish makes it much better for the smoker than the wild.

I have smoked the farm raised version and it was quite good.

For the wild version, I did just a quick grilling, and I found the flesh firmer...and the color was just killer. Flavor-wise, I'm not sure I have a preference.

Quick grilling to no more than medium rare is my preference for the wild fish too. I am sometimes lucky enough to catch some salmon from our beautiful lakefront and find it best this way as well. Wild trout (steelhead or brown) however, smoke up nicely. Farmed salmon tastes great and stays nice and moist in the Smokette. I just had some for dinner Monday as a matter of fact.

coho is a poor choice to smoke...in my opinion the worst of the commercially available salmons. It tends to be dry and flavorless. I would rate farm raised maine/canada atlantic salmon higher than coho, because of it's superior fat content. Above that i would place (wild caught) sockeye salmon, despite it's inherent lack of moisture it is a tasty beast. King salmon rules the roost though, it's robust flavor and high fat make it my favorite fish. For what it's worth, i was in the gourmet fresh fish industry for 7 years.

Erik.

how do you guys defrost frozen fish? I tried the "leave it in the fridge 24 hours" method and it was still frozen. Then I tried to defrost in microwave, bad idea.. the edges cooked a bit, then were dried out when I finished in the skillet.

Any good tricks? Any shortcuts?

If it's still frozen after being in the fridge for a while, try running it under cool water in the sink, or putting it on a piece of metal, like a cast iron/steel/aluminum pan or sheet pan.. Both will help thaw it reasonably quickly without any of the problems microwaves bring.

gleam wrote:If it's still frozen after being in the fridge for a while, try running it under cool water in the sink, or putting it on a piece of metal, like a cast iron/steel/aluminum pan or sheet pan.

An aluminum sheet pan works the best, but even a big aluminum skillet will work. Be sure to remove the fish from any styrofoam tray or other insulating material before placing it in the pan.

I only buy fresh salmon. I find that the frozen gives off too much water, and often bleeds out that white gunk that I am not sure about. The fresh farm raised salmon (chile) or steelhead (US) at Dominicks is usually very good if you dont have a political issue with the farming. Sometimes I splurge on the fresh wild sockeye at Whole foods or Sunset, which definitely has more flavor, but often doesnt taste as fresh. I guess industrial efficiency has its benefits. -Will

Maybe fresh fish is not the best…or, 'Eat the Fucking Fish on Monday.'”