Our annual survey of the best seafood in Southeast Louisiana this year counts down the 33 best seafood species enjoyed more in restaurants than at home. Today's entry is Pacific salmon, which are much more difficult for a home cook to find than the omnipresent Atlantic species. The latter is likely to be farm-raised, which is always at least a small environmental problem.
#8: Wild-Caught Pacific Salmon
Five different species of commonly-eaten salmon live in the Pacific Ocean, and spawn in rivers on the American and Canadian West Coast. The main difference between these and the more common Atlantic salmon is that the Pacific fish face an incomparably more challenging swim upstream on their native streams to spawn. To survive this, they build up a lot of fat. Much fat=big flavor. The fat is also why salmon is also the most beneficial fish to eat from a health perspective.
Virtually all Pacific salmon are wild-caught fish, not subject to those issues you hear about in their feeding. The orange-red color of their flash is all natural. Chinook (also called king) are the best species. The longer the river up which they travel, the better the fish. The ultimate is the Copper River salmon from Alaska, which have become a major gourmet phenomenon on the West Coast. Because of that, not much Copper River salmon makes it to New Orleans. Also very good is the sockeye or red salmon, whose color is as dramatic as its name implies. It's smaller than the chinook, but has more fat per pound.
Cooking Pacific salmon is as flexible a proposition as it is for the Atlantic fish. Almost any preparation comes out good, with deep-frying being the least appealing. The flavors are pure enough that our usual heavy hand with seasonings ought to be relaxed for an especially fine side of Pacific salmon.
Not-Quite-As-Good Alternative: Atlantic salmon have already come up on this survey. The single species constitutes most of the salmon we find in our restaurants and stores. Most of it is now raised in farms, which typically are out in open ocean. It's a good fish, but not the equal of the best wild-caught Pacific king or sockeye salmon.
