Sam's club salmon

[car54]

Sam's has farm raised salmon skinlees filets, Is it better to get a skinned fillet and how does farm raised salmon compare to "wild" salmon? Does the thickness matter?

Thanks in advance

[nsxbill]

Skinless or with skin, I think Costco has better Salmon.  A little trick for you I learned smoking with a stovetop  Cameron Smoker.  I like to cut lemons into thin slices and make a bed where the Salmon touches the grill.  Easier to then lift without tearing.   esp a problem if you go skinless.  Reserve a couple of your thin slices and put them on top and sprinkle on some fresh dill.

Remember to dry the fish to get pellicle.  The white booger will magically appear if you don't.

Happy Holidays,

Bill

[SMOKEHOUSE ROB]

Farmed raised salmon, YUK. [V]

[BigSmoker]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by SMOKEHOUSE ROB</i>
<br />Farmed raised salmon, YUK. [V]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I find the farm raised to be absolutely tasteless[xx(][xx(].


Jeff
www.bbqshopping.com
Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

[tsquared]

A popular bumpersticker out here in British Columbia (where there are a lot of commercial anglers) is "Wild salmon don't do drugs" meaning that wild salmon are not fed  antibiotics or growth enhancing drugs that the farmed salmon get.  Taste wise, many chefs say farmed salmon lacks the flavour that wild salmon does. I am lucky enough to live here where I can catch my own, but not everybody has that luxury. Cost is a factor for many folks not living near a salmon source as wild is much more expensive. I think that with the magic performed by your Bradley and the smoking process that you shouldn't worry too much about these differences. If you can get wild salmon at a reasonable price then do so, if not, then go with farmed and enjoy.
Tom

[BigRed]

<i>Originally posted by nsxbill</i>
<br />Skinless or with skin, I think Costco has better Salmon.  A little trick for you I learned smoking with a stovetop  Cameron Smoker.  I like to cut lemons into thin slices and make a bed where the Salmon touches the grill.  Easier to then lift without tearing.   esp a problem if you go skinless.  Reserve a couple of your thin slices and put them on top and sprinkle on some fresh dill.

Remember to dry the fish to get pellicle.  The white booger will magically appear if you don't.

Happy Holidays,

Bill


Hey Bill!

I agree with you, after reading several postings on this forum, I still think the Cameron stove top smoker is the best for salmon or any kind of fish you want to smoke.  I save the BS for meat or pork only.I like the idea of a lemon bed and dill. All used dill in the past but not the lemon.

BigRED

[Chez Bubba]

My $.02,

I have smoked salmon(freshwater, which in my mind equals farm raised) in the past, but after discovering sushi, pretty much came to the conclusion that cooking it in any way ruined the flavor.

Then we went to Alaska. WOW! What a difference.

I intend to do Kummok's recipe this winter with some we had shipped back, and just to satisfy myself, will probably do some store-bought as a comparison.

Either there really is that big of a difference, or I've been doing it wrong all these years.

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

[Oldman]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I agree with you, after reading several postings on this forum, I still think the Cameron stove top smoker is the best for salmon or any kind of fish you want to smoke.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I don't know about this... I can do one heck of a mean smoked mullet on my BS~~! (It is hot smoked.)

http://rminor.com

[nsxbill]

I enjoy the Bradley for smoking salmon and only referred to the Cameron Smoker as something I used previously.  

It does a fine job, but not for a crowd!

Bill

[bighoof]

Another thumbs down for farm raised,[xx(] I get to catch my own....well when the fish cooperate.[:D]

[Ian]

Good Morning Forum people, first let me say, I feel the need to weigh on in this thread due to what I feel is the unfair slaging the farm raised product is getting. Before that to car 54, in regards to your questions, always hot smoke your fillets skin side down, and regarding the thickness, if your buying I have found that 2 3/4 to 3 lbs fillets very good/easy to work with, just lay it out and cut into 5 equal weight peices. This is to consumate uniform brining and cooking. If you are doing a 10 lbs fillet same thing all be it more peices, longer cook. The trick is in uniformity, oh and as well a little trick when doing these really thick peices is to run a strip of tin foil along the edge of the rack on the side that would sit above the heating tube, just form it over the egde so that it extends approx., inch and a 1/2 under the rack. This will help to prevent blackening of the skin and overcooking of the product when that rack is rotated into that position. When your unit is very full and on those long cooks.
Now regarding farm raised fish, let me say as one who has processed many, many, hundreds of lbs of salmon, etc., commercially on these Bradley's I think you have to see it as Tsquared stated to put it in another perspective I was fortunite enough to grow up in the country, fresh out of the garden tomatoes, corn, peppers, green beans etc., as well as ranged meat birds both chickens and turkeys, and livestock, finished to your liking before slaughter. But many of you out there are only familliar with the superfarms product of poultry, beef, turkeys etc., very anemic by my standards, but nevertheless the sign of our times. Now with that said with the right processing even these products can be made to taste awesome. The same can be said for the farm raised Salmon, this is just my view of the subject, no disrespect meant.[8D]

Ian <b>( GO STEELERS!!!!!!)</b>

[BigSmoker]

Ian,
If you know how to make farm raised salmon taste good let me know.  I could take the farm raised stuff and make it taste like just about what ever I wanted but I also want to taste the natural flavor of the salmon as well.  So far I have yet to eat a farm raised salmon that had any real flavor[:(].




Jeff
www.bbqshopping.com
Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

[nsxbill]

I think the Salmon at Costco tastes pretty good.  Sam's club, irregardless what they adverstise it to be comes in second to me, but I can even make it taste good...just not as good as fresh.

The last nice 3lb Silver Salmon Salmon I caught on a hand-tyed fly on The Russian River about 20 years ago was not even in the same league.  Damn it was good.  The reality now for most of us is to fallback to these commercially offered fish, knowing that they aren't as good, but still not bad.  

I don't fish anymore so I am left with less than the optimum.

Bill

[JJC]

Hi All,

I'm wondering if most of you guys use Pacific species of farm salmon, as I have had excellent results with farm-raised Atlantic salmon.  There is definitely not as much flavor in the farm-raised version, but I ask my local Shaws/Star Market to order in a box (10-30 lbs) for me on a specific day and not to break the seal on the box for any reason. It's on sale regularly around here for $4 per pound.  I inspect the shipping label and make sure it was shipped to the market within the past 24hr.  When I get it home, I immediately begin the brining process (I put the brine recipe on the Cure Forum); there is always lots of ice in the box, and the fillets are really fresh.  I think the key with farm-raised fish is to make sure it is really fresh or the relatively lighter flavor will quickly diminish through oxidation when it contacts air.  The results after smoking are excellent.

Having said that, there is no doubt that a wild-caught salmon is the best.  Once in a while my neighbor orders in a wild-caught salmon or steelhead from the Umpqua for sushi and gets an extra one for me to smoke, and occasionally I manage to catch a Coho on the Pere Marquette in Michigan and bring back a few fillets on the plane with me to Boston to smoke.  Now that's living!



John
Newton MA

[Ian]

Good Afternoon J2C,

John I think you've hit this dead on. We would all agree a wild Salmon would have a better flavor, but like you I buy my product wholesale. Its shipped in styrofoam boxes, sealed bags with cooler packs etc. This product is from Heritage, it's North America's largest fully integreted grower/supplier of farm raised Atlanta Salmon with state of the art plants in New Bruinswick, British Columbia, and I think Maine as well as the Southern tip of Chile (but I'm not sure about Chile though). Anyhow,if people are looking at farm raised Salmon a couple of good guide lines would be no excessive fishy odour, firm to the point where a finger print doesn't leave an indent, a bright dark orange color, as well as no tears in the flesh.[8D]

Ian <b>( GO STEELERS!!!!! )</b>