Premium Smoked Salmon -- A Healthy Gourmet Seafood Gift

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Premium Smoked Salmon -- A Healthy Gourmet Seafood Gift
by Liz Brown

Gourmet-quality smoked salmon is a wonderful regional food specialty that is available to shoppers worldwide thanks to mail-order and the Internet. The distinctive flavors of Wild Pacific and Alaskan Salmon smoked in traditional smokehouses can be enjoyed anytime of the year as a healthy indulgence for yourself or as a special gift for any food lover.

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All salmon are high in protein as well as a rich source of vitamin A, B-vitamins and Omega-3 fatty acids. Experts suggest eating fish, especially salmon and other deep-water varieties, in order to get more Omega-3 fatty acids into our diets. Omega-3s are called essential fatty acids because the human body requires them but can't manufacture them on its own. These “healthy fats” are important part of a well-balanced diet with dozens of studies showing that the Omega-3s in fatty fish, such as salmon, can help prevent heart disease. In 2000, The American Heart Association issued new dietary guidelines, which recommend eating fatty fish at least twice a week.

There are several varieties of North American salmon including species of the North Atlantic Ocean and those found off the Pacific coast, coming from Alaskan waters. Wild salmon from the Pacific Ocean and Alaska are considered to be superior in color, texture, and richness of flavor to that of farmed salmon, even though farmed salmon are raised in salt water. Each species of salmon has its own distinctive characteristics, with

Orvis' Scottish-Style
Smoked Salmon

Atlantic Cold-Smoked Salmon
from Harry and David

characteristics, with differences in flesh texture, color, and oil content which is the source of salmon’s rich flavor. Many retailers known for their high-quality products, such as Orvis, offer salmon as special gifts priced at $49 for a 1-lb. fillet of Scottish-style smoked sockeye. Merchants like Harry and David, feature premium smoked salmon alongside their gourmet baskets of fruits and gift assortments. A 1-lb. 8 oz. fillet of cold-smoked Atlantic salmon sells for $59.95 at Harry and David.

Among the best Pacific or Alaskan salmon for smoking are the famous Chinook or King salmon, which can reach up to 120 pounds. The color of its high-fat, soft-textured flesh ranges from off-white to bright red, but are mostly orange- reddish in color. Premium smoked King salmon has a mild flavor with moist, large flakes. Sockeyes are another of

the fine high-fat Pacific salmon varieties used in smoking. Also called Reds because of their rich red color, mature sockeye can reach up to 12 pounds and are additionally highly prized for canning because of its firm, deep flesh, dense grain and full-bodied salmon flavor from its high oil content.

Coho or silver salmon, are firm-textured, with pink to red-orange flesh and have medium sized flakes when smoked. Coho are one of the most popular game fish, averaging 6 to 12 pounds at maturity. Less expensive than the King or Sockeye, smoked Pacific Coho is moist with a mild salmon flavor. Keta, also known as North Pacific Prime or Chum, are

distinguished from the other varieties of Pacific salmon by having the lightest color and lowest fat content.

Weighing up to 18 pounds at maturity, Keta are firm textured with smoked Keta salmon not as moist as King or Sockeye. An entire side of Smoked Alaskan salmon weighing 20-oz., can be purchased for around $37 at Hickory Farms, well known for their large selections of specialty meats and cheese gift packs.

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