All about Salmon - What's the deal with "Copper River Salmon?

June 19, 2004

April 2004--I just got off the phone talking with Pat Bruno of the Sun-Times. He had called for information on Copper River Salmon and when it would be available. What is Copper River Salmon? Simply any species of salmon that came to life in the Copper River and will return to the Copper River to spawn. Pat had been getting a lot of inquiries from readers and fans of this popular fish and was unclear as to when it would be officially available. What makes it so popular?

My first response was that a lot of restaurants and markets unwittingly sell what they were told is Copper River Salmon when it is in fact from another source. Wholesale prices for Copper River King Salmon to a dealer like me topped $10 a pound for round fish before being put on a plane to Chicago. By the time I pay my people to cut the fish into a plate-ready fashion, I have lost 50%. My cost pushes $25 per pound. What on earth could I sell it for without appearing either maniacal or just plain greedy?

When you get two people who love to talk about food started it's hard to stop and we touched on many subjects. I reminisced of my years spent at the start of my career in Northern California. In addition to my wholesale seafood company I operated a specialty smoked fish company. In the early 70s, you couldn't give "Copper River" or any other "River" fish away. With its high fat content it lent itself to curing and smoking superior product. Indeed to this day many fishermen still consider it vastly inferior to troll-caught fish.

It's funny how things work. There is no question that the state of Alaska has done a masterful job marketing themselves and their natural resources. The Copper River Salmon is certainly their coup de grace. It's still a tad too fatty for my tastes but I've never been one to argue with popularity.

The reason for its unique, abundantly fat and rich flavor is that the Copper River is an extremely long river. One of Mother Nature's truly amazing stories is how salmon are able to find their way back to the exact spot of their birthplace to breed. In the case of the Copper River, they have such a great distance to travel that they won't attempt it until they've stored up enough fat to make the trip. I'm particularly fond of Sockeye Salmon caught at the start of their long journey up the river.

Since the popularity of the Copper River started 6 or 7 years ago I decided to buy my fish from a plethora of sources that are more realistic in their prices. To be blunt, I don't think Copper River Salmon is worth what people continue to pay for it. There are many rivers that the salmon have to travel just as far and in some cases further and are certainly on par if not better than the Copper River. This is my opinion.

Here are a few things to consider when purchasing your salmon either through retail or at your favorite restaurant:

Troll-caught - this refers to any fish caught by a baited hook-and-line while the boat is slowly moving. Hook-and-line or rod-and-reel caught fish are always superior. The obvious reason is you know when you caught it.

Seining and Gill-Net methods, which are the most popular, trap the fish, and of course they die an extra miserable death and are sometimes not harvested until they have been dead for some time. Troll fishing is done in the open ocean, bays, and mouths of particularly large river basins. Nets are employed when the fish start to travel up river. River fish are caught sometimes thousands of miles from where their journey began and their bodies are literally deteriorating and decomposing while they struggle to reach their spawning ground. Obviously, the best time to catch a salmon is as it's heading into the mouth of the river. This probably represents a small percentage of the stage that the fish are actually harvested. A great many are taken much further up river.

Chinook Salmon, otherwise known as King Salmon, is justifiably considered the finest and most expensive. Kings grow the largest and generally have the greatest fat content. Their flesh color can sometimes be pure white, which is then referred to as an Ivory King¸ or sometimes mottled with blotches of white and pale orange, which is ingenious dubbed Calicos. Generally, the flesh is pale to bright orange. Flesh color is a characteristic of the species and is only mildly influenced by their diet. Salmons' color coming from gorging on shrimp and crayfish are myths.

Sockeye Salmon, also referred to as Red Salmon, undoubtedly because of their deep red color flesh. Flesh coloring on sockeyes does not vary so much. They tend to grow on average to about a third of the size of Kings and are much leaner. They lend themselves to raw presentation, tartars, carpaccios, etc. One of my favorite things to prepare with Sockeye is Graved Lax.

Coho or Silver Salmon: The sizing of this fish is generally a tad larger than sockeyes. The flesh color tends to be between the bright red of Sockeyes and the pale orange of Kings. They are an excellent eating fish, and are generally about half the price of a King.

Chum Salmon and Pink Salmon are fine eating fish with varied shades of orange flesh. Their physical structure seems to be less dense and more flaky and traditionally these fish go straight to the cannery.

Here at the Fishguy Market we specialize in seasonal fish and shellfish, preferably those indigenous to North America. My favorite salmonoid is actually a salmon-trout from Newfoundland/Labrador that we market as Labrador Ocean Trout. It has quickly become a hot-selling item among the city's elite chefs. I am happy to see this because I am very proud of my relationship with Atlantic Canada. Personally I feel it has all the finest attributes and color without the excess fat of salmon. It also happens to boast along with Arctic Char, the highest levels of Omega-3 fatty acids of any fish in North America, surpassed only by the Arctic Grayling and Seals.

During the winter months in Chicago it is summer in New Zealand where I source my King Salmon from the Tasman Sea. We have it available all winter. My feeling on fish is pretty simple. I buy it when it's in season where it's in season. I take every precaution to get it in its most pristine condition. There has been a lot of negative press about Farmed Atlantic Salmon. Personally I feel most of the negative statements are without merit. And some simple research on the web will bear that out. However, I am aware of the effect of media on the general public and therefore choose to sell only Atlantic Salmon that is certified organic.

Many people prefer the consistency of the maricultured Atlantic salmon. I think it is better cold smoked than the wild caught. As far as preparing a meal of simply cooked fresh Salmon, fresh wild troll caught Kings will always be my first choice.