Salmon is one of the most popular types of fish around the world. It’s an oily fish with distinctive pink flesh and high protein and omega-3 fatty acid content. Its high oil content and firm texture make it a particularly popular candidate for smoking and curing. Historically, nearly every culture that eats salmon has a number of smoked salmon recipes and a different preparation method.
These days, it’s a popular brunch food, gift or snack. One of the best smoked salmon options is SeaBear Smoked Salmon Trio, containing three types of sustainably fished Pacific salmon.
Cold smoked salmon: Cold smoked salmon is the most common variety of smoked salmon. In the U.S., this generally refers to nova, sometimes called nova lox. Nova is traditionally cold smoked salmon from off the coast of Nova Scotia. These days, it’s far and away from the most popular type of smoked salmon out there. When most people ask for lox, they’re actually referring to nova.
Hot smoked salmon: Hot smoked salmon includes varieties like kippered and wood-smoked salmon, prepared with brine then smoked over higher heat, usually at around 145 degrees. These kinds of smoked salmon have a flakier texture and a more pronounced smoky flavor since they’re truly cooked in the smoking process. Most Pacific Northwest-style smoked salmon is hot smoked.
Cured salmon: Cured salmon isn’t actually smoked, and it’s generally not as fishy or as smoky as truly smoked salmon. Popular preparations like lox (salt cured) and gravlax (cured in a mixture of salt, sugar, spices and alcohol) are brined, but not smoked, unlike cold smoked salmon, which is often brined before being smoked.
Atlantic: Most smoked salmon that you buy in the grocery store is Atlantic salmon like nova lox. Atlantic salmon is predominantly farmed and widespread throughout the Atlantic basin. Generally there’s no nutritional difference between farmed and wild salmon.
Pacific: Pacific salmon is found on the Pacific coast and is often smoked using techniques traditional to the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Pacific salmon, due to strict fish farming laws, is generally wild-caught. There are five types of Pacific salmon you’ll commonly see:
The quality of the fish is the first thing to look for in smoked salmon. If it’s wild, make sure it’s sustainably fished, and if it’s farmed, make sure it’s from a respectable farm.
Check to make sure you purchase the style of smoked salmon you want, whether hot smoked or cold smoked. Different varieties of smoked salmon have wildly different tastes, colors and textures, so it’s important to know what you’re looking for in salmon products. Different varieties are prepared in different ways.
Smoked salmon typically runs from $1.20 per ounce to over $2.00 per ounce, depending on the fish used and the process of preparing it.
A. Salmon is highly nutritious, containing lots of protein, omega-3s and vitamin D. However, both farmed and wild salmon can contain varying levels of pollutants like PCBs and mercury. Currently, the FDA lists salmon, both wild and farmed, as having low levels of mercury, but it’s always best to be aware of how much fish you’re consuming. Large oily fish, in particular, can accumulate pollutants at a higher rate than other fish.
What you need to know: A highly rated smoked salmon option, it’s hot smoked and contains three kinds of salmon: sockeye, coho and pink.
What you’ll love: It’s sustainably fished. Reviewers write that it’s flavorful and tender.
What you should consider: It comes at a higher price point than other options.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Alaska Seafood Naturally Wild Smoked Salmon
What you need to know: A lower-priced option that still delivers big flavor, it’s made of pink salmon, so the texture is a little different than sockeye options.
What you’ll love: It’s hand-filleted and traditionally prepared in Alaska.
What you should consider: Some reviewers were dissatisfied with the texture of the fish.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Fairhaven Bay Seafoods Wild Smoked Salmon Trio
What you need to know: It contains a trio of flavors: sockeye, pink and peppered sockeye brined and Alderwood-smoked.
What you’ll love: It comes in a wooden box for convenient gifting. It is high quality with a high-end taste.
What you should consider: The fish comes packed in liquid, which some reviewers disliked.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Arabella Matthews writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
