Choosing your smoked salmon for the holidays

Smoked salmon is one of the favourite fish of the French. If it is particularly popular during the holidays, it has also become a common consumer product in recent years. Origin, farming conditions, price, label, smoking, appearance, etc... How to sort through the entire range and find a quality smoked salmon?

Atlantic or Pacific: which origin should be favoured?

The quality of a salmon does not depend on its origin but mainly on the conditions under which it is farmed and processed.

There are two species of salmon that correspond to two regions of the world:

• Pacific salmon: 5 species coexist under this origin (genus Oncorhynchus): Keta, Pink, Royal, Red and Silver salmon. This one is diffuse. It is in the Pacific Ocean that wild salmon are most easily found. Their flesh is paler and has a powerful flavour, due to a diet rich in herring and small white fish.
• Atlantic salmon: Atlantic salmon is the "Salmo Salar" species. It is the most "high-end" salmon, although it is a farmed salmon. It comes mainly from the Scandinavian countries, Scotland and Ireland. The flesh of the Salmo Salar is delicate, tender, pink and fragrant. It lends itself particularly well to smoking.

Quality labels

Many food products today have certifications designed to ensure better traceability and transparency for the consumer. Smoked salmon is all the more concerned by this trend as it is mainly produced on farms.

Organic farming is gaining a foothold in the smoked salmon market. This label guarantees even more animal-friendly, environment-friendly and consumer-friendly farming conditions:

• Good water quality (renewal, good oxygenation);
• Limited fish density per pond ;
• A diet containing at least 30% organic soy and cereals in addition to marine products;
• No antibiotic treatment.

At Astara, Scottish salmon is certified organic (AB label).

Reading the labels

A number of statements on the labels of smoked salmon are revealing. These are subject to very strict rules, and must include the following information:

• The species;
• If the fish is wild caught or farmed ;
• The fishing area or country of farming ;
• The expiry date: choose it as far in advance as possible because smoked salmon oxidizes quickly.

Other information concerning the processing of the product is not obligatory but is nevertheless decisive in the choice of quality salmon:

• The type of smoking: a quality salmon will have been smoked with beech or oak wood. If the label indicates "smoked" without precision or "smoky aroma", it means that the fish will have been sprayed with liquid smoke, therefore less quality and more volatile. 
• The type of salting: salting with dry salt is the most qualitative. The salmon is then sprinkled with salt which slowly penetrates the flesh deep into the flesh. For a low quality salmon, liquid brine is injected into it, which makes the fish full of water and bland!
• The type of slicing: slicing by hand will be preferred to that of a machine: more delicate and precise, it respects the structure of the product and preserves all the finesse and subtlety of the flavours.

The signs that don't deceive

There are other signs that speak for themselves when choosing your smoked salmon:

• The appearance of the slices: they must be shiny, firm-looking, without too many white lines indicating the presence of fat or too much black flesh, and without the addition of oil. Favour large slices, of uniform colour.
• The colour: uniform, it can be light or darker but especially not orange. The orange colour implies a feed made from animal meal or the addition of colouring agents.
• Packaging: avoid "soft" packaging where the fish perspires, a sign of poor preservation;
• The price: a good smoked salmon will not be given away! Sign of the respect of all the stages of processing.

Find the wide range of smoked salmon Astara, in slabs, whole sliced, or in small tender hearts on the site.

 

Anne-Emmanuelle Thion