What is the difference between salmon, salmon, trout, pink salmon and chum salmon

What is the difference between salmon and trout or pink salmon, how close a relative does salmon have to him? Wait, is there such a fish as salmon at all? Let’s sort out the confusion that has developed around delicious, healthy and such a diverse fish.

In stores, you can often find fish called “salmon”. Nearby lies pink salmon, trout, sockeye salmon or salmon — superficially similar, the meat is the same characteristic bright color…

Is all red fish salmon

To begin with, salmon is not a specific fish, but a common name for a large and diverse family of Salmonidae. And all of the above species are included in its two main genera: noble salmon Salmo and Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus.

Almost all salmon have an unusual, bright shade of meat, which ranges from light pink to rich red, as well as a small number of intermuscular bones. Despite the obvious similarity, representatives of salmon differ from each other not only in appearance, but also in biochemical composition, nutritional value, fat content. And, of course, according to the cooking methods.

What are the benefits of salmon fish

Salmon are rich in vitamins A, PP, B7 (H), C, D, E, B12, as well as valuable Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, contain more than 20 trace elements necessary for the human body, such as zinc, selenium, magnesium, phosphorus. Protein is easily digestible, provides a longer feeling of satiety.

For example, in 100 grams:

salmon — 225 kcal, 20 g of protein and 15 g of fat;
coho — 187 kcal, 24 g of protein and 8.7 g of fat;
trout — 165 kcal, 20 g of protein and 9 g of fat;
sockeye salmon — 157 kcal, 20 g of protein and 8.4 g of fat;
keta — 127 kcal, 19 g of protein and 5.6 g of fat;
pink salmon — less than 120 kcal, 20 g of protein and 4 g of fat.

There are no carbohydrates in salmon meat.

Salmon

This is probably the most delicious fish from the family, it is not for nothing that it is called royal salmon. It spawns in rivers, but is considered marine. In Russia, wild salmon lives in the basins of the Baltic, White, Barents and Kara Seas, the lake variety is found in Karelia and on the Kola Peninsula. However, today wild salmon has become rare for various reasons, so 99% of what is on the shelves is grown on farms.

What does salmon look like

Salmon scales are large, silvery, greenish or darker gray on the back, the abdomen is light, almost white. Salmon has small black spots along the entire body above the midline.

Wild salmon, available for sale, of modest size, maximum 4 kg. True, in Alaska there are one-and-a-half-meter monsters weighing 40 kilograms, but this is rather an exception. Huge fish on the shelves are most likely to be a product of fisheries. Specially grown fish is fatter (characteristic white streaks will be noticeable), and the color of its meat is brighter, richer.

How does salmon differ from trout

It happens that less expensive types of fish are given out for salmon, for example, trout. You can distinguish one from the other by the pink stripe that stretches from the trout’s head to the tail along the middle line. During heat treatment, trout brightens, and salmon’s flesh color does not change.

How to cook salmon

Fresh fish is boiled, fried, baked, used in salads, salted and smoked. Most of the useful components are concentrated in lightly salted salmon. Try our recipe for the Scandinavian delicacy of red fish — the legendary gravlax.

Trout

Trout is called several species of fish from the salmon family. Trout lives only in clean, oxygenated water — its meat is considered “healthy”, and it is also very tasty. In Russia , the most famous:

Brook trout is a wild, freshwater fish, it does not swim further than its native reservoir. Brightly colored on the outside and completely white on the inside. Very popular with fishing enthusiasts.
Lake (Karelian) trout loves depth and life in a flock. It lives in Ladoga, Onega and a number of Karelian lakes, and is found on the Kola Peninsula. Among relatives, it differs in large size, reaching a meter long.
Rainbow trout is a subspecies of Pacific Oncorhynchus salmon living in fresh water. It differs from brook and lake trout by faster growth and the fact that it calmly tolerates warm (up to + 20C) water, so rainbow trout are successfully bred in fish farms and fishing ponds.

What does a trout look like

The main features and differences inherent in all varieties of trout:

a dense, voluminous body with a blunt nose, fins and rounded scales,
a fat fin on the back, closer to the tail;
double row of teeth;
the color ranges from dark brown to various shades of green and gray, with light sides covered with specks of white, black or red.

How to cook trout

Trout is a recognized delicacy, its meat is often put on a par with sterlet by gourmets! Moderately fatty, tender, it has a special, only for trout characteristic aroma: they say that a good trout smells like a fresh cucumber.

Trout is loved in the cuisines of different peoples of the world, especially Western European and Transcaucasian. Fish is smoked, baked, fried. It is very popular in a slightly salted form. But, like all delicacies, trout likes to salt — a minimum of seasonings and heat treatment. We recommend you to evaluate this delicious fish in our recipes — trout baked in cream and trout with biryani rice.

Sockeye salmon

Sockeye salmon is another representative of the salmon family of fish species found in the Pacific basin. It usually reaches 80 cm in length and weighs an average of 2-3.5 kg. Like her brothers in the family, after a long and difficult road to the spawning site, she dies.

What does sockeye salmon look like

From Pacific salmon — chum salmon and coho salmon — sockeye salmon differs in body shape: hers is more angular. Another difference is the bright silver scales and small dark spots on the back. During the mating season, the color of the fish becomes bright red, and the head turns green. Sockeye salmon meat is an intense carmine-red color.

How to cook sockeye salmon deliciously

This fish is especially good in salting, according to many cooks, it turns out to be the most delicious balyk. Fresh sockeye salmon has a delicate, delicate taste. In order not to interrupt it, it is better to use a minimum amount of spices and choose for her the same delicate “neighbors” on the dish — cream cheese, zucchini, pasta — as, for example, in our recipes — spaghetti with sockeye salmon and rolls with zucchini and sockeye salmon.

Coho salmon

Pacific salmon — coho salmon is a wild fish, lives only in the wild and chooses the cleanest waters. If you buy coho from an honest seller who cooperates with the same reliable suppliers, you can be sure that the delicacy is environmentally friendly.

What does a catfish look like

This fish reaches a length of up to 1 meter and weighs up to 15 kg. The coho has bright scales of a light shade, a large upper part of the mouth and a high forehead stand out on a large massive head.

What to cook from coho

Coho rightfully takes pride of place in the menu of the best restaurants. Meat with a slight bitterness, tender, has a rich and interesting taste, bright and rich color. Coho steaks are no less delicious than salmon steaks, but they are much cheaper!

Keta

Ketu is called the most dietary salmon. The size of the fish rarely exceeds a meter in length, and the weight ranges from 3 to 10 kg, larger specimens are rare. Young fish live in the seas, not far from the shore. When the chum becomes an adult, she goes to spawn where she was born – to the upper reaches of the rivers, and after spawning dies.

How to distinguish ketu

Before returning to the river to spawn, the chum salmon differs from other salmon in bright silver scales without spots and stripes, for which it received the name silverfish. On the back, the scales have a beautiful blue-azure tint. Chum salmon meat is rich red, quite dense, but tender. After traveling to the spawning grounds, the appearance of the fish changes: spots of a purple hue appear on the body, the scales become rougher, the skin becomes thicker, the teeth increase, bend. By the time of spawning, the fish becomes black and is not suitable for fishing.

How to cook ketu

The taste of chum salmon is better revealed when baking — in foil, in a sleeve or in a closed thick-walled dish. When frying, we recommend using a thick layer of batter, otherwise the meat will turn out dry and tough.

Pink salmon

Pink salmon or, as it is often called, pink salmon is a real champion in terms of population and the most affordable delicacy in the bright constellation of red fish.

What it looks like

Pink salmon reaches a length of 50-60 cm and weighs 1.5–2.5 kg. It differs from its closest relatives (chum salmon, chinook salmon) with smaller scales and a spotted tail. A striking feature of adult males is an elongated snout with a predatory “beak” and a “hump” on the back of males, which gave the fish its name. During the mating season, the color of the fish changes: the scales turn brown, the fins and head darken, the abdomen becomes yellowish.

What to cook from pink salmon

The low fat content allows us to consider pink salmon really lean, ideal for a diet. Yielding to the taste of salmon and trout, pink salmon is great for a children’s table: you can cook broths with it, cook for a couple, make puree and souffle.

Boiled pink salmon and cold-smoked fish can be used to prepare fillings for pies, soups with potatoes and salads. Hot smoked salmon is ideal for sandwiches and riets. Fried and boiled is better served cold with mayonnaise and boiled potatoes. By the way, it turns out to be tastier on the grill than in a frying pan. And so that the pink salmon does not come out dry when baking, it should be pre-soaked in marinade or vegetable oil.

So, salmon is not one fish, but a whole vast family. To introduce all its representatives, it will take a whole book. Red fish is related to healthy, easily digestible meat (not necessarily red) and endless shades of taste.