Walk into any supermarket on any day and you will likely find some form of salmon. One reason for this is that salmon is one of the most versatile fish available. At the Peerless, we have prepared salmon ourselves using every method imaginable, from roasting, planking, poaching, and sautéing to curing and crimping. We have served salmon hot and cold, and we have sliced it, cut it into steaks, cooked it whole, wrapped it in pastry and made it into a mousse. Here is the information you need to make responsible and sustainable choices the next time you venture into the seafood department.

Since salmon stop eating once they leave saltwater, it is best to catch them when they first enter freshwater. At this point, their flesh has the highest fat and protein content. The length of time they spend in the ocean and the distance they must travel in freshwater determines the fat content. The longer and colder the river, the higher the fat content, richer the flavor and firmer the texture. Thus, salmon are generally named for the place they come from like the Copper River in Alaska (the longest, coldest river in Alaska ), the Taku River in Alaska or the Columbia River on the Oregon/Washington border. Why should you care? The fatter and happier the salmon, the better the flavor.

Ready to try some wild salmon?
Always choose wild salmon over farmed salmon. Wild salmon taste better and are healthier for you and for the environment. As the slogan goes, "Wild salmon don't do drugs." Most farmed salmon are kept in crowded net pens where they are prone to disease. To control various pathogens and parasites, the fish farms commonly use drugs and other chemicals. In many instances, farmed salmon escape their net cages and can endanger the health of wild fish populations. The antibiotics and other agents used can also have a negative impact on shellfish and the marine life that support other fisheries.

We believe that a majority of aquaculture (fish farming) systems actually promote ecological destruction and further protein loss. Research already shows that wild salmon are healthier for you and the environment, and are environmentally friendlier than farmed salmon. Because salmon are carnivorous, requiring fish meal in their diet, each pound of farmed salmon requires between two and five pounds of wild fish. This means a net loss of marine resources. Moreover, scientists have found evidence of dioxins and PCB contamination in the fishmeal fed to farmed salmon, raising further food safety concerns.

Knowing your salmon species, together with where and how they were caught, will help you get the best product for your money, promote sustainable cuisine and ensure that you get the most flavor from your fish. Wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest consist of five species plus Steelhead trout, an anadromous rainbow trout. In general, choose fish, whether whole or pre-cut, that are moist, shiny, firm to the touch, and smell like the ocean, not like fish. Ask when and how the fish was caught, where it came from and how it has been stored. As James de Coquet said, "Salmon are like men: too soft a life is not good for them."

Chinook or King salmon are the largest of the Pacific salmon, averaging between 15 and 40 pounds. They spawn in long, large rivers and therefore need the greatest amount of fat reserves. They run in the spring through the autumn with the spring and summer runs being the most prolific. They are commercially caught from central California to northwest Alaska . You may have heard of "Ivory" salmon. Ivory salmon are a white-fleshed King salmon native to certain rivers of southeast Alaska and Canada . Most salmon get their color from carotene in the food they eat while white or Ivory Kings are genetically predisposed with an extra enzyme to process that carotene rather than collect it in their flesh. Ivory salmon is acclaimed for its milder, silkier and more buttery flavor.

Coho or "Silver" salmon are slightly smaller and have a lower fat content than King salmon. They are autumn spawners with peak runs in July and August. They are often present in small neighborhood streams and rivers like the Rogue River in southern Oregon .

Sockeye or "Red" salmon are unique, as they must spend their juvenile years in a lake. They are called "red" because their skin turns red when they spawn. The name sockeye means "fish of fishes" in the native Salish language. Whole fish rarely exceed four or five pounds, but we believe they are the most flavorful of the wild salmon. We have a hard time buying sockeye because they are so highly prized in Japan they're often sold before the boat docks.

Pink (Humpback) and Chum (Keta or Dog) salmon are the bargain-basement salmon, and we don't recommend using either for dinner. They are the smallest of the salmon and have very low fat content. These salmon are mostly canned or smoked.

In the US, the Atlantic salmon on the retail market is always farm-raised, since wild Atlantic salmon are extremely rare and there is no longer a commercial fishery. Many of the East Coast's native Atlantic salmon populations are extinct, while remaining wild Atlantic stocks in Maine and parts of eastern Canada are listed as an endangered species.

Steelhead trout, like Atlantic salmon, survive after spawning. They are a sea-going trout that have a medium fat content. While there are no major physical differences between rainbow and steelhead trout, the nature of their differing lifestyles has resulted in subtle distinctions in color, shape and flavor. Oregon does not allow commercial fisheries to fish for Steelhead and the British Columbian stocks are almost depleted. Sport and Native American fishermen are the only ones allowed to keep these prized fish.

- by Stu Stein, chef/owner, The Peerless Restaurant, Oregon

Excerpt from: The Sustainable Kitchen: Passionate Cooking Inspired by Farms, Forests and Oceans, New Society Publishers, June 2003, $22.95. (Used with permission)