All about salmon: a real superfood

Pale pink flesh, a texture as soft as butter, and that unmistakable mild flavour… is your mouth watering too? Whether smoked, fried, baked or even raw: salmon is a favourite fish in Germany for good reason. And it is not only the tongue that enjoys the treat, many other organs in the body benefit in the long run from this oily sea fish.

Behind the pink façade there is a real nutrient wonder. So that you know what all the praise is actually about, how you can prepare it in the best possible way and what you should look out for when buying, we have put together the ultimate salmon guide for you.

The range of varieties in the supermarket is wide, but what actually is “the” salmon? The silvery, shimmering fish belongs to the Salmonidae family and is usually divided by its origin into Atlantic or Pacific. What these oily predatory fish have in common is their yearly journey along the rivers to their spawning grounds. Salmon that come from this natural environment are called wild salmon.

Because of rising demand, however, wild salmon stocks have fallen considerably over recent decades. For this reason countries such as Norway and Chile have developed a new strategy for satisfying our hunger: the fish are raised in controlled, enclosed aquaculture. Despite fierce criticism of this way of keeping fish and a disastrous environmental record, farmed salmon is now found in the supermarket more often than its relatives caught in the wild.

The black sheep among the salmon is pollock, sold in Germany as Seelachs, which literally means sea salmon. Even though the name suggests otherwise, it has nothing to do with the Salmonidae family, but belongs instead to the cod family and has more in common with cod itself. On the fork at the latest, you can see this clearly from its whitish grey flesh.

With a high protein content and valuable omega-3 fatty acids, the fish convinces not only on taste but on health as well. We have broken down for you what is inside it.

Omega? Oh, mega! You have certainly heard a lot about these fatty acids that everyone is suddenly talking about. Because unlike saturated fatty acids, which have increasingly fallen into disrepute for clogging the arteries and feeding fat stores, their unsaturated omega-3 brothers are essential for vascular health and can have a positive influence on health in countless ways.

• a lower risk of heart attack and stroke
• lower cholesterol values and a rise in the positive HDL cholesterol
• prevention of Alzheimer’s and dementia
• a rise in the insulin sensitivity of the body cells
• a reduced cancer risk
• an anti-inflammatory effect
• an antidepressant effect

In terms of fat content, farmed salmon is superior to wild salmon. Because they move less and are generously supplied with feed, they can store more energy reserves in the form of fat. But that also means they bring a clearly higher calorie content with them.

Salmon contains a proud protein content of up to 20%. This protein consists largely of essential amino acids that the body cannot make itself, and it has a high biological value. That means it has a similar amino acid distribution to our own muscle protein and can be used very well by the body. All clear for building muscle.

Besides protein and fat, valuable micronutrients are in there too. Salmon counts as one of the few foods that naturally contain the sunshine vitamin vitamin D . So in winter, when the sun shines less, the tasty fish can give the vitamin D level a bit of a boost.

Listen up, pescatarians: with 100 g of fillet you have already covered your daily requirement of 4μg of vitamin B₁₂. The vitamin is involved in many important metabolic pathways in the body and can be taken in almost exclusively through animal foods.

Last but not least, alongside its valuable proteins and fats and vitamin B and B₁₂, salmon can also show off a good portion of antioxidants. Because vitamin E and the pigment astaxanthin, which also gives it its intense colour, are radical scavengers and can protect the cells from oxidative stress. That keeps the skin fresh and young.

So that you know which salmon is best for your health and your conscience, you can go by a few basic criteria.

The salmon should always be as fresh as possible. Otherwise there is a risk of picking up harmful bacteria such as salmonella or listeria, and those can quickly become very unpleasant. It is best to choose the piece that smiles at you with a fresh, bright colour. It should also smell neutral, or only slightly like a fresh sea breeze. If there are greyish patches or a strongly fishy smell: hands off. As the old tongue twister has it, it is better to fish only fresh fish.

Raising fish in aquaculture goes hand in hand with living conditions so poor that salmon is now also called “the pig of the seas”. But intensively farmed fish is a problem not only for the fish themselves, it is a problem for us people too.

Because the chemicals and antibiotics used to excess build up in the flesh of the animals and so, when we eat them, end up in our bodies as well. Organic rearing makes sure that the fish have more space and that chemicals or medicines are used only in exceptional cases.

The seas are overfished and the ecosystem is under heavy strain. To protect nature, it is important to look out for labels and certificates. The more common labels MSC (for wild catch) and ASC (for aquaculture) are a step in the right direction, but they are often criticised for their mild criteria. Fish with stricter labels, such as Friend of the Sea or Naturland Wildfang, is the better choice here.

Now it is finally lying in front of you on the table, the pink fillet. As the crowning finish, none other than our creative chef Francesco explains how to turn it into a wonderful, healthy meal.

Here are a few extra pointers:

Watch out for cross contamination. Everything that comes into contact with raw fish (fingers, knives, boards and so on) should be washed thoroughly afterwards, to make sure that no bacteria jump across to other foods where they are not killed off by heat.

Omega-3 fatty acids are sensitive to heat and quickly lose their function. So it is best to choose preparation methods that do not call for very high temperatures. Good options are poaching or steaming.

If you would like to experiment a little, you can even leave the fish completely raw and use it for sushi or ceviche (only when it is completely fresh, without exception). When frying, make sure that the salmon fillet stays nicely translucent inside, as in the video. That way you get two things at once: good for your health, and incredibly tender and tasty.

Bon appétit.