Sockeye salmon: beneficial properties, taste, calorie content of meat

Nutritional value

Sockeye salmon meat is also distinguished by its rich red color. And all because it feeds on fairly fatty crustaceans - calanids. Copepods have a red tint - it is their pigments that color fish meat this color. Therefore, sockeye salmon differs from other representatives of the salmon family, the carcass of which has only a pinkish tint.

Due to the fact that sockeye salmon is a true gourmet fish, its meat has a richer taste and nutritional composition. Therefore, a wide variety of delicacies and exotic dishes are often prepared from it.

Sockeye salmon lives in the Pacific Ocean, so it is most often caught in the eastern seas of Russia (Okhotsk, for example). The Americans are a little luckier - fish are found in great abundance off their coasts. Sockeye salmon is not large in size. Its commercial length reaches 80 cm, and its weight ranges from 1.5 to 7 kg. Its meat is rich in vitamins and healthy fats. Despite this, the brightest representative of the salmon family is a dietary product that can be used to prepare a wide variety of diet dishes.

Sockeye salmon fish. Calorie content and benefits of sockeye salmon

Calorie content: 157 kcal.

Energy value of the product Sockeye salmon (Ratio of proteins, fats, carbohydrates):

Proteins:

20.3 g (~81 kcal)
Fat:
8.4 g (~76 kcal)
Carbohydrates:
0 g (~0 kcal)

Energy ratio (b|w|y): 52%|48%|0%

Sockeye salmon: properties

How much does Sockeye salmon cost (average price per 1 kg)?

Moscow and Moscow region.370 rub.

Sockeye salmon belongs to the Pacific salmon family. By the way, sockeye salmon meat is considered even tastier than the meat of pink salmon or chum salmon, while the taste qualities of this fish are much richer than other representatives of salmon fish. Due to the high fat content of the meat, sockeye salmon serves as an ideal basis for the production of smoked products, in particular excellent balyk. Steamed sockeye salmon is very tasty and is also used to prepare fish salads and cold appetizers.

Sockeye salmon can be prepared according to a variety of recipes - for example, with moderate salting, its rather fatty meat is a delicious gastronomic product with a special, specific taste. Sockeye salmon makes an excellent choice for both everyday and festive dishes. And gourmets often use sockeye salmon to prepare exotic dishes.

It is worth noting that sockeye salmon is most popular not for its caviar, but for its delicious meat. Although sockeye salmon caviar is also distinguished by its rich red color, the eggs are relatively small in size. By the way, due to the fact that in recent years the natural reserves of sockeye salmon have decreased significantly, its caviar can be found on sale quite rarely.

Benefits of sockeye salmon

Sockeye salmon has not only unique bright red meat, but also a rich vitamin and mineral composition, which is so necessary for the full functioning of the human body. When consumed regularly, the benefits of sockeye salmon include normalizing metabolic processes and restoring the balance of nutrients and microelements.

This fish contains vitamins A, group B, E, PP, C, D, K, along with important microelements - iron, fluorine, zinc, chromium, molybdenum, nickel - and macroelements - magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium, chlorine and phosphorus. The calorie content of sockeye salmon per 100 grams is about 157 kcal.

Fluorine and phosphoric acid are considered very important components of sockeye fish, which are directly involved in the construction of many enzymes (phosphatases) - the main engines of chemical reactions at the cellular level. Phosphorus salts, in turn, are an essential element of human skeletal tissue.

The benefits of sockeye salmon are beneficial due to the preservation of the health of the mucous membranes and skin, the normalization of the activity of the nervous and digestive systems. The tasty meat of this fish is an excellent natural antioxidant and also a blood sugar regulator.

However, despite all their beneficial properties, fatty fish, and sockeye salmon is one of them, are not recommended for consumption in the presence of stomach and duodenal ulcers, as well as in some diseases associated with the hematopoietic system.

Product proportions. How many grams?

1 piece contains 2500 grams

The nutritional value

Sockeye salmon is a representative of the Salmon family; its taste is superior to the meat of chum salmon, pink salmon and other salmon.

It is important to note that, due to the significant depletion of natural fish stocks, sockeye salmon and its caviar are quite rare on sale. Despite the high value of caviar, sockeye salmon is especially popular for its meat, which is distinguished by its bright red color and rich vitamin and mineral composition (calorizator). And its regular use in food allows you to normalize metabolism and restore the balance of microelements necessary for the normal functioning of the body.

Calorie content of sockeye salmon

The calorie content of sockeye salmon is 157 kcal per 100 grams of product.

Composition of sockeye salmon

Sockeye salmon contains B vitamins, vitamins A, E, PP, C, D, K, iron, fluorine, zinc, chromium, molybdenum, nickel, magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium, chlorine and phosphorus.

Useful properties of sockeye salmon

Of significant importance is the content of fluorine and phosphoric acid, which are involved in the formation of enzymes and are an essential element of human skeletal tissue.

Consumption of sockeye salmon meat, an excellent natural antioxidant, helps normalize the functioning of the nervous and digestive systems, and regulates blood sugar levels.

Sockeye salmon in cooking

The high fat content of sockeye salmon makes it possible to make smoked products from it, including balyk. Steamed sockeye salmon has an excellent taste. The meat of this fish is used to prepare salads and cold appetizers. Moderately salted sockeye salmon meat is considered a delicacy (calorizer). Thus, the variety of dishes that can be prepared from sockeye salmon will delight any buyer from a regular to a gourmet.

Contraindications for use

However, it should be especially noted that the fatty meat of sockeye salmon is not recommended for consumption by people suffering from stomach ulcers, duodenal ulcers, or certain diseases of the hematopoietic system.

How to cook deliciously?

There are many ways to prepare this delicious meat. So, fish is often prepared in the same way as salmon. Sockeye salmon is also good in the oven. It also turns out great in a slow cooker. However, there are dishes that require the use of this particular meat.

True connoisseurs assure that once you have tasted sockeye salmon meat, it is simply impossible to forget its taste. Moreover, even chum salmon is in many ways inferior to oven-cooked sockeye salmon. It makes excellent balyks. How good is salted sockeye salmon! It can be eaten just like that, or can be used as the main ingredient for salads and a wide variety of cold appetizers.

From words to practice, it's time to familiarize yourself with some traditional recipes for cooking fish.

Red salmon

Sockeye salmon belongs to the salmon family, primarily found in the Pacific Ocean. Its most numerous population is on the shores of western and eastern Kamchatka. Sockeye salmon is also widespread in Alaska, and is also occasionally found in the northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk and in the eastern part of Sakhalin.

Sockeye salmon can reach eighty centimeters in length, and its average weight is from two to four kilograms. Larger specimens can reach seven kilograms. In its shape and size, sockeye salmon is in many ways similar to chum salmon, but sockeye salmon contains many more gill rakers.

Not all reservoirs are suitable for breeding sockeye salmon; most of all, it prefers lakes with springs. The instinct to produce offspring in sockeye salmon is very strongly developed, and in most cases this fish returns to the place where it was born - this phenomenon is called “homing”. Among all salmon fish, sockeye salmon begins to enter rivers the earliest - in the month of May, and finishes in July. The period of the first spawning of sockeye salmon falls on July-August, and the second - on August-October. Young sockeye salmon, which have not yet reached the age of three, mainly live in lakes, then move to the seas, and after three to four years return to their homeland.

Currently, there are several varieties of sockeye salmon, the most famous and widespread of which is the silver salmon, which is very reminiscent of chum salmon. Only very experienced fishermen can distinguish between these two fish.

During its mating season, sockeye salmon acquires a bright red color, and only its head remains green.

Most often, sockeye salmon feed on fatty crustaceans - calanids, which have a bright red color due to the high content of carotenoid pigments.

Sockeye salmon is famous for its taste properties, which are even higher than those of chum salmon and pink salmon. Its meat has a very pleasant and delicate taste. Due to the high fat content of sockeye salmon, it makes excellent smoked products, including balyks. Steamed sockeye salmon is very tasty, and quite often various cold appetizers and salads are prepared from this fish.

Composition and calorie content

Sockeye salmon is rich in almost all vitamins and minerals necessary for human health. It contains vitamins A, E, PP, D, as well as B vitamins, as well as such important elements as fluorine, iron, zinc, chromium, nickel, potassium, magnesium and phosphorus.

Sockeye salmon is a high-calorie product - one hundred grams of this fish contains more than one hundred and fifty calories.

Beneficial features

Eating dishes prepared from sockeye salmon has a very beneficial effect on the entire human body. They must be included in the diet of children.

The meat of this tasty fish helps maintain healthy mucous membranes. However, it should be borne in mind that due to its high fat content, this fish is contraindicated for those who suffer from various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Like many other types of fish, sockeye salmon helps improve the condition of the skin, hair, and also helps strengthen bones. The most important components of sockeye salmon meat include fluorine and phosphoric acid.

Sockeye salmon can rightfully be classified as a dietary product. Regular consumption of its meat helps to normalize all important processes occurring in the human body, and also helps restore the optimal balance between nutrients and microelements contained in the body. Sockeye salmon is a universal fish, which makes not only wonderful everyday dishes, but also festive and even very exotic ones.

Harm and contraindications

There is no doubt that cold smoked sockeye salmon is a delicacy of the highest category. Of all the types of red salmon fish, sockeye salmon is distinguished by its excellent taste and very bright color of meat; it is also called krasnitsa. Its habitat guarantees the ecological purity of the product, since the nature of the Kamchatka Territory has not yet been affected by the “benefits” of modern civilization.

Sockeye salmon is quite small in size, weighing two to three kilograms and eighty centimeters long, so preparing the dish does not require much effort. This fish has gained particular popularity in Canada and the United States of America; in Russia they prefer chum salmon or pink salmon. The calorie content of sockeye salmon meat is not very high, only one hundred and sixty kilocalories per hundred grams, while its composition includes potassium, sodium, zinc, manganese, nickel, iron, sulfur, phosphorus, fluorine, magnesium, copper, sulfur, and contains all B vitamins , omega-3 fatty acids. Due to the high content of carotene and vitamin C, sockeye salmon meat is a good antioxidant, so eating it is useful for removing harmful toxins from the body.

It would seem that red fish balyk is a delicacy that does not often appear on our table due to its high cost, but preparing this tasty dish at home will not be difficult.

How to salt sockeye salmon?

There are many ways to salt fish, but they all have one feature - the meat will take exactly as much salt as it needs. This means that the product cannot be over-salted. The following ingredients will be needed:

The sockeye salmon fillet itself is about 1 kilogram.
A tablespoon of sugar and salt.
Any other spices for fish.

Pour all the dry ingredients into a mortar and grind them thoroughly. Place sockeye salmon fillet in a salting container, sprinkle it with a mixture of spices, then put another piece and also salt it. After two days, the red fish delicacy is ready to eat.

Cold smoking sockeye salmon

Dried sockeye salmon

To make a balyk, use a tesha, a side, a back, and a half-back. The carcass is cut into semi-finished products as follows:

For back balyk, the jaw and lower part of the abdomen are cut off from the head of the carcass, leaving the back and a minimal part of the rib bones. The abdomen of headless carcasses is cut off. The fins of the fish, including the tail, are cut off.
Bokovnik is obtained from a headless, gutted carcass, which is cut along the spine on both sides. The fins of the semi-finished product are cut off, including the tail, abdominal part, and spine bones.
For balyk from the carcass, the lower abdominal part is cut off, starting from the head and ending with the anus.
A half-back is obtained by dividing the back into 2 parts.

Prepare a mixture for salting from 5 tbsp. l. table salt, 2 tbsp. l. sugar, a small amount of ground cinnamon, pepper and coriander. Rub this mixture into semi-finished balyk products, wrap them in cheesecloth and leave them to salt in the refrigerator for a week.

Advice! You can not use herbs, spices and sugar, but add only salt.

The resulting liquid - brine - is periodically drained. The salted pieces are washed with water and dried well with paper towels. Next, the sockeye salmon is hung and slowly dried at a temperature of 20-25 ° C in a well-ventilated place for two to three days.

The flesh of the fish thickens, absorbs fat, becomes simply very tasty and is ready to eat immediately after drying.

Balyk from sockeye salmon

Classic version

A simple cold smoked recipe:

sockeye salmon – 1 kg;
salt – 2 tbsp. l.;
pepper – 1 tsp;
lemon juice, thyme, rosemary, tarragon - to taste.

When processing the carcass, the scales and head are left, the entrails are removed through a cut in the abdomen, and washed well.

Sockeye salmon is first salted and then washed.

Salting sockeye salmon

Sockeye salmon carcasses are rolled in a mixture of table salt and pepper. The abdominal cavity is salted and some of the salt is poured under the gill covers. If desired, you can add thyme, rosemary, tarragon and sprinkle with lemon juice. The meat is incredibly tender, so you can salt it without adding spices.

Place in cling film and leave in the refrigerator for two days at a temperature of 2-4 ° C, periodically turning over for better salting. After salting, the semi-finished products are washed with water to remove excess salt and blotted with paper towels.

Sockeye salmon in cling film

The fish is hung and dried outside for several hours.

Read now: Smoking trout: composition, preparation, cold and hot methods

A smokehouse is being prepared for cold smoking of sockeye salmon. Grates are installed in the chamber and lubricated with refined vegetable oil. The carcasses are placed on the grates, leaving gaps of at least 1 cm between them. You can hang the products for smoking by hooks on the rods, keeping the same distance between them. Cover the smokehouse chamber with a lid.

Wood is loaded into the smoke generator body - chips or shavings of alder, beech, pear and cherry branches. Spray them with water first. If you don’t have a ready-made smoke generator at hand, you can assemble it yourself.

Important! Do not use coniferous wood as wood materials, otherwise the smoked meats will be bitter and have a pungent odor. The fish is smoked on the wood chips of deciduous or fruit trees - alder, beech.

Close the body with a lid and connect it with a tube to the smokehouse. The wood chips are set on fire, the compressor is turned on, and smoke begins to flow to the products in the processing chamber.

The process of smoking sockeye salmon at home lasts 6-8 hours. The temperature is maintained within 27-30 °C.

During this time, the pulp softens, and the taste and smell of smoking appears. The color of cold smoked sockeye salmon is bright red.

After smoke treatment, the carcasses are hung outside, where there is shade and good air ventilation, for several hours. During this time, the pungent smell of smoke will disappear, and the inner layers of the pulp will be saturated with smoke products. Smoked meats are not only incredibly tasty, but also aromatic.

On wet sawdust

It is best to smoke using a smoke generator. Smoking proceeds according to the following scheme:

Moistened wood materials are loaded into the smoke generator - chips or sawdust from alder, oak, beech, and fruit bushes. Close the lid.
The smoke generator is connected to the smoking chamber using a chimney pipe.
Grates are installed in the chamber, pre-lubricated with refined vegetable oil. They place sockeye salmon on them. Instead of placing fish horizontally, you can use vertical placement. In this case, the carcasses are hung using hooks on rods placed in the chamber.

Important! When placing fish in the chamber, gaps of at least 1 cm are left between individual carcasses. Otherwise, the side surface will remain light and unsmoked.

The chamber is sealed with a lid.
Set fire to wood chips in a smoke generator. Turn on the compressor, which forces the resulting smoke into the smokehouse.
During the smoking process, the temperature is maintained at 25-27 °C. In general, it should not exceed 30 °C, otherwise the fish will turn out boiled and fall apart.
Cold smoking of balyk lasts from 8 hours to 1-2 days.
After smoke treatment is completed, the carcasses are hung outside, covered with gauze, for a day. During this time, the smoke will disappear and the fish flesh will be saturated with smoked products. Sockeye salmon will acquire unique aromas and delicate taste.

Try smoking different types of fish, compare, look for the best options for yourself.

Salting fish in brine

First, you need to decide how the fish will be salted: whole piece or steaks. By the way, the latter method is much faster. It is necessary to prepare a saline solution - for this you need to dilute 330 grams of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar in 1 liter of water. You can add bay leaf and several varieties of pepper.

In order for the brine to absorb the aromas, it is advisable to boil the brine. However, you only need to pour it into the fish when the brine has cooled completely. The sockeye salmon is lowered into a salting container, filled with brine and covered with a lid on which a pressure is placed. How long she spends like this depends on who loves which fish more. For sockeye salmon to turn out lightly salted, 24 hours is enough; for strong salting, it is necessary to keep the fish in brine for at least two days.

Bake in the oven

This is ideal for a holiday dish. Baked sockeye salmon will surprise everyone gathered at the table with its beauty and extraordinary aroma. So, to create a culinary masterpiece you will need the following ingredients:

4 sockeye salmon steaks;
bay leaf - according to the number of steaks;
2 small lemons;
onions - 1 pc.;
salt, spices and seasonings for fish.

First of all, you need to cut the onion and lemon into thin rings. Rub the fish steaks with the seasoning mixture and leave to marinate for a while.

Place a sheet of foil on a baking sheet, and layer all the ingredients on it: fish steaks, then onions, and then lemon. Sprinkle everything with lemon juice, cover with another sheet of foil and place in the preheated oven. The dish is prepared within 20 minutes. After this, you need to take out a baking sheet, but do not open the fish, finely chop the green onions and parsley, place the steaks on portioned dishes and serve to the guests, sprinkled with chopped herbs.

How to salt a whole carcass of sockeye salmon?

Salted fish has a number of undeniable advantages:

Firstly, home-cooked fish does not contain as many preservatives and additives as a store-bought product.
Secondly, in this case you can get exactly the taste you want.
Thirdly, salted red fish is much cheaper.

Now you just need to familiarize yourself with a rather unusual method of salting a sockeye salmon carcass. To do this, it is not at all necessary to buy fillets or steaks - you can salt the entire carcass directly. First of all, you need to cut it up, freeing it from the insides and head, then rinse thoroughly and dry with a paper towel. It is recommended to salt a whole sockeye salmon carcass in the classic way, using the following ingredients:

2 tablespoons salt;
the same amount of sugar;
a large bunch of fresh dill;
one medium sized lemon.

Greens and lemon need to be washed. Dry the dill on a towel and cut the lemon into thin rings. Take a third of the greens and line the bottom of the container in which the fish will be salted. Rub the sockeye salmon carcass with a mixture of salt and sugar (you can add chopped bay leaf and a few black peppercorns). Place chopped lemon and the second part of dill inside the fish, and cover the sockeye salmon on top with a so-called blanket of dill sprigs. The fish should be covered with a lid and pressure placed on top, then put in a cool place for 24 hours.

How to prepare the “sockeye salmon balyk” dish?

Sockeye salmon meat is quite fatty, so it is ideal for smoking, but you can do without it by preparing balyk by simply salting the fish. For this you will need:

salt and sugar at the rate of 12 tablespoons of salt and 3 tablespoons of sugar per kilogram of fish. First of all, the fish must be thoroughly cleaned and washed inside to get rid of films and blood clots, and cut off the fins and tail.

If the carcass is large, then it is worth dividing it into equal pieces, not thin, so that the meat does not dry out. Divide a small fish into two parts along the back, remove the spine.

For cooking, it is best to use enamel dishes. Cover the bottom of the pan or tank with an even layer of a mixture of salt and sugar two to three millimeters thick. You can add garlic, a mixture of peppers, and bay leaves to the fish. Then the pieces are laid in an even layer and sprinkled with salt, after which the fish must be pressed and left for five to six days in a cool place.

Then the pieces must be removed from the dishes, rinsed in cold water or wiped with damp gauze to remove salt crystals. After this, the fish must be dried by hanging the carcasses in a draft for four to five days. If you periodically lubricate the fish with vegetable oil, it will acquire a more pleasant and appetizing appearance.

You can determine the readiness of the balyk by the presence of droplets of fat that protrude on the surface. It is recommended to store the finished dish wrapped in paper.

Cold-smoked sockeye salmon is prepared from ready-dried carcasses; you can also smoke freshly salted sockeye salmon. To do this, you need to ensure a constant supply of cold smoke into the smoking chamber. In Kamchatka, many people have smoking barrels at their dachas. A pipe (hose) is attached to the barrel and a tank with smoldering sawdust is placed in a hole nearby (the source of the smoke should be below the inlet of the barrel). The smoke temperature should not exceed twenty-five degrees. It will take from one to four days to fully cook, it all depends on the size of the fish pieces.

I would like to note that eating smoked fish in large quantities is not recommended by doctors, since combustion products contain many harmful substances.

Are you going to the store for red fish? Just a year ago there could have been no doubt that you would buy a fatty piece of Norwegian salmon or trout. But for several months now, prices for imported red fish have been “biting”. As a result of retaliatory sanctions, the Norwegians withdrew from the race, and now we have access to fish from the Faroe Islands, Icelandic and Latin American. And all of them have become very expensive - a kilo of imported salmon can now be bought for 800-1000 rubles, or even more, depending on the store’s pricing policy.

What differs from this price is what is written on our fish, Murmansk or Far Eastern. There are, of course, expensive ones, but there are also very affordable ones. So in the markets you can buy Murmansk salmon for about 300 rubles. per kilogram. It's a whole fish without a head. Cut into steaks - it will be more expensive, 350-370 rubles. At weekend fairs, the price for Murmansk fish is higher - about 500 rubles per kilogram. Popular salmon are sold at such a low price: salmon, coho salmon, chum salmon, and slightly cheaper than pink salmon.

Wild vs Farm

In appearance, such cheap fish is very different from imported fish, bright and oily. It is explainable. The fact is that the Norwegians, as well as other salmon producers, raise them on farms. The fish are kept in the pools, they are fed very well, including food that slightly tints the meat. That's why salmon from Europe is so bright. And the white veins, although they make the fish meat very beautiful, still remain fat. Yes, fish, yes, relatively healthy, but still fat.

Our fish are wild. We are just setting up its artificial breeding. And so far there is no farmed fish. Wild fish loses very much in appearance. It’s not as bright, it’s not as large, there aren’t nice slivers of meat that flake off when you bake or salt it. Murmansk and Far Eastern fish are much smaller. It may not be red at all, but pinkish or even gray (like pink salmon). Wild salmon meat is denser, there is practically no fat in it, it accumulates under the skin to warm the fish, and is not deposited as excess.

In fact, wild fish is much healthier than farmed fish. She ate not artificial food, but what she found in the sea, only natural products. She moved a lot, her muscles were well developed. And wild fish usually costs much more than farmed fish. Only in our country, due to the peculiarities of the organization of the fishing business, due to the underdevelopment of aquaculture, due to the fact that Western producers and their own importers greatly increased prices for salmon and trout, only here the opposite happened. And what is healthier is cheaper.

Cooking features

Since our fish is quite different from imported fish, it needs to be prepared differently. In some cases, if you start treating Murmansk salmon the same way as Norwegian salmon, you will end up with an inedible dish. Imported fish is somewhat easier to prepare and is more predictable, which is largely why it is so popular. But this does not mean that you cannot prepare a holiday dinner from wild fish. The main thing is to choose it correctly and take into account all the features of different types.

The salmon is quite fatty and tender. Suitable for frying steaks, baking, stewing.

Trout is a delicate fish, but the fat is concentrated in the abdominal part, so it is better to bake it in foil, this way it will spread better.

Coho salmon - the meat has a rather bright, coral-pinkish color. There is little fat, so it is better to salt the fish. You can also stew it with sauce.

Chum salmon is not as bright and catchy as coho salmon, it fades slightly into gray color. The fish is quite dry, it is best to salt it.

Pink salmon is a very delicate fish, does not hold its shape well, the meat has a gray-pink color. Tasty when pickled, but not beautiful. Good for soups and cutlets.

Sockeye salmon is one of the most beautiful fish. Really red, the reddest of salmon, tender, extremely tasty. Salt, bake, stew, fry - everything works out great. Smoked sockeye salmon is very tasty. Costs more than previous varieties.

Chinook salmon - the meat is darker than other fish, dense red in color. It is considered the best and most delicious fish in the Far East. It is also the largest of the salmonids. In the European part of Russia it is rare and expensive. Chinook salmon is eaten lightly salted, baked, and also smoked.

Cooking methods

Salting: This is a win-win method for all red fish. The simplest one is 1 tbsp. sugar and 2 tbsp. salt per kilogram of fish. We covered the fillets with this mixture, covered them with film, waited a day - and the lightly salted fish was ready.

Steam: trout, pink salmon, salmon, and sockeye salmon cook well in a steamer. Then you can make a salad out of them, pour sauce over them, and prepare an appetizer.

Make soup: in principle, all salmon are suitable for this. It’s just a shame to let Chinook salmon into soup.

Make cutlets: in combination with other types of fish, more fatty, chum salmon, coho salmon, and pink salmon will be used for cutlets.

Make a salad: Lightly salted fish and smoked fish are perfect for this. You can make salads with them with herbs and a small amount of sauce. If the fish is steamed or baked, it is better to make a salad with mayonnaise if the fish seems a little dry to you.

Fry: It is safest to fry the salmon. Steaks are taken from the middle, which is the fattest. It is best to properly bread the steaks; one of the good options is ground sesame seeds or nut flour. You can make a paste from them by adding oil and thoroughly coat the steaks. You can make the breading by “sticking” it onto the whipped egg white. Just dip the fish in the egg, then roll it in breading.

Bake: Salmon and trout are great for this. It is best to bake in foil, placing herbs in the belly of the fish and coating the back and sides with oil. You can also make steaks, wrap each of them in foil and put them in the oven.

Smoking: If you have a smokehouse and a lot of fish, then this is the best way. Sockeye salmon is especially suitable for smoking; pink salmon, salmon and trout are good; Chinook salmon is excellent. The fish needs to be separated from the bones, covered with salt for several hours, and then the salt is washed off and smoked on alder chips.

Stew: In a small amount of water with a tasty fatty sauce, creamy is good, but you can come up with another, almost any salmon works well.
By the way, boiled or lightly salted fish can be pureed and made into a sauce. For vegetables or pasta - just perfect. Nikson
Madeleine

Higher Intelligence (131720) 6 years ago Sockeye salmon meat is not pink, like other salmon, but intensely red in color and has excellent taste. Sockeye salmon meat is tastier than the meat of pink salmon and chum salmon. Sockeye salmon meat is much richer in taste than the meat of other salmon fish, for example, chum salmon and pink salmon. No other salmon fish has such attractive, rich red meat. The mineral and vitamin composition is also impressive. Sockeye salmon contains vitamins A, D, B1, B2, B12, it has a lot of potassium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, calcium, iodine, copper. Since sockeye salmon meat has a higher fat content than other salmon meat, it is excellent for preparing balyk and other smoked meats. Sockeye salmon is also often steamed; it is great for cold appetizers and saladsSockeye salmon 100g

Fried sockeye salmon

You can simply fry the steak on both sides and season it with a spicy sauce, or you can prepare a small culinary masterpiece. For these purposes, it is necessary to prepare an unusual mixture of herbs and spices, as well as other ingredients:

The sockeye salmon fillet itself (you can use steaks) - 6-7 pieces.
A teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
A tablespoon of dry thyme.
A tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper.
The same amount of oregano.
The same amount of paprika.
Half a teaspoon of lemon zest.
Vegetable oil for frying.
Sea salt or regular salt.

This dish is perfect for a special dinner, when you want not only to feed everyone gathered at the table, but to surprise them with an unusual taste and original presentation.

Cooking method

First of all, you need to mix all the spices - you can simply crush them in a mortar. After this, you need to cut the sockeye salmon carcass into steaks and generously spread each of them with vegetable oil, and then rub it with a pre-prepared mixture of spices and herbs. Heat a frying pan and fry the steaks on both sides until a delicious golden brown crust is formed.

After this, the pieces of fish should be placed on portioned plates and sprinkled with chopped herbs. You can sprinkle with lemon juice. The calorie content of fried sockeye salmon is low, so it can be used as a dietary dish to keep in good shape. So, 100 g of product contains only 184.33 kcal - this is 9% of the daily value.

Stewed in sour cream

Many people don’t really like red fish just because it has a characteristic bitterness. However, there are little secrets that will help fix this. Sour cream sauce and vegetables are what you need to prepare a small culinary masterpiece. You need to prepare the following ingredients:

Fish fillet - 1 kilogram.
Olive oil for frying (can be replaced with vegetable oil).
A tablespoon of tomato paste or sauce.
Three medium sized onions.
Two small carrots.
Medium fat sour cream - 500 grams.
Bay leaf, pepper and salt, as well as any other spices desired.

And now it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the most detailed recipe for preparing an unusual dish.

How to cook?

First of all, you need to thoroughly wash and dry the sockeye salmon fillet, then cut it into small portions, which need to be greased with a little olive oil and lightly salted.

Now we need to do the vegetables. Finely chop the onion and grate the carrots. Place a frying pan on the fire, heat the oil in it and fry the vegetables: first the onion until soft, and then the carrots. Once they are ready, reduce the temperature and add tomato paste. Literally a minute after this, add the sockeye salmon fillet and increase the heat to maximum. All this is fried within a few minutes. The fish should cook evenly and acquire a slightly pale tint.

Now you need to add sour cream and spices, mix everything carefully and add the bay leaf at the very end, then reduce the heat and continue to simmer the fish for another 5-10 minutes.

How to choose

In the retail chain, customers are offered the product smoked, chilled or frozen. It can be purchased in the form of a carcass without a head, whole with a head, in the form of steaks and fillets.

If the fish is caught during spawning, the choice of product should be approached with great attention. During this period, it releases a special toxin, a large amount of which accumulates in meat and caviar.

It decomposes only at temperatures below 18 degrees for 5 days or when salted for 45 days. Therefore, it is recommended to buy sockeye salmon chilled or salted.

Sockeye salmon: recipes

Fillet or steaks can be fried, stewed or salted. Sockeye salmon is great for preparing a wide variety of cold appetizers and salads. Fillet fried in batter with the addition of a spicy sauce will be an excellent option for a celebration or holiday. Sockeye salmon soup, which can be prepared for Sunday lunch, is no less tasty.

You will need the following ingredients:

Sockeye salmon carcass weighing 1-1.5 kg.
Carrots and celery - 35 grams each.
2 cloves of garlic.
2 potatoes.
Vegetable oil.
2 medium sized onions.
Cherry tomatoes - 2 pieces.
Spices and seasonings.

First of all, you need to cut the fish: remove and discard the entrails, separate the head and bones, wash and dry the fillets. Make a broth from the heads and fish bones with the addition of bay leaf and black pepper. While the broth is being prepared, you need to chop the potato tubers and one onion, chop the carrots and celery. Melt butter in a frying pan and fry vegetables in it. Dip the second onion whole into the broth along with the chopped potatoes. Cut the fish fillet into small pieces along with the tomatoes, fry along with the rest of the vegetables, then add to the pan with the soup. Add spices and spices, cover with a lid and let the dish brew.

As you can see, you can cook sockeye salmon in different ways. The main thing is to find your own recipe, which will become the signature dish.

Sockeye salmon: composition, benefits and properties, sockeye salmon in cooking

Red salmon

is a fish of the Pacific salmon family. The shores of eastern and western Kamchatka are distinguished by a particularly large population of sockeye salmon. Sockeye salmon is also common in Alaska and is less common in eastern Sakhalin and in the northern waters of the Sea of Okhotsk.

The length of representatives of this species can reach 80 cm, and the average weight is generally 2-4 kg, the largest recorded individual weighed 7.7 kg. Sockeye salmon is very similar in size and shape to chum salmon, but differs from it in the large number of gill rakers.

As a spawning area, sockeye salmon choose those lakes in which springs emerge. This fish cannot find a reservoir suitable for sockeye salmon in every pool. For example, in Magadan, sockeye salmon enters exclusively the Tauy and Ola rivers, and even then in small quantities. There are quite a lot of sockeye salmon in some basins of the Kamchatka Peninsula, especially in the Okhota River. A significant population of this red fish also lives in the lakes of Chukotka and the Koryak Highlands. In the Magadan Region, recreational fishing for sockeye salmon is allowed only in the first half of summer and only with licenses.

Sockeye salmon have a very strongly developed natural instinct to reproduce, and most fish return to the same spawning place where they were born; this phenomenon in nature is called homing. Sockeye salmon begins to enter the rivers in May, earlier than other salmon, and ends in July. Sockeye salmon is divided into autumn and summer according to the timing. The first spawning occurs in rivers and lakes in July-August, the second - in August-October.

Typically, young sockeye salmon feed in lakes from one to three years, after which they slide into the sea, where they live for another 2-3 years and return to their native spawning ground. It is rare to see river sockeye salmon; it spawns not in the lake, but in a backwater or non-river reach.

Varieties of sockeye salmon

The most popular is the silver sockeye salmon, which is similar in shape and size to chum salmon, and these two fish can be distinguished by the number of gill rakers located on the gill arch; chum salmon has 18-28 such rakers, while sockeye salmon has at least 30. Fishermen know a special way to distinguish between chum salmon and sockeye salmon; freshly caught chum salmon can be lifted by the tail with one hand without much effort, which cannot be done with sockeye salmon, since its fin rays are so soft that the fish will definitely slip out.

During the mating season, sockeye salmon has a bright red color, except for the green head, which explains the other name of this fish - red.

Just like other salmon fish, chinook and coho salmon, there are also small migratory male sockeye salmon called mullets. There are also dwarf males living in fresh waters that spawn with anadromous females.

In some lakes, for example, in Kronotsky Lake in Kamchatka, kokanee is found - the so-called residential form of sockeye salmon. This is a small fish no more than 30 cm in length, the females and males of which die after the first spawning. Interestingly, as a trophy for sport fishing, as well as food for large predatory fish, it was introduced into reservoirs and lakes in the western part of North America.

Taste qualities of sockeye salmon

The diet of sockeye salmon includes mainly fatty crustaceans - calanids, whose bright red color is due to carotenoid pigments. It is from the crustaceans swallowed by sockeye salmon that these pigments pass into the fish meat, which is why it acquires such a bright red color, although salmon usually have pink meat, and not such a rich red color and excellent taste.

Sockeye salmon meat is considered tastier than the meat of chum salmon and pink salmon; its taste is much richer than that of other representatives of salmon fish. The high fat content of sockeye salmon meat makes this fish an ideal raw material for preparing smoked meats, in particular excellent balyks. Sockeye salmon is very tasty when steamed, and is also used to prepare cold appetizers and fish salads.

Useful composition of sockeye salmon

Sockeye salmon has a rich vitamin and mineral composition. It contains vitamins A, E, PP, D, B1, B2, B12, as well as important microelements: iron, fluorine, zinc, chromium, molybdenum, nickel and macroelements: magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium, chlorine, phosphorus.

The calorie content of sockeye salmon is 157 kcal per 100 g of fish.

Useful properties of sockeye salmon

The benefits of fish for the health of the human body are indisputable; it is not for nothing that the percentage of fish dishes on the menu of children's institutions is very high.

Sockeye salmon meat is useful for maintaining the health of the mucous membranes and skin, for the normal functioning of the digestive and nervous systems, it is an excellent antioxidant and helps regulate blood sugar.

A very important component of sockeye salmon meat is fluorine, as well as phosphoric acid, which is involved in the process of building numerous enzymes (phosphatases), which are the main drivers of chemical reactions in cells. Phosphorus salts are part of human skeletal tissue.

For all their usefulness, fatty varieties of fish, and sockeye salmon is one of them, are contraindicated for stomach and duodenal ulcers, as well as for some blood diseases.

Sockeye salmon in cooking

Sockeye salmon is a truly unique dietary product. And if the meat of this fish is regularly included in the diet, it helps to normalize metabolic processes in the body, restore the balance of microelements and nutrients necessary for the coordinated functioning of all important life systems.

Sockeye salmon not only has unique meat of bright red color and excellent taste, but also a rich composition of vitamins and minerals necessary for the full functioning of the body.

Sockeye salmon can be prepared in a variety of ways; its fatty meat, with moderate salting, turns into a delicious gastronomic product that has a special, specific taste.

Sockeye salmon meat makes an excellent choice for both holiday and everyday dishes. And gourmets enjoy using sockeye salmon to prepare exotic dishes.

Sockeye salmon is more popular for its tasty meat than for its caviar. Although sockeye salmon caviar also has a rich red color, although the eggs are relatively small in size. Due to the fact that natural stocks of sockeye salmon have noticeably decreased in recent years, red sockeye salmon caviar can rarely be found on sale.

Romanchukevich Tatyana

Sockeye salmon is a fish belonging to the salmon family, a genus of salmon that lives exclusively in the Pacific basin. This is a very valuable commercial fish species, which is also an object of amateur and professional fishing.

Appearance

Sockeye salmon has an appearance similar to that of chum salmon. Therefore they are very often confused. In the first photo you can see what sockeye salmon looks like, and in the second photo - chum salmon. Are they really very similar to each other?

Sockeye salmon

Sockeye salmon differs from chum salmon in the number of gill rakers located on the first arch of the gill. If chum salmon cannot have less than 18 and more than 28, then sockeye salmon always has more than three dozen of them. Moreover, adult individuals of this fish species are smaller compared to chum salmon. The maximum body length of the fish is at least 80 centimeters, and the maximum recorded weight was 7 kilograms and 700 grams (average weight ranges from 1.5 to 3.5 kilograms). Chum salmon can have a body length of up to 1 meter and a weight of 17 kilograms or more.

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Distribution and habitats

Sockeye salmon represents the genus of Pacific salmon: that is, this type of fish lives exclusively in reservoirs belonging to the Pacific Ocean basin. In Russia, sockeye salmon is found in rivers flowing on the Kamchatka Peninsula and on Sakhalin Island. The number of sockeye salmon is large in the Kamchatka River, in its tributaries, as well as in streams that flow into Ozernaya Bay. Within the American mainland, this type of fish is found in the reservoirs of the Alaska Peninsula, as well as in rivers up to California. In Asian waters it is found from the Anadyr River to the island of Hokkaido.

The passing form is also called krasnitsa, or red. There is also a residential lake form called kokanee: this is a self-reproducing fish. There is also a dwarf residential form of sockeye salmon, which is found in the lakes of Kamchatka, North America and Japan. It does not migrate to the sea, and its spawning occurs simultaneously with the redfish, and dwarf individuals share spawning grounds with it. Sockeye salmon transitions from an anadromous to a residential form, provided that there is enough food in the lake for permanent residence in its waters.

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Diet and reproduction

During the spawning period, sockeye salmon changes its usual appearance, acquiring the so-called mating plumage, a photo of which you can see below. In this form, sockeye salmon cannot be confused with anyone else: the body color becomes bright red. According to one version, this is due to dietary habits. She uses very fatty crustaceans called calanids for food. They contain a red pigment, which colors the body of sockeye salmon.

Sockeye salmon's mating outfit

Sockeye salmon crawling over rocks in shallow water

Individuals usually reach sexual maturity at 5 or 6 years. During the spawning period, sockeye salmon in schools rise up the rivers to the places where they were born. The path to their native places is very difficult: sockeye salmon have to crawl over sharp stones in the shallows. This is used by predators: birds, bears and other animals. They wait for fish in convenient places and, catching them from schools, immediately eat them, as in the photo.

The bear caught a sockeye salmon

Sockeye salmon begins to enter the rivers in May; the spawning period lasts from 2 to 3 months. Individuals are divided into pairs, and then they look for a place ideal for building a nest: the built nest has a round or oval shape with a recess of up to 15–30 centimeters. Only at depth is the caviar safe, as waterfowl, bears and other representatives of the ichthyofauna love to feast on it. A photo of caviar is presented below.

Sockeye salmon caviar

Females lay large, bright red eggs in the amount of 3000–4000 eggs. Then the male waters her with milk, and the female buries the nest with sand. After spawning, the individuals die, and the larvae begin to hatch only 7–8 months after spawning. This happens towards the end of winter. The fry live in the lake for several years, feeding on zooplankton and benthos.

Sockeye salmon meat

Sockeye salmon's meat is bright red. It is highly valued for its taste and high nutritional value. Sockeye salmon is a fishery object. The annual global catch is approximately 150–170 thousand tons, and the catch within Russia is 15–30 thousand tons.

Video about sockeye salmon spawning under ice

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