Walking up to the seafood counter shouldn't feel like a quiz. Sockeye or Atlantic. Wild or farmed. Steelhead, which is technically a sea-run trout but sold as salmon. Each one has its own flavour, texture and best way to cook it. Once you know the differences, however, salmon stops being the intimidating part of dinner and becomes the easy one.
The salmon you'll find at most Canadian seafood counters falls into a handful of varieties worth knowing: Chinook (also called king), Sockeye (red), Atlantic and Steelhead. Coho turns up at some counters, too. Each has a different fat content, flavour and ideal cooking method. After four decades of sourcing salmon for Canadian kitchens, our collection at Sealand Quality Foods is built around the four we think do the most for home cooks: wild Sockeye, BC Chinook, Canadian centre-cut Atlantic and Norwegian Steelhead. Here's how each one earns its place.
Wild Or Farmed Salmon?
This is the first question most people ask. The honest answer is that both can be excellent when they're sourced well.
Wild salmon spend their lives in the open ocean eating krill, shrimp and smaller fish. That diet gives the flesh its deep red-orange colour, leaner texture and bolder flavour. Wild fish are seasonal and harvest is regulated, which is part of why they cost more.
Farmed salmon are raised in coastal pens on a controlled diet. They're generally larger, fattier and milder, with a softer texture that suits gentler cooking methods. Canadian and Norwegian aquaculture today is tightly regulated for feed quality, antibiotic use and water management. The gap between good farmed salmon and wild salmon is narrower than it used to be.
If your salmon is sourced well, the real question isn't which one is better, it's which one fits the meal you're making. Wild Sockeye on a hot grill or farmed Atlantic in a creamy sauce? Both are the right answer, depending on the day.
Sockeye Salmon
Sockeye, sometimes called red salmon, is the most distinctive fish in the family. Deep crimson flesh that holds its colour after cooking, it has a firm texture and bold flavour that stands up to whatever you throw at it.
What makes it special: Sockeye is wild-caught only. The diet is krill and small crustaceans, and that's what gives the flesh its colour. Compared to Atlantic, Sockeye is leaner, denser and far more assertive. If Atlantic is the easy weeknight option, Sockeye is the one you cook when the fish is the centre of the plate.
Best ways to cook it: Grill or broil. High dry heat caramelises the surface while the firm flesh holds together. It also takes well to a quick sear. Because it's so lean, watch the timing. A fillet that's perfect at six minutes is dry at eight.
Where ours comes from: Our Sockeye Salmon Fillets are BC select, wild-caught from Pacific waters and individually quick frozen on the boat. That's why every fillet looks and tastes like it just came out of the water.
Chinook Salmon
Chinook is the largest of the Pacific salmon, which is where "king" comes from. It also has the highest fat content of any salmon. You can see it in the marbling and taste it in every bite. Buttery texture, large flakes and a rich, full flavour that doesn't need much help.
What makes it special: That fat is what makes Chinook so forgiving in the pan. It bastes itself as it cooks, so even if you're a few minutes off, the fish stays moist. Chinook is what you serve when you want to impress without working hard for it.
Best ways to cook it: Roast it whole, cook it on a cedar plank or sear it skin-side down until the skin crisps and the flesh just turns opaque. Chinook also smokes beautifully if you have the equipment.
Where ours comes from: Our Chinook Organic BC Salmon is sustainably raised in British Columbia. It's the one we recommend when someone wants to cook a piece of fish that doesn't need much done to it.
Atlantic Salmon
This is the salmon you've been eating your whole life, even if you didn't know it. Milder than Pacific varieties, Atlantic salmon has a softer pink colour and a higher fat content, giving it a buttery, almost luxurious texture. The flavour is approachable rather than assertive, which is exactly why it's so versatile.
What makes it special: All Atlantic salmon sold in North America is farmed. Wild Atlantic populations collapsed decades ago and commercial wild-Atlantic fishing is no longer permitted. What that means for your kitchen is consistency. Atlantic fillets are evenly sized, evenly fatty and predictable in the pan. They take on flavour from marinades and glazes without competing for attention.
Best ways to cook it: Atlantic is the all-rounder. Bake it with herbs and lemon. Pan-sear it skin-on. Glaze it with maple and soy. Hide it in a Wellington. It's the salmon for sauces, stuffings and easy weeknight meals.
Where ours comes from: Our Atlantic Salmon comes in two cuts. The Skin On Centre Cut Canadian Salmon is the one to grab when you want crispy skin and a tidy presentation. The Skinless Centre Cut is faster for weeknight cooking when you're working a sauce or a glaze.
Steelhead Salmon
Steelhead is the wildcard. Technically a rainbow trout that migrates to sea, but it's sold and cooked as salmon because it looks, cooks and tastes like one. It has a pink-orange flesh, slightly smaller flake than Atlantic and a flavour that sits between Atlantic and Sockeye: richer than Atlantic, milder than Sockeye.
What makes it special: Steelhead is one of the most consistent fish you can buy. No Sockeye intensity. No Chinook richness. Just clean, dependable salmon flavour that pairs with almost anything: citrus, dill, brown butter, miso. People who think they don't like salmon often turn out to like Steelhead.
Best ways to cook it: Roast it whole on a sheet pan for a crowd. Pan-sear it for a quick weeknight dinner. Slow-roast it at low temperature for the most tender result. Steelhead is hard to overcook.
Where ours comes from: Our Skin On Centre Cut Norwegian Steelhead is sustainably farmed in the cold fjords of Norway, where the water temperature and current keep the fish lean and firm. We also carry a Skinless Centre Cut Steelhead for the same fish without the skin work.
How To Cook Salmon
Salmon is done when the flesh turns opaque and flakes easily with a fork, or when an instant-read thermometer at the thickest part hits 63°C (145°F) per Health Canada.
Tip: while this is the official guidance, many high-end seafood retailers include a "Chef’s Note" suggesting that most chefs prefer wild salmon at 125°F–130°F (52°C–54°C) for a medium-rare to medium finish to avoid drying it out.
Whatever temperature you go with, pull it off the heat a degree or two early and let it rest. The internal temperature will keep climbing for a couple minutes after it leaves the pan.
Best Cooking Method By Cut
Bake. Works for every variety. Preheat to 200°C (400°F). For a centre-cut fillet about 2.5 cm thick, count on 12 to 15 minutes. Brush with oil, season simply and let the fish do the work. Best for Atlantic and Steelhead, but Sockeye holds up too.
Pan-sear. Best for fillets with skin on. Heat a heavy pan over medium-high, add a thin layer of oil, place the fillet skin-side down and don't move it. Cook 4 to 5 minutes until the skin releases on its own, flip and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Works beautifully for Atlantic, Steelhead and Chinook.
Grill or BBQ. Made for Sockeye and Chinook. Brush the fillet with oil, season and grill over medium-high heat 4 to 5 minutes per side. Skin-on is your friend here. It keeps the fillet intact when you flip it.
Cedar plank. Soak the plank in water for an hour. Place the seasoned fillet on the plank and cook over indirect grill heat for 15 to 20 minutes. The cedar adds a subtle smoke that suits Chinook and Atlantic especially well. For a shortcut, our Personal Cedar Plank Salmon comes already on the plank, pre-seasoned with orange, apple and ginger.
Air fryer. Surprisingly good for a quick weeknight dinner. Set to 200°C (400°F), cook a skinless fillet for 8 to 10 minutes depending on thickness. Best for Atlantic and Steelhead.
Looking to round out your salmon meal? Sealand Quality Foods has you covered. Check out our seafood recipes for everything from sides to sauces.
Prepared Salmon Options
When you want salmon without the prep work, our prepared range covers a few different occasions.
Salmon Wellington wraps Atlantic salmon and spinach in puff pastry. Bake from frozen. Serve sliced. It's the dish you bring out when the meal needs to feel like an event without the kitchen time.
Crab Stuffed Salmon Pinwheels and Spinach Stuffed Salmon Pinwheels are individually portioned, which makes them useful for weeknights when one person wants salmon and another wants something else. Bake from frozen.
Gluten Free Salmon Burgers cook on the stovetop or grill in about eight minutes. Worth keeping in the freezer for the night you didn't plan dinner.
Why Frozen Salmon Is Better
There's a common assumption that fresh always beats frozen. With salmon, that's rarely true.
Most "fresh" salmon at the grocery counter was frozen at some point in its journey, then thawed for display. Every thaw-and-refreeze cycle costs the fish a little texture and a little moisture. By the time it reaches your kitchen, it's been thawed at least once and often twice.
Our salmon is frozen using Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) technology within hours of harvest, at sea or at the processor. Each fillet is frozen separately, which means you can take out exactly what you need without thawing the whole package. The result is salmon that tastes the way it did the day it came out of the water, whenever you decide to cook it.
Cook Salmon With Confidence
Once you know the differences, picking salmon stops being a guessing game. Grilling and bold flavours, reach for Sockeye. Special-occasion roast, Chinook. Weeknight versatility, Atlantic. Crowd-pleaser that's hard to overcook, Steelhead.
Ready to find your perfect catch? Shop our premium salmon collection and then browse our recipes to find your new favourite.
