Cut vs cut
Arctic Char vs Salmon
The short answer
Thickness and fat. Arctic char is a char, Salvelinus alpinus, with less fat than Atlantic or king salmon, a finer flake and a thinner fillet, so it tastes milder and cooks several minutes sooner. Salmon is richer and thicker, which gives you more time before it dries out.
Arctic Char
The northernmost freshwater fish there is, and almost all of what reaches a US counter is farmed, mostly in Iceland and Canada. The flesh runs light pink to deep orange, and the skin is thin enough to crisp hard in a hot pan. Cook it on a salmon recipe's clock and the thin middle overcooks before the outside looks done.
Salmon
Atlantic salmon is essentially all farmed. Sockeye, coho and king are Pacific species, and Alaska has banned finfish farming since 1990, so Alaskan salmon is wild. Fat varies by species: king is the richest and most forgiving, sockeye the leanest and firmest, and a sockeye taken to the same temperature as a king eats drier.
Side by side
| Arctic Char | Salmon | |
|---|---|---|
| Genus | Salvelinus, the chars | Salmo (Atlantic) or Oncorhynchus (Pacific) |
| Fat | Moderate | Rich in king and Atlantic, lean in sockeye |
| Flavor | Clean and mild | Richer and oilier; sockeye is the strongest |
| Flake | Fine and soft | Larger and firmer |
| Fillet | Thin, cooks fast | Thick, cooks slower |
| Skin | Thin, crisps quickly | Thicker, needs longer skin-down |
| Wild or farmed | Almost all farmed, mostly Iceland and Canada | Atlantic farmed; Alaskan Pacific salmon wild |
| Closest relatives | Brook trout, lake trout | Rainbow trout (an Oncorhynchus) |
| Price | Premium | Mid |
The verdict
Which one to buy
Salmon if you want room for error: a thick king or Atlantic fillet stays moist through a hot grill or a few extra minutes. Char if salmon tastes too heavy to you, or you want crisp skin on a fillet that is done before the side dish. We don't stock arctic char right now. We sell wild sockeye and coho, Ōra King and Norwegian Atlantic salmon, and rainbow trout, the fish that cooks most like char.
Arctic char gets stocked next to salmon, cut like salmon and sold to people who came for salmon. It eats differently enough that a salmon recipe will overcook it.
Three genera, one family
Char, salmon and trout are all salmonids, and the common names cross the lines between them. Arctic char sits in Salvelinus with brook trout and lake trout, which are chars despite their names. Atlantic salmon is Salmo. Pacific salmon and rainbow trout share Oncorhynchus, so a rainbow trout is closer kin to a sockeye than to a char.
Fat sets the clock
King and Atlantic salmon carry enough fat to stay moist a few degrees past where you meant to stop. Char carries less, in a thinner fillet, so the window closes sooner. Sear it skin-down in a hot pan and take it off while the center still looks slightly translucent; carryover heat finishes it.
We pull salmon at 125°F in the center. The USDA recommends 145°F for fish, which is firmer and drier for both.
Where each comes from
Nearly all arctic char sold in the US is farmed, much of it in Iceland and Canada, which is why it is available year round. For salmon, the label that matters is the species. Atlantic means farmed. Sockeye, coho and king from Alaska mean wild, because Alaska bans finfish farming.
Common questions
Does arctic char taste like salmon?
Close, and milder. Char tastes cleaner and less oily than Atlantic or king salmon, with a finer, softer flake. People who find salmon too strong usually like it.
Can I use arctic char in a salmon recipe?
Yes, with less time. The fillet is thinner, so check it several minutes before the recipe says. Char skin is thinner too and crisps faster: dry it, salt it and start it skin-down.
Is arctic char a trout?
No. It is a char, in the same genus as brook trout and lake trout, which are chars too. Rainbow trout belongs to the Pacific salmon genus. Of the fish you can easily buy, rainbow trout cooks most like char: thin, skin-on and a little leaner.
Can you eat arctic char raw?
Only if it is sold for raw use. Farmed char is eaten as crudo and cured like gravlax, but buy it from a seller who labels it for that, the same rule as for salmon.
