Can you tell one type of salmon from another? Your palate probably can. RELATED STORIES Seared Salmon with Artichoke Salsa Provencal Salmon Planked Salmon with Basil-Chive Butter

Salmon is one of the most popular fish with gourmets all over the world, but have you ever inquired as to the origin of the fish on your plate? When at a fine restaurant, do you make it a point to ask what variety of salmon is being served, where it came from, and whether it was raised in a fish farm or caught in the wild? The answers to questions like this can make a big difference of the flavor of the salmon you're served, so it's essential to know the differences between the most common varieties of salmon.

Michael Cimarusti is the executive chef of Water Grill in Los Angeles, where he has spent the last six years combining his passion for fish with his culinary acumen. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, Cimarusti honed his skills at some of America's finest restaurants, including Le Cirque in New York City and the Original Spago in West Hollywood, and has worked alongside many of the world's greatest chefs. Here he offers a quick guide to different types of salmon offered in restaurants and seafood shops:

• Choose wild for flavor.
  Cimarusti encourages people to order wild salmon, as opposed to farm raised salmon, whenever possible. He believes that the life struggle that wild salmon endure in the ocean and rivers gives a wonderful flavor to the fish.
  
• Atlantic: farm-raised.
  Most Atlantic salmon is farm raised, as there's very little commercial harvest of wild Atlantic salmon any more. There are even Atlantic Salmon that are farm raised in the Pacific Ocean.
  
• Chinook: king of the Pacific.
  Of the five species of Pacific salmon, the largest is the Chinook or King Salmon, and Cimarusti considers this fish one of the tastiest out there.
  
• Copper River: the best.
  The flavor of a salmon will vary depending on which river the fish was taken from. Salmon caught in Alaska's Copper River are widely considered the best of all, but are available for only four or five weeks a year in May and June.
  
• Freshness above all else.
  Cimarusti stresses that the most important consideration when buying salmon is the freshness of the fish. A farm-raised salmon that is absolutely fresh might taste far superior to a wild Alaskan salmon that's been on ice for a while.

For more information about salmon, check out the following organizations or websites:

Food Network: Hooked on Salmon
www.foodnetwork.com/food/et_hd_st

Food Network: Cooking Encyclopedia: Salmon
web.foodnetwork.com/food/web/encyclopedia