Cook_s_Country_-_October_2019

8 COOK’S COUNTRY • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019

HAVING WORKED IN professional
kitchens for many years, I off er this
advice for cooking salmon: Slow down,
and go big. Let me explain.
I’ve learned the hard way that it’s
easy to overcook a fi llet of salmon—or
any fi sh, for that matter—especially if
you are trying to cook several pieces
at once. Better to cook one big piece
gently at a low temperature. The
method is easy and foolproof: The
window of optimal doneness is wider
and the fi sh is harder to overcook.
Plus, salmon fl esh takes on a silky,
buttery texture when cooked gently.
And fi nally, there’s less splattery mess
and fi shy smell when you slow-roast
salmon in the oven. That’s a lot of
benefi t for a little extra time.
Knowing I wanted to work with
a 2½-pound piece of fi sh that would
feed about six people, I tested roasting
temperatures ranging from 170 to
350 degrees. Not surprisingly, I found
that lower temperatures produced
salmon that was moister, silkier,
and more evenly cooked. That said,
I didn’t want to wait 2 hours (or lon-
ger) for the fi sh to cook. I found that
the happy medium of temperature and
time was 250 degrees for 1 hour.
The texture of the salmon was
amazing, and I wanted to bump up the
fl avor to match it. Many of our recipes
for grilled or smoked salmon call for
rubbing the fl esh with a mixture of
salt and sugar and then letting it sit
for an hour or more before cook-
ing; as the salmon sits, the salt-sugar
mixture lightly cures it, drawing out
excess moisture and deeply season-
ing the fi sh. But I didn’t want to
wait, so I tried sprinkling the salmon
with sugar and salt and immediately
popping it in the low oven. My tast-
ers loved the sweetness the sugar
provided, but they wanted a bit more
complexity. A switch to brown sugar
did the trick and, as a bonus, gave the
cooked salmon a lovely rusty hue.
For a fi nal fl ourish, I decided to
whisk together a simple lemony
vinaigrette—just olive oil, lemon zest
and juice, and sliced chives—to pour
over the fi sh as soon as it came out of
the oven. This dressing mingled with
the juices in the baking dish to create a
light, bright, savory sauce that perfectly
accented the richness of the salmon.
This method proved so successful that
I made a variation with cayenne and
parsley, as well as a version with garlic,
mustard, and dill. A worthy mantra
for cooking salmon, and for life: Slow
down, and go big.

Slow-Roasted

Salmon

The secret ingredient for supermoist,

perfectly cooked salmon? Time.

by Alli Berkey

Success Starts

at the Market

This recipe calls for a

21⁄2-pound center-cut

salmon fi llet. If the thin

belly portion on the side

is still attached, remove it

and reserve it for another

use before cooking. We

developed this recipe

with farm-raised salmon.

You can substitute wild

salmon, but be sure to

adjust the cooking time to

45 to 50 minutes.

Pull Out the Pin Bones

To remove the pin bones from a salmon

fi llet, drape the fi llet on an overturned bowl

skin side down and remove the protruding

bones with tweezers or needle-nose pliers.

Remove and reserve the thin belly portion

for another use.