The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

LEMON CAPER PAN SAUCE SERVES 4 1 large shallot, minced (about ¼ cup) 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 teaspo ...

MUSHROOM- MARSALA PAN SAUCE SERVES 4 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 8 ounces button mushrooms, cleaned and finely sli ...

1 teaspoon all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1 teaspoon soy sauce 1½ cups sweet Marsala 1 tables ...

BRANDY-CREAM PAN SAUCE SERVES 4 1 large shallot, minced (about ¼ cup) 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 teaspoo ...

SALMON THAT DOESN’T STINK I hate salmon. With a passion. Chalky, dry, smelly, slimy-skinned, the w ...

There’s an unholy trinity of fates that can befall salmon. If you’ve ever cooked salmon, these are prob ...

There may be something soft and tender underneath, but the dried-out, stringy, crusty, downright malicious exte ...

That’s right. The white gunk that gets squeezed out of the layers of salmon flesh, oozy and unattractive ...

Well, here’s what you’d see: Starting from the top, we’ve got: Pale-orange/red flesh. This is the bul ...

river it swims to during the spawning season. Skin. Some fish have thick, leathery skin. Salmon skin ...

At 140°F and above, the salmon has reached its limit. From here on out, it’s just g ...

other possible problems that need to be dealt with. THE WOES OF SKIN-ON FILLETS First off, if you ...

It’s not the end of the world—what’s left of the skin is still relatively crisp, and the flesh under ...

Know why that fish likes to stick to the metal pan? It’s not just a matter of being, well, stic ...

flipping easier. Perfect Fish Tip 2: Drier Is Better Nothing cools down oil faster than wet stuff being a ...

lifted off the pan will barely cook at all. This is not an ideal state of affairs. To counteract this p ...

it’s good and ready. I use that flexible metal fish spatula for all of my flipping, but I find that ...

is, unless you are like me and stop to take photos while the fish is in the skillet, thereby letting it ...

HOW TO BUY, STORE, AND PREPARE FISH FOR COOKING There’s a reason that fish is far more prone to ...

occurs via two means: the breakdown of cells through the action of enzymes naturally present ...