SALMON THAT DOESN’T STINK
I hate salmon.With a passion. Chalky, dry, smelly, slimy-skinned, the
worst of the worst when it comes to fish.
At least, that’s what I would’ve said about a decade ago,
when the only salmon I had tasted was the overpoached
stuff at buffets or overcooked specimens at restaurants that,
frankly, didn’t know what they were doing. I don’t know if I
was running in the right circles, but it seemed de rigueur in
my youth for everyone to cook salmon to a shade just past
well-done. We didn’t exit these culinary dark ages until
sometime in the 1990s, by which time my bias against the
fish had been firmly established.
It wasn’t until I started cooking in nice restaurants (the
kind that I could never afford to go to as a civilian) that I
realized that it wasn’t the salmon that was at fault, but rather
the cook. Properly cooked salmon is amazing, whether it’s
got crisp, crackly skin that can rival the best roast chicken’s
or tender, moist, flavorful meat that melts on your tongue
like butter (or sometimes both!). There’s a reason after all,
why salmon is the most popular fresh fish in this country,
and why it’s the fish I’ve chosen to work mainly with here.
That said, the techniques I’m going to discuss apply to
any thick, robust fish fillets, such as halibut, red snapper, or
sea bass.
PAN-SEARING SALMON