Every Way to Cook Salmon (43 Methods) | Bon Appétit

hi everyone I'm Emil Stanek editor-at-large at Bon Appetit and this is almost every way to cook salmon there's a whole lot of fish in the sea people there's big fish and little fish red fish and blue fish but today we're gonna be taking a closer look at one very special fish in particular salmon specifically we're going to be working with Aurra king salmon a sustainably farmed variety that's firm-fleshed super rich and really really versatile and we're gonna cook it every way we can think of sashimi alright this raw preparation is about as simple as they come we've got our salmon fillet and we're gonna remove the skin and then we're gonna cut our fish in a nice clean bite-sized pieces voila salmon sashimi so this is just salmon nothing else hmm salmon is so rich you're really tasting all of that fat it's really meaty and clean tasting and extremely tender it's hard to imagine cooking in when it's so delicious this way ceviche okay we're gonna remove the skin again because this skin will be tough if it's not cooked we're gonna cut our salmon into 1/4 inch dice hit it with some salt and then squeeze the juice of this lemon over top we'll let that sit for a few minutes before tasting to let the acid from the citrus kind of cook the salmon Wow you can see that the colors change somewhat that's the acid interacting with the protein mmm the texture is definitely firmer than the sashimi it's not the best fish for the job to be chased typically made with a leaner or flakier fish but this is still very tasty cured salmon we've got brown sugar we've got salt we've got some dill and we're gonna mix that all together then we're gonna pack it around the salmon and wrap it up really tightly and then weigh it down with this pan and pop it in the fridge to cure now that's been sitting for a couple of days we're gonna unpack our salmon it's kind of a sticky mess we're gonna cut a few thin slices homemade gravlax it's darkened slightly and gone kind of matte thanks to the salt in the sugar cure mmm it's delicious huge sweet salty flavor than incredibly silky texture like smoked salmon without the smoked pan-seared salmon doesn't get much more straightforward than this folks we're gonna season our fish on both sides of salt add a little oil to our super hot pan and then gently place our fish in here skin side down we're gonna use a fish spatula to apply a bit of light pressure to keep the skin from curling up and then let it cook on the skin side about 90% of the way and then flip it just to kiss the other side tada pan-seared salmon damn that skin looks crispy you can actually hear it crackle when you cut it the inside is beautiful just barely cooked through mmm its moist and juicy nothing fancy just simple delicious perfectly cooked salmon cold pan salmon okay similar but totally different we're gonna season our fish on both sides get a bit of oil into this room temperature pan place our fish skin side down and crank the heat this way the fish will cook a bit more slowly as the pan heats up and the fat in the skin will render and crisp up gradually flip it over for just a second and it's good to go the skin looks nice and crispy but not quite as crispy as our hot pan method the inside looks perfect mmm it's almost as good as our hot pan salmon this skin is my only complaint pan-fried salmon this time we're gonna season our salmon dredge it in some flour oil our hot pan and lay our fish skin side down in it we're gonna slip a few tablespoons of butter in here flip our fish and then baste it a bit with the foaming butter while it finishes mmm that smells great the fillet took on color a lot more quickly than our other pan methods and that's because of the flour and the brown butter and yeah the inside is a bit rare but if we left it in the pan it would have burned mmm YUM it's still tasty even though it's so rare but at the end of the day I don't think that the flour helped our cause salmon burger we're gonna take the skin off and cut it into chunks we're gonna take a third of it and process it to a paste which is gonna act as a binder then we're gonna pulse the rest of the fish so it's still kind of chunky scrape it into a bowl add a bit of mayo and some salt and then form into and let them chill to firm up now that it's been a few hours we're gonna lightly flour the paddy get some oil into the pan and carefully sear it on both sides here comes the flip beautiful the outside looks nicely browned and crisp thanks to the flour and the inside looks tender hmm oh it's pretty tasty but the texture leaves something to be desired this would maybe be a great way to gussy up some cheap or even canned salmon this feels like a bit of a missed opportunity you know let's go outside and get a little fresh air grill time all of these have been salted and oiled already we've got a whole filet that we're gonna lay skin side down right here some cubes of salmon that we've threaded onto skewers here and here we have a soaked in preheated cedar planked that we're gonna lay another fillet onto here we're just gonna take these off as they're ready grilled salmon so grilling salmon can be a bit tricky it's fatty which causes flare-ups but it's also delicate so it's hard to move around a lot this fillet definitely got more char than we wanted and that skin is burnt inside yeah it's almost raw hmm yeah this is not ideal the burnt bits taste sodium bitter and the inside is kind of just warmed through grilling can be a great way to cook salmon but we didn't nail this one it's a cedar plank salmon so this cedar plank kind of acted like a barrier between the intense heat of the grill and the fish and we're hoping that the wood lent some kind of flavor here the skin is still totally soft and there's no browning we've got a nice medium to medium-rare interior mmm not bad but I'm not getting much wood flavor at all definitely prevented flare-ups but it also didn't add all that much it seems more like a gimmick than anything else salmon kabobs okay we've got some nice grill marks going but not a ton of exterior carmelization the inside definitely on the more well-done side hmm pretty tasty not as juicy as I'd like these smaller pieces are way easier to overcook than a whole filet and we weren't able to cook them long enough to get a ton of color these would be better with some kind of glaze to speed up the Browning process grill basket salmon we got our grill basket we got our oiled and salted salmon we're gonna put it right in here we're gonna lock it and then we're gonna put it on our hot grill the nice thing about this apparatus is that it makes it easier to move the salmon around flip it after a couple of minutes and she's done you know I'm pretty disappointed by the color we got here the basket protected the skin but maybe a bit too much the flush is nicely cooked hmm good but not a whole lot going on this would probably be better with a larger piece of fish let's head back inside and make some pickled salmon we've got our skinless fillet right here and we're gonna cut it into a few bite-sized chunks and get them into this jar then we're gonna pour a hot mixture of vinegar salt and sugar over top before screwing the lid on and letting it hang out for a few hours in the fridge so the color has changed significantly it's very flaky but it doesn't feel dried out and it smells really vinegary mmm YUM very tangy and sweet it's definitely a stronger flavor so if fishy things aren't your bag it's not for you but I love it canned salmon urban homesteading time we're gonna cut our fillet into six pieces layer them into this jar with a bit of salt and a splash of vinegar and screw the lid on tight then we're gonna load it into this pressure canner set it for high pressure and crank the heat okay time to depressurize it all right now that it's cooked depressurized and cooled we can open it up and that's canned salmon as you can see the fish is fully submerged in liquid we didn't add any of that it's just salmon juice it's definitely sealed which means we did it right yeah these salmon pieces are fully fully cooked hmm you know it's not bad it's just a little dried has the texture of like canned tuna I missed the moisture but if I had a ton of salmon I didn't know what to do with this would be a pretty efficient way to make it shelf-stable poached salmon we're gonna season it on both sides open our fish poacher which is full of gently simmering fish stock lay our fillet down and cover it now that it's done we're gonna lift this base out and voila poached salmon it's worth noting that this apparatus is really meant for a whole fish it makes it easier for the whole thing to be cooked gently and then lifted out fully intact but our fillet feels really nice even without any brownie to speak of oh it flakes really easily it's super juicy looking YUM coffeepot salmon say you're in a hotel room and you want to cook a piece of salmon but you got nothing to cook it with wrong you've got a coffeemaker we're gonna plop our fillet into this carafe with a pinch of salt we're gonna fill the basin with water and turn this bad boy on well that's a coffee pot full of salmon and water alright to give this liquid a taste first yeah I don't think I'm gonna want to make coffee in here ever again the salmon is actually flaking nicely hmm do you know it's not terrible and even though it lost some flavor to the water it's still pretty tasty salmon rillette we're starting with poached and chilled salmon and we're gonna flake it into this food processor add a bit of mayo some lemon juice a pinch of salt and then we're gonna pulse it just enough to break the salmon up yeah I know what you're thinking it looks like cat food Sam gonna riad everybody so this would obviously be cuter if we put it in a little mason jar and garnished it with some chives or something on its own it looks pretty gnarly mmm it's actually really delicious the lemon adds some nice balance to all that richness Sam and ice cream hold on to your butts people we're making salmon ice cream first we need to make our ice cream base we're gonna add cream and milk and butter to this saucepan and bring that to a simmer over medium heat while that's working we've got some egg yolks sugar and a pinch of salt and we're gonna whisk them together until they're light and fluffy now that our dairy is hot we're gonna add a bit at a time to our eggs to temper them now we're gonna dump it into this blender add about 1/3 of our poached salmon fillet and set aside the rest for later buzzed it up mmm that's appetizing we're gonna transfer this back to our saucepan cook it until it's thick and then transfer it back into this bowl cover it with plastic wrap and chill it until it's nice and cold we're gonna pour it into this ice cream machine and let er rip now that it's almost finished we're gonna add our flaked salmon for texture I guess and now that it's done we're gonna scrape it into a loaf pan and let it freeze fully until it's nice and hard so now our ice cream is completely frozen chunks Ted uh here we have the fishiest sundae that ever was I mean it looks good like it could be something delicious like strawberry and not salmon some chunks in there hmm you know up front it just tastes like really good ice cream with a distinctly fishy aftertaste it's like eating ice cream while feeding your cat steamed salmon we're gonna season our fillet open this bad boy up and place our salmon on a little piece of parchment just to keep it from sticking all right it's been about 4 minutes lid off scoop out our beautiful piece of steamed salmon so no browning here which is to be expected the skin looks just like it did when it was raw cutting into it we got a nice silky medium-rare in there mmm very simple not a whole lot going on but this would be delicious on a rice bowl or something with an assertive dipping sauce boiled salmon we've got our pot of hot water here we're gonna crank the heat hit it with a few good pinches of salt and slide our fillet in there and close the lid and that my friends is boiled salmon so compared with our other wet cooking methods this is definitely the least delicate it actually looks fairly nicely cooked inside it's not over hmm I don't hate it but it would be really easy to overcook it this way if I'm cooking salmon water I'm gonna poach or steam it for sure you know any little fishing here let's head back outside campfire salmon 3 ways we've got a campfire we've got two filets of salmon that we've wrapped tightly and clay we've got a fillet of salmon that we've wrapped in a banana leaf that we're gonna place on top of this hot rock and last but not least we've got two fillets of salmon that we've wrapped up in some damp moss for some reason and we're gonna wedge it right in here damn this fires hot we're gonna take these out as they're ready okay banana leaf is ready Moss is ready clay is hard so I guess this one's done too clay cooked salmon so the idea here was that the clay would kind of harden to create a protective layer and it definitely hardened let's break this open I hope this clay isn't poisonous wow it didn't stick to the salmon as much as I thought just the skin that's actually why we use two fillets that we could have skin on both sides the inside of this salmon is really pretty actually hmm honestly it just tastes like nicely cooked salmon but nothing special this seems like more of a party trick than anything else banana leaves salmon it's not bad looking even though it was right on that hot rock there's no crispy in the skin it just kind of steamed in there which is cool it's definitely more on the rare side mmm tastes like steamed salmon with a bit of a vegetal flavor going on from the leaf just the tiniest hint of smoke I tried this again moss-covered salmon this looks pretty scary to be honest I'm not sure if the Moss was supposed to burn but it did it's hard to figure out the best way to open it okay all right a lot of freaky looking parts here shockingly it's not as awful inside as I thought just really uneven mmm it tastes a little Bernie even though it didn't take on any color at all this wasn't nearly as bad as I thought but it's a pretty terrifying way to cook salmon things are getting a little weird out here let's head back to the kitchen deep fried salmon time to fry we're gonna season this fillet and drop it into 360 degree oil and let it do its thing pop it out to drain a little extra salt deep fried salmon the skin is nice and crispy and a crust kind of formed all the way around which is cool the inside is on the more cooked side but it's still flaking nicely hmm it's like the juice got locked in there yeah it's a little greasy and deep-frying is pretty annoying but it's definitely not a bad way to cook salmon beer-battered salmon we're gonna make a quick beer batter we've got some all-purpose flour we're seasoning with salt we're gonna open this beer mmm we're gonna add our beer and whisk it until it's the consistency of pancake batter we're gonna season our fish pop it into the batter and then right into the hot oil ooh crispy this crust is beautiful crispy and light just kind of shatters and the fish inside looks so nice mmm I love this the batter is crispy and flaky and perfect fish sticks okay we're gonna cut this fillet into four pieces we're gonna beat these egg whites until they're nice and foamy then we're gonna season our fish dredge them in a bit of flour then into the egg whites and then into some bread crumbs we're gonna repeat with the rest of the pieces and then drop the basket look at those salmon fish sticks so this bread crumb layer is denser than the batter for sure it's a bit lower profile but still very crisp totally different eating experience from the battered fish but still juicy and delicious all that fatty goodness got trapped inside a real step up from your freezer aisle fish sticks tear fryer salmon we've got an air fryer pop it in here skin side up supposedly this is just as good as frying but I'm suspicious so that skin is disappointingly flabby it does seem like a little bit of the fat rendered and there's a smidge of browning around the edges hmm yeah it's totally fine with the air frying isn't adding anything to this equation why break out r2d2 when you can just cook it in a pan salmon skin chips okay so we've taken the skin off of a bunch of these salmon fillets but that doesn't mean we have to throw it all out we're gonna take these pieces of skin and get them into the hot oil to crisp up a little salt and we've got salmon skin chips these are cool they kind of have the texture of a pork rind or something like that mmm super-crunchy mild fishy flavor it's like isolating the best part of a crispy salmon filet sous vide salmon we're gonna use our vacuum sealer to suck all the air out and seal it there this is gonna keep the water at a consistent 115 degrees for about 40 minutes we're gonna pop it out of this bag very delicate now get it nice and dry and then crisp it up in a very hot pan for about a minute on each side that crust is fairly crispy but not as crispy as our straight-up pan-seared salmon honestly the inside is gorgeous though mmm so nice the skin is nicely brown inside it's almost custardy I'm really happy with this result but honestly it's pretty fussy and definitely not better than pan seared in my opinion salmon jerky we're gonna slice our salmon into quarter-inch thick slices lots of salt and slide it into this dehydrator for about 18 hours at 158 degrees smells like salmon in here yeah it looks like jerky all right it's pretty flexible and it flakes apart easily definitely not as tough as beef jerky because it's so much fattier mmm it's really tasty very salty definitely a smidge dried out again this would be a great way to preserve salmon if you caught way too much of it to eat in a week but otherwise it's not as delicious as some of our other methods tear dry our salmon we're gonna season this fish a little bit on all sides we've got our hair dryer set to high I'm really more nervous about this working and not working I really don't like the idea of people putting something so close to their head that could actually cook their scalp okay done I guess so the skin is not crisp and the inside is pretty much raw mmm well but you know it's warmed all the way to the core and it doesn't taste awful hair in here let's go back outside smoked salmon this salmon has been cured with salt and sugar for around 24 hours we're gonna open up our smoker slide our fish and skin side down and let it smoke for about an hour and a half whoo that's smokey she's done so the outside is darkened somewhat and it smells amazing Wow there's definitely a lot of contrast between the slightly leathery exterior and this really juicy interior mmm so moist that flavor is outstanding saltines strong YUM Sears all salmon we've got our Sears all which is basically just a modified blowtorch and we're gonna cook this salmon a bit all over so that it's cooked on the outside and completely raw inside very similar to the way that you would for japanese-style Potocki done and done that was fast so the skin has been crisped and it's just barely opaque all the way around cutting in its totally raw inside it's still cold actually which is intentional hmm yep it's tasty and would be even better cut into slivers and served with a sauce of some sort honestly I prefer straight-up sashimi but if you're squeamish about completely raw fish this is a good way to go salmon on a stick so our campfire here is nice and hot we've got a piece of salmon that we've wedged into this split stick and we're just gonna hold this here turning it every once in a while so the smoke and the heat can just gradually cook our fish this is gonna take a while well that looks done to me definitely smell smoky yeah it's pretty unevenly cooked because of the way that certain parts were insulated by the wood outsides a bit dried out in sides pretty undercooked but the flavor is really nice buried salmon I dug a pit here earlier and then I lined it with rocks and built a fire in here that's been burning for the last few hours now that it's nice and hot we're gonna put this foil-wrapped salmon fillet in there bury the whole thing and dig it up again in a few hours all right should be ready by now buried treasure maybe oh yeah okay I'm trying to not get the dirt in there cuz all right so we got some dirt cutting in it's actually cooked through it's actually pretty tasty but also this method isn't adding any unique flavor or texture so it's kind of a whole lot of work for nothing too much payoff I'm gonna pass on this one mailbox salmon this mailbox has been preheating in the Sun all day and it's pretty hot we're gonna pop our foil wrap salmon into this envelope put it into our mailbox and check back in in a few hours let's unwrap this thing yeah that is not cooked it's warm in kind of a clammy handshake sort of way the inside is totally raw maybe if this were August in Texas but this didn't do anything I'm not gonna eat this it's basically been sitting in the danger zone all afternoon hard pass hot tub salmon yeah this salmon doesn't feel that hot our Genki hot tub was supposed to get up to 104 degrees but I'm not sure it got there it probably would have to come up to a temperature that would actually injure me in order to cook the salmon and that didn't happen yep that is raw nope we're all Sherman but it was nice to take a bath at least I don't smell like fish anymore you know I'm ready to head back inside slow baked salmon all right we've got our salmon there's a little bit of salt and oil on it and we're gonna pop it into this 275 degree oven for about 16 to 18 minutes done and done the thing that I love about salmon cooked this way is the way that it just kind of flakes like that it's so soft and silky mmm so clean so easy this is one of my favorite ways to cook salmon it's not a whole lot to look at but it's impossible to mess up roasted salmon this time we've increased the temperature to 400 degrees and we're decreasing the time to 5 to 6 minutes all right and it goes and there's your roasted salmon so even with that temperature increase it still looks very similar to our slow baked fish the skin is flabby we can kind of just scrape that off you know it's nicely cooked but more uneven than our slow baked more cooked on the outside more rare on the inside mmm it's very tasty but not quite as silky as our lower temperature fish broiled salmon we're gonna increase our oven temperature one more time we've got our salted and oiled salmon skin side up and we're gonna pop it under the broiler for a few minutes and see what comes out on the other side all right that looks done to me with the broiler we had really direct heat from up top but it wasn't enough to really crisp that skin it's more tough than crispy on the inside it's pretty uneven hmm it's fine but really not offering all that much it's not better than our slow baked nor is it as crispy as our pan-seared not a great one salmon unpopped so we wrapped this fillet in parchment paper we're gonna slide this into a 450 degree oven for about seven to eight minutes so it can steam in that little package and it's puffed up I think it should be done you know it looks a lot like our steamed salmon the flesh is flaky and coming apart nicely I mean it's not not good but this method would be way better if we had some aromatics in there some lemon slices maybe a little white wine some herbs that would have really upped the ante salt crusted salmon so we've coated this salmon in a mixture of whipped egg white and kosher salt and we're gonna bake this at 450 degrees until that crust hardens and the inside cooks all right that looks like it should be done okay so breaking through this crust here finding that yeah it looks like cooked salmon kind of steamed in its own juices nothing to write home about the inside is tender a hair overcooked mmm yeah I mean it's salty and a little bit dry this salt crust has a theatrical element to it but it's all show and no go all right today we cooked a whole lot of salmon a whole lot of different ways what did we learn well for one when you're working with high quality fish you don't need to mess with it too much or even at all to make it delicious salmon is a really forgiving and versatile fish and most of our favorite ways to cook it were as simple and straightforward as they come have a favorite way to cook salmon that you didn't see today drop it in the comments [Music]

Channel: Bon Appétit

Views: 3,914,166

Rating: 4.848671 out of 5

Keywords: every way, almost every, salmon, every way salmon, every way to cook salmon, every way to make salmon, salmon recipe, how to salmon, how to make salmon, how to cook salmon, make salmon, making salmon, cook salmon, cooking salmon, salmon recipes, amiel, amiel bon appetit, amiel stanek, amiel salmon, amiel makes salmon, pickled salmon, grilled salmon, grilling salmon, canned salmon, fried salmon, deep fried salmon, fish sticks, salmon fish sticks, food, bon appetit

Id: AbxbOd_mtn8

Length: 25min 25sec (1525 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 21 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/happyellar]

I can definitely vibe Amiel being the head chef there too!