- Hi everyone, I'm Amiel Stanek,
editor at large of Bon Appetit,
and this is almost every
way to cook salmon.
There's a whole lot of
fish in the sea, people.
There is 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 gonna be working with
Ora 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.
All right, this raw preparation is
about as simple as they come.
We've got our salmon filet,
and we're gonna remove the skin,
and then we're gonna cut our fish
into nice, clean, bite-size pieces.
Voila! Salmon sashimi.
[bell dings]
So this is just salmon, nothing else.
Mm, that salmon is so rich.
You're really tasting all that fat.
It's really meaty and clean-tasting,
and extremely tender.
It's hard to imagine cooking it
when it's so delicious this way.
Ceviche.
Okay, we're gonna remove the skin again,
because the skin will be
tough if it's not cooked.
We're gonna cut our salmon
into a quarter 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.
[bell dings]
Wow, you can see that
the color has changed somewhat.
That's the acid interacting
with the protein.
Mm, the texture is definitely
firmer than the sashimi.
It's not the best fish for the job.
Ceviche is typically made
with a leaner, 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 it'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!
[bell dings]
It's darkened lightly,
and gone kind of matte,
thanks to the salt and the sugar cure.
Mm, it's delicious.
Huge, sweet, salty flavor with
an incredibly silky texture.
Like smoked salmon without the smoke.
Pan-seared salmon.
Doesn't get much more
straightforward than this, folks.
We're gonna season our fish
on both sides with 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.
Then let it cook on the skin
side about 90% of the way.
Then flip it just to kiss the other side.
Ta da! Pan-seared salmon.
[bell dings]
Damn, that skin looks crispy.
You can actually hear it
crackle when you cut it.
And the inside is beautiful,
just barely cooked through.
Mm, it's 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 and the skin
will render and crisp up gradually.
Flip it over for just a
second, and it's good to go.
[bell dings]
The skin looks
nice and crispy,
but not quite as crispy
as our hot pan method.
The inside looks perfect.
Mm, it's almost as good
as our hot pan salmon.
The 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 layer 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.
Mm, that's smells great.
[bell dings]
The filet 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 had left it in the
pan it would have burned.
Mm, 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 it into patties
and let them chill to firm up.
Now that its been a few hours,
we're gonna lightly flour the patty,
get some oil into the pan,
and carefully sear it on both sides.
Here comes the flip.
Beautiful.
[bell dings]
The outside looks nicely
browned and crisp,
thanks to the flour,
and the inside looks tender.
Mm, 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,
but this feels like a bit
of a missed opportunity.
You know, let's go outside
and get a little fresh air.
Grill time!
All 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
on to skewers here.
And here we have a soaked
and pre-heated cedar plank,
that we're gonna lay
another filet 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 filet definitely got more char
than we wanted and that skin is burnt.
Inside, yeah, it's almost raw.
Mm, yeah.
This is not ideal.
The burnt bits taste sooty and 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,
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.
There's no browning.
We've got a nice medium
to medium rare interior.
Mm, 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.
Seems more like a gimmick
than anything else.
Salmon kebabs.
Okay, we've got some
nice grill marks going,
but not a ton of exterior caramelization,
The inside definitely on
the more well done side.
Mm, pretty tasty.
Not as juicy as I'd like.
These smaller pieces are
way easier to overcook
than a whole filet.
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 minutes,
and she's done.
[bell dings]
You know, I'm pretty disappointed
by the color we got here.
The basket protected the skin,
but maybe a bit too much.
The flesh is nicely cooked.
Mm, 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 filet right here,
and we're gonna cut it into
a few bit-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.
[bell dings]
So the color has changed significantly.
It's very flaky, but it
doesn't feel dried out,
and it smells really vinegary.
Mm, 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 filet 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.
[bell dings]
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.
Mm, you know, it's not bad.
It's just a little dry.
It has the texture of canned tuna.
I miss 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 filet down, and cover it.
Now that it's done, we're
gonna lift this base out,
and voila, poached salmon.
[bell dings]
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 filet feels really nice,
even without any browning to speak of.
Ooh, it flakes really easily
and it's super juicy-looking.
Mm, yum.
Coffee pot salmon.
Say you're in a hotel room and you wanna
cook a piece of salmon
but you've got nothing to cook it with.
Wrong! You've got a coffee maker.
We're gonna plop our
filet 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 all right.
[bell dings]
Let's give this liquid a taste first.
Yuck.
I don't think I'm gonna wanna
make coffee in here ever again.
The salmon is actually flaking nicely.
Mm, 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.
Salmon rillette, everybody.
[bell dings]
So this would obviously be cuter
if we'd put it in a little mason jar
and garnished it with
some chives or something.
On it's own, it looks pretty gnarly.
Mm, it's actually really delicious.
The lemon adds some nice
balance to all that richness.
Salmon 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 sauce pan,
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 a third of our
poached salmon filet,
and set aside the rest for later.
Buzz it up.
Mm, that's appetizing.
We're gonna transfer this
back to our sauce pan,
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's it 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.
Oh my god, the chunks.
Ta da!
[bell dings]
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.
Mm, 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 filet,
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 four minutes.
Lid off, scoop out our beautiful piece
of steamed salmon.
[bell dings]
So no browning here,
which is to be expected.
The skin looks just like
it did when it was raw.
Cutting into it, we've got a nice, silky
medium rare in there.
Mm, 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 filet in
there and close the lid.
And that, my friends, is boiled salmon.
[bell dings]
Compared with our
other wet cooking methods,
this is definitely the least delicate.
Actually looks fairly
nicely cooked inside,
it's not over.
Mm, I don't hate it, but it would be
really easy to overcook it this way.
If I'm cooking salmon in water,
I'm gonna poach or steam it for sure.
You know, it's getting
a little fishy in here.
Let's head back outside.
Campfire salmon three ways.
We've got a campfire.
We've got two filets of salmon
that we've wrapped tightly in clay.
We've got a filet 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
filets of salmon that we've wrapped up
in some damp moss, for some reason.
We're gonna wedge it right in here.
Damn, this fire's hot!
And 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.
God, 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 used two filets,
so we could have skin on both sides.
The inside of the salmon
is really pretty actually.
Mm, honestly, it just tastes
like nicely cooked salmon.
But nothing special.
This seems like more of a
party trick than anything else.
Banana leaf salmon.
It's not bad-looking.
Even thought it was
right on that hot rock,
there's no crisping of the skin.
It just kind of steamed
in there, which is cool.
It's definitely more on the rare side.
Mm, tastes like steamed
salmon, with a bit of
a vegetable flavor going on from the leaf.
Just the tiniest hint of smoke.
I'd try 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.
Mm, it tastes a little burny,
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 filet
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.
[bell dings]
The skin is nice and crispy,
and a crust kind of
formed all the way around
which is cool.
Mm, the inside is on the more cooked side,
but it's still flaking nicely.
Mm, it's like the juice
got locked in there.
Mm, 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 it with salt.
We're gonna open this beer.
Mm, 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.
[bell dings]
This crust is beautiful.
Crispy and light, it
just kind of shatters.
And the fish inside looks so nice.
Mm, I love this!
The batter is crispy
and flaky and perfect.
Fish sticks.
Okay, we're gonna cut this
filet 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!
[bell dings]
So this bread crumb layer
is denser than the batter, for sure.
It's a bit lower profile,
but still very crisp.
Mm, a 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.
Air 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.
[bell dings]
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.
Mm, yeah.
It's totally fine, but 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 filets,
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.
[bell dings]
These are cool!
They kind of have the texture of
a pork rind or something like that.
Mm, 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.
[bell dings]
That crust is fairly crispy,
but not as crispy as our straight up
pan-seared salmon, honestly.
The inside is gorgeous though.
Mm, so nice.
The skin is nicely browned,
the inside is 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.
Whoo, smells like salmon in here.
That looks like jerky all right.
[bell dings]
Well, it's pretty flexible
and it flakes apart easily.
Definitely not as tough as beef jerky
because it's so much fattier.
Mm, 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.
Hair dryer 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
than 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, it's done, I guess.
[bell dings]
So the skin is not crisp,
and the inside is pretty much raw.
Mm, well, you know, it's
warmed all the way to the core,
and it doesn't taste awful.
It kind of smells like burnt 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 in skin side down,
and let it smoke for
about an hour and a half.
Whoo, that's smoky.
She's done!
[bell dings]
So the outside is darkened somewhat,
and it smells amazing.
There's definitely a lot of contrast
between the slightly leathery exterior,
and this really juicy interior.
Mm, so moist.
That flavor is outstanding.
Salty and strong, yum!
Searzall salmon.
We've got our searzall,
which is basically just
a modified blow torch.
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 tataki.
Done and done, that was fast!
[bell dings]
So the skin has been crisped,
and it's just barely
opaque all the way around.
Cutting in, it's totally raw inside.
It's still cold, actually,
which is intentional.
Mm, yep, it's tasty and
would be even better
cut into slivers and served
with a sauce of some sort.
Honestly, I'd 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 that the smoke and the heat
can just gradually cook our fish.
This is gonna take a while.
Well, that looks done to me.
[bell dings]
Hm, definitely smells smoky.
Yeah, it's pretty unevenly cooked
because of the way that certain parts
were insulated by the wood.
Mm, outside's a bit dried out.
Inside's 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 filet in there,
bury the whole thing,
and dig it up again in a few hours.
All right, should be ready by now,
[grunts]
Buried treasure, maybe.
[bell dings]
Ooh, oh, yeah.
Okay, I'm trying to not
get the dirt in there.
All right, so we got some dirt.
Uh, cutting in, it's
actually cooked through.
Mm, 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 not that much payoff.
I'm gonna pass on this one
Mailbox salmon.
This mailbox has been
pre-heating in the sun
all day, and it's pretty hot.
We're gonna pop our foil-wrapped salmon
into this envelope,
put it into our mailbox,
and check back in in a few hours.
[bell dings]
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 going to eat this.
It's basically been sitting
in the danger zone all afternoon.
Hard pass.
Hot tub salmon.
[muffled speaking]
Yeah.
[bell dings]
This salmon doesn't feel that hot.
Our janky hot tub was supposed
to get up to 104 degrees,
but I'm not sure it got there.
It probably 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.
Yep, raw salmon.
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.
[bell dings]
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.
Mm, so clean, so easy,
This is one of my favorite
ways to cook salmon.
It's not a whole lot to look at it,
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 five to six minutes.
All right, in it goes.
And there's your roasted salmon.
[bell dings]
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.
Mm, 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're 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.
[bell dings]
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
The inside?
It's pretty uneven.
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 en papillote.
So we wrapped this filet
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.
[bell dings]
You know, it looks a lot
like our steamed salmon.
The flesh is flaky and
coming apart nicely.
Mm, 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 back this at 450 degrees
until that crust hardens
and the inside cooks.
All right, that looks
like it should be done.
[bell dings]
So breaking through
this crust here, finding the...
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.
Mm, yeah, I mean it's
salty and a little bit dry.
The 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.
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.
[jazz music]
