Salmon is a healthy and nutritious meal and it’s a quick and easy dinner, but one tip from a top chef could make it even tastier. That’s because it’s a great hack if you’re on a quest for crispy skin, as this cooking method will ensure your salmon fillets are cooked ‘perfectly’.
A top chef has shared a trick for ‘cooking salmon perfectly every single time’ which will give you a nice seared salmon, with the all-important crispy skin. Chef Molly Adams said she decided to ‘break all the rules’ she was taught after discovering a better way to cook salmon. Her method means the fish is ‘easier to flip’ in the pan – and if you bake your salmon the same advice applies.
Chef Molly graduated almost two decades ago, but said that ‘a few key lessons from culinary school are forever seared in my memory’.
Her training served her well, but there is one rule she breaks when it comes to cooking a salmon fillet.
Sharing her advice on the Simply Recipes website, Molly said that when it comes to cooking the perfect salmon dinner, you need to cook it skin down instead of skin-side up.
She said that after using the ‘presentation-side’ down method numerous times she ‘found very little success’.
Molly shared her advice on Simply Recipes, she wrote: “As they say, sometimes you have to sink before you swim, or in this case, cook your salmon skin-side down and break all the rules.
“When the skin hits the pan, you can see it start to shrink up and render fat, you’ll also notice the oil bubble when you first add the fish to the pan. Once it starts to quiet down, you’ll know the skin has released and you are ready to flip.”
Sharing her wisdom about cooking salmon, the top chef explained that she was taught to cook all meat and fish ‘presentation side down’, but discovered this wasn’t effective for salmon.
Many experts say a skin-on salmon fillet should be cooked skin-side up, but according to Molly this may not be the best way.
She said that you get a ‘really nice sear and beautiful brown crust’ by popping it in the pan skin side first – and it’s easier to tell when it’s ready to be flipped.
Molly added advice that if you ‘prefer to bake your salmon, the same tip applies’, but baking the fish will not get crispy skin – so she serves the salmon without the skin if it’s been cooked in the oven.