![pan searing salmon pan searing salmon](https://cravingtasty.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Pan-Seared-Halibut.jpg)
Cooking salmon to medium-rare or medium is totally okay-it will be tender and satisfying, not dry and sad. If it feels hot, your salmon is probably done if it's cool or barely warm, it needs a little more time. One of our favorite methods in the BA test kitchen is to slide a cake tester or a thin piece of metal (like a chopstick!) into the salmon and touch it to your lower lip. You could also do this with a fork, but it is more likely to break up the beautiful fillet you're about to serve. One is a gentle poke with your finger in the center of the fillet, seeing if it yields to flaky pieces. After that, you're good to flip with a flexible fish spatula and let the residual heat of the pan cook the fish the rest of the way. (Use a non-stick pan if you're still afraid of the skin sticking!) You want to cook it about 90 percent of the way on the skin side (which takes about 3 minutes for a room temperature fillet) until flesh turns from translucent pink to opaque white all the way up the sides and starts to creep onto the top. If using a grill or a pan, sear salmon skin-side down on high heat until the skin is crispy. This is the most common mistake, which causes your fish to turn into expensive cat food instead of the elegant dinner you were envisioning. If you do want to leave it on, just discard it before eating.ĭamn, don't you want crispy skin like this? 2. The only exceptions? You should remove the skin when you're poaching or slow-roasting salmon-it will never get crispy in liquid and end up with a gummy, unpleasant texture. It's much easier to slide a fish spatula under the salmon's skin than under its delicate flesh. Start with the skin-side down, and let it crisp up. Taking Off the Skinįirst of all-skin is tasty! So when you're cooking salmon, keep that skin on: It provides a safety layer between your fish's flesh and a hot pan or grill. No matter which method you choose, these tips from the Bon Appétit test kitchen will ease you through the process swimmingly. We're here to help you get over your fears and avoid the biggest common mistakes people make when pan-searing, grilling, slow-roasting, and even poaching salmon at home. Cooking fish can be intimidating! It's tough to know when it's cooked properly, can stick easily to a pan, and is a more expensive protein to mess up. Raise your hand if you love ordering fish at restaurants, but don't know how to cook salmon at home.