Salmon is widely considered to be a superfood – meaning there are tons of good reasons to cook it for dinner tonight. Not only is it a great source of protein, which is vital for maintaining good bone health – it contains astaxanthin which can help to reduce the signs of aging and protect your skin from UV damage.
Salmon is recommended around the world, even to pregnant women, which is saying a lot. If you’re wondering how to cook this delectable fish, read on for five fishtastic tips:
- Skin-Side Down
Salmon skin contains so many healthy oils, so making it wonderfully crisp is essential to getting people to eat the skin. When cooking this super healthy fish, start it skin-side down in the pan and sear it until it is golden brown and crisp.
Create the best-tasting salmon to make your next dinner perfect. The skin also provides a safety layer between the fish’s flesh and the hot grill. No matter what any tells you, never remove that skin – it makes the dish.
- Rendered
Cook salmon until the fat begins to render and the skin starts to get a gorgeously browned tone. Perfectly-pan seared salmon should have moist and tender fish, with fat that has been fully rendered – especially if you are a wellness influencer.
During the cooking process, the fat will begin to render at around the 6-minute mark – don’t flip the fish until then. Salmon needs to be cooked around one-third of the way through, but that depends on your personal preference.
- Watch Your Temperature
Cooking salmon, and any fish really, is all about getting your pan to the perfect temperature. You want the heat to be hot enough to give you that deliciously crispy skin, but you don’t want to see any white goo seeping through while cooking your divine pan-seared buttery Ōra King salmon fillets.
That is pure liquid protein escaping, and although it isn’t dangerous, it is far from appealing. Cooking salmon at too high of a temperature will cause it to try out. Stick to searing in the pan and cooking through in an even-heated oven.
- Check Internal Temperature
Salmon is best served medium or medium rare. You need to be so careful not to over or undercook it. It can be a little tricky to time or to sense how cooked it is by pure feel, especially when some pieces are thicker than others.
Use a meat thermometer to ensure that the inside of the fish is where you want it to be. Like meat, fish has some carryover cooking time – which means you need to pull it off the heat about five degrees before it hits your ideal temperature.
Let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.
- Use Enough Oil
Fish is one of the healthiest meals to cook – but that doesn’t mean you need to starve it of oil during cooking. Fat carries flavor and tons of it! Enough oil will help the salmon to render, and because fish meat is delicate by nature, that oil will also help it not adhere to the surface of your pan.
Salmon doesn’t absorb much oil while cooking, so add a good enough amount while you’re cooking – the fish will taste better and keep its shape.
