The Proper Way of Cooking Salmon

Salmon is a healthy food that has loads of benefits. It can keep your heart healthy, improve your brain function and give your metabolism a helpful boost. There are also many ways to cook salmon, making it one of the few dietary staples that people actually like and enjoy eating. There are several ways to cook salmon, and it’s best to know how to properly do each one so that you can easily whip up salmon dinners using tried-and-tested recipes.

The most common way to cook salmon is by baking it. Most people would assume that frying is the most common way, but keep in mind that salmon lovers are usually health fanatics as well. And meals are much healthier when baked rather than fried. It also helps lock in the flavour, preventing the salmon from becoming bland. While most fishes are usually bland, salmon is actually quite tasty and can be baked on its own without any other seasoning. However, this can get boring after a while, so it’s best to try different combinations of ingredients with your salmon. Baked salmon is usually filleted before being mixed with other ingredients and wrapped in aluminium foil for even and thorough cooking. The oven is usually pre-heated for 10-20 minutes before the actual salmon is placed inside. Cooking temperatures and times vary with each recipe, but most of them average 10-30 minutes at around 350-450 degrees.

If you’re pan frying salmon, remember to brush it with olive oil, or spray the pan with oil beforehand, especially if you’re frying salmon fillets! Salmon fillets can be very delicate and get stuck against the pan easily if you’re not too careful. Pan frying salmon is a great way of breaking the ice if you’re tired of mushy and soft salmon fillets. Frying salmon gives the outer layer a delightful crunch, especially if you coat the salmon with bread crumbs. It usually takes 8-10 minutes to cook the salmon on both sides, depending on the thickness of the slices.

You can also place salmon on a grill, using the same method as you would by baking it. While the procedure might be the same, there is a distinguishable difference between baked salmon and salmon that’s been wrapped in foil and placed on top of the grill. You can simply season the salmon before putting in on the grill, or you can check their recipes for great ingredient combinations.

Avid health buffs usually choose the safest and healthiest way of cooking salmon – poaching it. Here, salmon is placed in a pot filled with water and is submerged in this boiling water until cooked. While this method is healthy, it is not particularly tasty, unless you mix it with other ingredients after poaching. Also, boiling it in water causes the innate flavouring of the salmon to escape along with some of the nutrients found in the fish! For some added flavour, you can boil it in chicken, beef or seafood stock instead of water.

There are many ways to cook salmon, and each method has a plethora of recipes under it. While salmon on its own may not have much flavour, by simply following salmon recipes, there’s no limit to what you can do with this extremely versatile food.