Salmon is easy to dry out, but your fish will come out tender, delicate and not overcooked using a chef’s method
Delicious and good for you, salmon is brimming with omega-3 fatty acids and B vitamins that help maintain the nervous system and support heart health. But for many home cooks, cooking salmon can be tough.
Certain chefs recommend pan-frying salmon for optimal results, but this can prove challenging — incorrectly pan-frying salmon can result in the skin adhering to the pan and the flesh becoming dried out.
Fortunately, Express.co.uk chatted to head chef Connor Robson from contemporary Italian eatery, Bar Gigi, who revealed his secrets for preparing the “most flavoursome” salmon. Instead of pan-frying or roasting, the chef suggested curing the fish and then poaching it to prevent overcooking.
He said: “Salmon is a great fatty fish that is flaky and delicate. One of the tastiest ways to cook it is by curing it in equal parts salt and sugar for 20 minutes, which you then wash off in ice-cold water and pat dry.
“Poaching salmon in a high-fat mixture is the ideal way to avoid overcooking it and adds moisture to the dish. Get 200g of unsalted butter and mix with the juice of half a lemon and the peel of a full lemon, and poach for seven to eight minutes.
“The salmon should be soft to the touch and still pink on the inside. Salmon is often a fish that many people overcook. If you can see white lines between the flakes, it means it’s overcooked.”
He recommended serving the salmon alongside a hollandaise sauce, blanched asparagus and roasted fennel for a delightful dish. To whip up the hollandaise, you can utilise the butter from the poached salmon to prevent food wastage.
The asparagus merely needs a quick dip in boiling water for 60 seconds, whilst the fennel roasts for 12 to 18 minutes in the oven.
If you fancy giving this speedy yet scrumptious salmon dish a go, Mr Robson has kindly shared his recipe.
Poached salmon with asparagus and hollandaise sauce
Serves four
Ingredients
For the salmon
- Salmon (one piece per person)
- Salt
- Sugar
- 200g Unsalted Butter
- Two lemons (juice of half, and the peel of another)
For the hollandaise
- Two egg yolks
- 200g butter (use the mixture from the poached salmon)
- 15ml white wine vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the asparagus and confit fennel
- 12 asparagus spears (three per person)
- Salt and black pepper
- Pink peppercorns
- One tsp fennel seeds
- One sprig of rosemary
- Olive oil
Method
For the salmon
- Cure the salmon in a mixture of half salt and half sugar for 20 minutes. To calculate the curing ratio, use half the fish’s weight divided by two.
- Wash the salmon off in ice-cold water and pat dry.
- In a bowl, poach the salmon in a mixture of 200g unsalted butter, the juice of half a lemon and the peel of a full lemon. Poach for seven to eight minutes.
- When the salmon is soft to the touch and still pink, remove the fish.