If you have a properly seasoned cast iron pan, cleaning is the work of 2 minutes. I'd rather take that minimal time than deal with microwaved fish smell and fishy paper towels. That's a trip to the dumpster. More work than washing the pan for me.
Easier to wash a pan than a microwave. That godawful fish smell is staying in that microwave and making everything else stink until you scrub it. Unless you're a fan of fish popcorn, of course.
I mean you can, but that wastes the skin. Crispy salmon skin is one of the great pleasures of the world, and if you're steaming or poaching, the skin just gets soggy.
Crispy skin's good but you have to just like, let it sit. The fish will stick but just don't touch it otherwise the skin will rip. It'll release itself from the pan once it's ready to flip. You basically cook the fish 80% of the way skin side down, then the last 20% flesh side down.
yea, that's more or less how I do it, but in reverse so i get a good flat even sear on the non skin side. I just always removed the skin, sometimes partway through once it doesnt rip, sometimes dont bother until im done.
It’s its skin on, that’s true it would be sorta a waste to poach or steam it.
But it could be a skinless fillet so it’s valid. I still personally prefer it pan seared regardless of skin but to each their own at the end of the day.
Agree, but this is an amazing way to cook shitty frozen salmon, or a real quick way to cook salmon for a salmon salad.
Make it this way and mash it with s9me mayo, lemon juice, garlic, dill, salt and pepper, load it up on a croissant and top with everything bagel seasoning. You got yourself a killer lunch in under 5 minutes.
I mean, salmon skin is so popular that it’s sold by itself, fried, as a snack in bags in many countries including the US. I could walk 500 feet from where I’m sitting right now and pick up a bag. You don’t have to like it but calling it “weird” is… kind of just wrong
I meant : "that's weird to me", no offense intended. We eat frog legs and butterized snails, some other mammals just feast on worms and stuff ... in the grand order of things nothing is really weird in the food chain.
Point is, it never crossed my mind it could be good and the idea of other people liking it specifically is just so novel to me. I have to check that out.
It's just that I'm so used to my fish not being perfectly descaled, so I would need to address that first. Thanks for raising my awareness on the topic.
It is actually an awesome way to cook fish. Alton Brown did a full episode on it back in the day. Essentially you are making a steam dome and since microwaves primarily work by heating the water in food it is a super quick and consistent method to get steam.
On a related note, it also works great for king crab legs. But for that recipe you wrap the crab legs in wet paper towels then wrap that in plastic wrap.
As long as you don't overcook it there really isn't much smell when cooking fresh fish this way. The reason fish in a microwave has a bad reputation is because of people reheating fish (which is overcooking and drying it out). Doing that is what causes the smell.
I do, and honestly, no problem so far. I make sure it was frozen beforehand (says on the label not to freeze it).
Hollandaise is nice, quite easy to do, but takes a bit more time and creates a few dishes. I don't have that kind of energy on the workweek sadly.
But 100% a very nice fish sauce.
It doesn't need to be flash frozen. It just needs to be cold enough for long enough. Flash freezing is desirable as it leads to minimal loss of quality.
Unless you live near a fishery, any salmon you buy will be sushi-grade.
Like, I literally buy it off the dock and 4/5 of the boats flash freeze it at sea. The only time the salmon I get isn’t sushi grade is when it’s caught by my neighbor.
Depends on the salmon but you are correct. That's why the Japanese never used to use salmon for sushi until some Norwegian bloke brought over Norwegian salmon. The stuff they got out of the Pacific near Japan was full of parasites, the Norwegian salmon wasn't.
Farm raised Atlantic salmon is probably fine to buy raw and eat at home. Wild caught sockeye? Not a good idea as the grocery store stuff that they are selling as filets most likely wasn't flash frozen to be made for sushi.
The issue isn’t that Norwegian salmon is parasite-free. Farmed salmon can pick up parasites too.
It’s that Norwegians introduced flash freezing.
Now, all commercially bought and sold salmon is flash frozen at sea (AKA sushi grade.) No matter where it’s from.
I live in the biggest salmon fishing port outside of Alaska. All of the boats selling to commercial enterprises flash freeze, the only ones that don’t are selling locally.
Farm raised still has parasites. Basically all fish have parasites in them. That's why flash frozen "sushi grade" is a thing. It kills the parasites without having to cook the flesh.
Salmon cooks super fast. Minus the time it takes to warm up the pan, I can cook it in 3minutes. Just a nice sear with lemon and salt in tin foil or right on the pan for a faster cook.
812
u/Spirited_Ad_2697 11h ago
Bro you were nearly there just instead of putting paper towels on it just put it in a pan and fry it my guy