Grilled salmon requires preparation, including marinating, and should be cooked skin-side down on a broiler pan with a marinade or sauce to complement its mild flavor. Other cooking methods include baking, poaching, and planking.
Salmon is a versatile and nutritious fish with a venerable culinary reputation. It has a slightly dry but flaky texture and a particularly mild flavor. One way to prepare salmon with finesse is to use the broiler in your oven and properly process the meat beforehand. Preparing a popular grilled salmon might also involve pairing it with the proper sauce known to complement this fish’s distinctive taste.
Grilling salmon requires some advance preparation. Using large, firm fillets will help the fish withstand the high heat of the oven. At a minimum, it’s typically coated in light oil, salt, and pepper, with the skin left on to keep the fillets from falling apart.
Other chefs marinate their fish fillets for at least 15 to 20 minutes – or even overnight – before grilling them. For example, a Honey Soy Grilled Salmon recipe on the Eating Well website gives the fish a bath ahead of time with shallots, vinegar, honey, ginger, and soy sauce. Other seasonings commonly used before grilling include fresh herbs such as thyme or basil, soy sauce, paprika and garlic.
The fish can’t simply stew in its own meat juices in the grill, or gelatinous clumps will form from the collecting fat. Grilled salmon should start, skin side down, on a broiler pan, with slots allowing it to drain into a pan below. The pan should be positioned approximately 0.5 feet (approximately 15cm) from the top unit of the grill. Some use a broiler rack that gets hot during preheating to impart some grill marks. Popping the fish after the top has been browned on other parts of the grill that haven’t been used should result in grill marks on both sides. A meat thermometer should read about 160°F (71°C) for salmon to cook through.
A good marinade could mean that the salmon can be served as-is on the plate. Cooks often employ various sauces, however, to complement their stellar proteins. Common pairings with grilled salmon are a lemon-herb melted butter or honey-soy marinade that doubles as a finishing sauce.
Using a grill is just one of many ways to cook a salmon. Other acceptable methods include a traditional pan, baking, poaching, double boiler, and even planking. The latter method involves placing the salmon fillets on top of grill boards or racks, and then allowing a roaring fire to simmer and smoke the salmon to perfection.
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