I owe this Crispy Skin Salmon Sauce Vierge to the MASTERCLASS and Thomas Keller. I have learned so much from watching these masters.
Jump to RecipeI knew that I knew a fair bit about cooking but there is so much to learn. I have loved that they teach everything from the basics to composed, well rounded recipes, plating, etc. I thinking that cooking may be the one subject that the learning is endless. There are so many things around cooking from prep, to mixing ingredients, to how you heat the food, that produces so many nuances. I am not sure that sentence made sense but cooking is both science and intuition to create a great result.
What I learned in this recipe is how to make the skin crispy. It has taken my a while to learn this skill but Thomas Keller’s masterclass taught me things I did not know. The big one was to use a knife to scrape the excess moisture off the skin of the fish. Who knew there was so much moisture in the skin even when you thought you had dried it off. The drier the skin prior to cooking creates a better result.
One other thing that I am now doing inspired by watching these classes is making use of the whole ingredient. In this case, to enable even cooking, I have been cutting my filets into equal and even/level pieces. As you can see with this salmon, the longer piece is thick on one end and thin on the other. By cutting into pieces that will cook evenly, you will get a better result. What I have done is taken the small “extra” pieces and froze them waiting for me to make a seafood bisque. Great solution to use the whole fish.
Salmon and spices plus the completed sauce vierge.
Making the crispy skin salmon.
The Crispy Skin Salmon Sauce Vierge plated.
Crispy Skin Salmon Sauce Vierge
I have learned so much about cooking from Masterclass as evidenced by the crispiest of skins on my Crispy Skin Salmon Sauce Vierge.
Ingredients
Salmon
- 5 5 Ounce Salmon filets
- 2 Tbsp Old Bay Seasoning
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Lemon Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Canola oil
Sauce Vierge (sharing Thomas Keller's proportions)
- 125 Grams Roma Tomatoes peeled, cored and small dice
- 15 Grams High quality vinegar
- 5 Grams Shallots small dice
- 35 Grams Good quality olive oil
- 1 Ounce Sea salt (Maldon) to taste
- 1 Pinch Fresh Parsley
- 1 Ounce Lemon juice to taste
Instructions
Sauce Vierge
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To assemble combine all the ingredients except for the salt, parsley and lemon juice. Mix well. Then, add each of the last 3 ingredients and taste for flavor adjusting as needed
Crispy Skin Salmon
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Begin by drying the salmon well with paper towels. Once patted dry, take a cutting knife and run it across the grain of the skin. You will be taking off some scales, but more importantly, pulling out the liquid in the skin. Keep doing this until most of the water has been released. Should take about 3 minutes or so.
Next, portion the salmon into 5 ounce pieces. Liberally apply the spices to the flesh side reserving a little for the skin side. Next, heat the oil on medium high heat until just about to smoke. Add the salmon skin side down. Press the fish down making sure as much of the skin as possible is touching the pan surface. Do not move the fish and cook for roughly 8 minutes. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes. After cooking, remove from the pan and let rest for 2 – 3 minutes.
To serve, place the salmon over asparagus risotto (or a starch of your choice) and top with as much of the sauce vierge as you like. Drizzle a good olive oil or vinegar over the sauce and deliver to the table. Enjoy!
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