The Best Salmon You’ll Ever Make (Restaurant-Quality) | Epicurious 101

In this edition of Epicurious 101, professional chef and chef instructor Frank Proto demonstrates how to cook the best pan-seared salmon fillet you’ve ever made at home.

Check out chef Frank on his YouTube Channel, ProtoCooks!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC368WO9e4BWuPYAeSIuaUsg
Follow him on Instagram at @protocooks

Director: Parisa Kosari
Director of Photography: Ben Dewey
Editor: Boris Khaykin
Host: Frank Proto
Director of Culinary Production: Kelly Janke
Culinary Researcher and Recipe Editor: Vivian Jao
Culinary Producer: Young Sun
Culinary Associate Producer: Leslie Raney
Line Producer: Jen McGinity
Associate Producer: Amanda Broll
Production Manager: Janine Dispensa
Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Hymes
Camera Operator: Carlos Araujo
Sound Mixer: Mariya Chulichkova
Production Assistant: Emmanuel Dominguez
Culinary Researcher: Vivian Jao
Post Production Supervisor: Andrea Farr
Post Production Coordinator: Scout Alter
Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds

—
0:00 Slammin’ Salmon
0:15 Chapter One – Selecting Salmon
1:19 Chapter Two – Cooking Salmon
4:59 Chapter Three – Plating Salmon

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hi I’m Frank Proto professional chef and
culinary instructor and today I’m going
to show you how to make the best
pan-seared salmon we’ll be going over
the techniques to make your pants here
at salmon have crispy skin and a soft
juicy interior this is salmon 101.
[Music]
before we get into cooking our salmon I
want to talk about how to select it when
you’re in the store on a day to day I
prefer Farm resin has a little more fat
to it than wild caught salmon if you
tend to overcook it a little all that
fat helps that it doesn’t dry out the
farm raise tends to be a little bit
better when it comes to being forgiving
in the pan the first thing I always do
is visually inspect it I’m looking at
the color first is it appealing does it
have a nice pink Rosy color if it’s
starting to get a little gray don’t buy
it another thing that the fish monitor
at the store might not want you to do
but I think you should every time and if
they don’t let you do it don’t buy the
fish is pick it up put it close to your
face take a whiff it should be a light
Ocean Breeze it should not be fishy the
last thing is I’d like to touch the
salmon you notice how my fingers aren’t
sticking it’s nice and smooth it’s not
sticky it’s not giving me any residue
and that means that there’s no slime on
it and the fish is really nice so if any
of those factors don’t work for you
don’t buy the salmon find another store
so it’s time to cook the fish I’m going
to turn my pan on I’m gonna go to like a
medium-high heat I’m putting enough oil
in there so that it coats the whole
bottom of the pan we’re not deep frying
here but I do want the oil to make one
level so that I get really nice Browning
and even cooking so while that heats up
I’m going to season my fillets a little
bit of black pepper
a little bit of salt
now one of the most important things
right now is to make sure that the skin
and the salmon is dry I have a paper
towel I’m just going to dab it I like to
do it after I season because salt draws
out moisture if we put salmon in the pan
and it’s wet not only is it going to
stick we’re not going to get a nice
crispy skin you can see that my oil is
starting to get a little shimmery there
should be a light amount of smoke before
it goes in I have two tools here I have
a pair of tongs and a fish spatula fish
spatula has these wide openings and a
very thin and bendy blade which is great
the only problem with this is that
everyone’s always trying to force their
way under the salmon and usually they
tear the skin what’s cool about salmon
is that it will tell you when it’s ready
to be turned right that’s why I use
tongs the tongs will let me gently turn
the salmon without ripping any skin or
tearing any flesh so you can see that my
oil is getting nice and shimmery one
last time with the paper towel before we
go in the skin side is my presentation
side I always put my presentation side
in the pan first not only that I’m going
to drop it in the pan away from me so
that when it splashes oil will Splash
that way and not on me now we want to do
is leave it alone I’m going to lower my
heat just a little because it looks like
it’s a little hot a lot of times what
people are going to do or they’re going
to start fussing with this and once you
start fussing with it that’s when things
get ripped and the skin falls off it
starts to break it’s a little sticky
that’s okay leave it alone we’re gonna
let the salmon tell us when it’s ready
let the salmon kind of brown let the
skin start to get crispy we’re going to
cook it most of the way on the skin side
main point is leave it alone let it cook
trust the process
trust Chef friend these are ready to
turn right look how they free themselves
up we’re going to turn it over and we
have some nice crispy skin
Crispy Crunchy delicious part of the
reason why you probably don’t like fish
skin is because it’s not crispy I’m
going to lower my heat now and we’re
just going to let them finish cooking on
the flesh side I want it nice and Rosy
pink in the center not raw
just Rosy pink and still nice and juicy
just for a few minutes we’re not gonna
go crazy on the flesh side because
that’s when you start seeing the salmon
drying out and stuff like that and at
this point the fish will separate itself
from the pan and now we’re just going to
let it cook all low until it’s cooked
through at this point you might be
wondering hey I’m going to cook the
sides you can cook the sides if you want
it’s totally up to you I just like to
leave it on the skin or the bottom side
I like to see that Rosy pink I don’t
need that to be brown I think we’re good
I can take my salmon out let it rest
it’s still very pink in the center which
is fine let the temperature equalize if
it gets cold on the resting rack that’s
fine we can always reheat it in the oven
or in the pan but I’m going to let it
rest on a rack I don’t want to put it
skin side down on the rack we’ve done a
lot of work to get this skin super
crispy if you put it skin side down on
the rack what’s gonna happen anyone any
it’s gonna get soggy We’re not gonna
have crispy skin anymore so put it on a
rack or a tray or a plate skin side up
the skin will stay crispy
now it’s time to Plate my salmon is
rested it should be nice and juicy I
want to get one more view of this skin
listen
crispy skin I have a little bit of salad
here it’s dressed with some lemon juice
and olive oil we can put a salmon on
this and it’s not going to wilt
immediately just a little bit of lemon
on the side in case someone wants to
squeeze it and that’s my plate perfectly
cooked pan seared salmon but let’s see
my inside here oh look at that still
pink
still nice and juicy you see how it
flakes when I cut it that means it’s
cooked and not raw let me give it a
taste
perfectly moist and pink on the inside
season is great flavor is great and
there you have it folks my pants here at
salmon crispy skin juicy interior every
single time