How One of NYC’s Best Chefs Makes Salmon (3 Michelin Star) | Made to Order | Bon Appétit

Bon Appétit joins Chef Eric Ripert, owner of NYC’s Le Bernardin, to make his perfect version of salmon fillet. With three Michelin Stars, Le Bernardin is a renowned seafood destination in Manhattan, using only the best produce and ingredients cooked by master chefs–including their barely cooked salmon with coconut curry sauce.

00:00 Intro
00:44 Preparing the Salmon
02:00 Cooking the Salmon
03:34 Making Coconut Curry Sauce
07:13 Assembling the Dish

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[Music] I am Eric Preer, chef owner of Leernard in New York City and today I’m making the perfect version of salmon [Music] filt. Leard is a seafood restaurant in the heart of Manatan and we are very lucky because we are highly regarded by our clientele, very loyal to us. Today we are going to cook some salmon. I will make a curry sauce that will go with it. I’m going to cook it with a technique called uni lateral. The salmon will be warm, have a beautiful color, beautiful texture. We’ll show the philosophy that French cooking is about delicacy and precision. The first thing that we are going to do is to prepare the salmon. So here we have some salmon that comes from the Pharaoh Island which is in between Iceland and Denmark. This fish comes from very very pure waters and therefore we don’t have to worry about parasites and fish like that could be served very very rare. You know it’s fresh when you put your nose on top and it doesn’t have any smell. If you see those white lines here through the filt being kind of beige dark, if the color is not vibrant, it’s not so fresh. When you touch it with your finger, it springs back. If you have a hole in your filt, it’s pretty old already. You should take it out of the fridge few minutes before you are going to cook it. So that way the fish comes back to room temperature and it will be easier for the fish to cook equally during the process. For seasoning the fish, I’m using fine sea salt. So when you season, you don’t season too high because you’re not very precise. You don’t season too close because you you are too close. You don’t see what you are doing. You do that just before the process of cooking. If you are putting the salt too much ahead of time, it’s going to start to cook the flesh of the fish that is very fragile, very sensitive to salt and acidity. I’m going to cook it with a technique called uni lateral, which means that the heat comes from the bottom very slowly and cooks the salmon to perfection. I’m going to put some water in a pan, a little bit, not too much, and I’m going to use a little bit of butter. like that. I’m going to put the pan on top of this griddle here. The idea is to use the heat and cook the fish very very slowly coming from the bottom to the top. We will have the consistency of a custard. When we are going to eat the fish at home, if you have burners, you can cook the fish on top of the burner. You just put the pan on it. Here we are not searing the fish. Sometimes it’s good to sear the fish to to create a crust. For salmon for instance, I like it when it’s cooked like this because you don’t have dryness of the crust. Also, you don’t test the oil that you used for creating the crust in a pan. So here when the fish will be cooked, it will have this very very beautiful texture and also you will be able to test the fish fully without any distraction from other ingredients. The fish is not flipped because if you flip it, the color will not be the same. you will have kind of like a dull grayish color. But I’m not looking for the water to be simmering and I’m not looking for the water to be boiling because again that will create too much heat and will cook the bottom of the fish well done. You just have to be patient. While the fish is cooking, I’m going to make a curry coconut sauce. This sauce goes very well with the salmon because it will have a nice spiciness, vibrant color. This sauce is of course elegant but very easy to make. Going to slice a shallot very thinly. It will be cooking very fast. If the shallot was sliced with thick pieces, it will take a long time. You will not get all the flavors coming out of the shallots. I’m going to put a bit of oil in the pan. Shallots are going first. So the pan will be hot but not so hot that it will sear the shallot. A clove of garlic. Garlic as you know is very strong and pungent. You don’t want too much in it. I have some fresh ginger. Same thing. I’m going to slice it very thinly. I’m looking to sweat the vegetables. Sweating means that they’re becoming soft cooked so you don’t have the raw flavor of the onion or you don’t have the raw flavor of the garlic. That is very very aggressive. The ginger is going to be spicy and refreshing. When you make sauce, especially for seafood, you want to sweat your vegetables and not necessarily sear them. When you make sauce for meat, sometimes you want to color the vegetables because meat it’s not as delicate as fish. Coloring the vegetables may bring an intensity that the sauce needs to elevate the meat. I’m going to add a bit of white wine. So the wine will help to make the coconut milk not as rich and will bring a little bit of acidity. Coconut milk is when you use the flesh and you basically puree the flesh and cook it nice fat content that will bring the creaminess to the sauce. Madras curry powder is a blend of different spices including turmeric which bring very often the very bright yellow color. I’m going to let the sauce come to simmer. I’m adding a little bit of water because it’s rich. I’m going to pass the sauce. So, passing the sauce means I’m going to filter the sauce to have a smooth texture, but all the flavors from the garlic and the ginger and the shallots. I’m passing the sauce through what we call a shinoa. And then I’m going to extract with a spatula. And you can see I’m pressing. I’m extracting all the flavors. Meanwhile, as you can see, the salmon has been cooking. It’s still cold on the top. If I lift it, you will see underneath is starting to to be cooked and the heat is coming up. So, with the brush, I’m basting the fish. I’m also eliminating the albumin that comes out of the fish. Albumin is a protein. It comes out very quickly when you cook it very, very fast. Slow cooking will avoid the albumin to come out in very big chunks. It’s not necessarily pleasant the texture. So, we brush the salmon on the side like that using a thin skewer made of metal. And I’m going to go through the flesh of the fish like this. And then you touch your hand and it should be warm. If it’s cold, it’s not cooked. If you burn yourself, you punished. is overcooked. I like salmon when it’s cooked medium rare. And in general, I like all fish being cooked medium rare. When it’s overcooked, it’s very dry and tasteless. And I can tell you that the fish is cooked because it’s no resistance going through the flesh. And also, when it’s coming back, the skewer is warm. So, it’s time to remove the fish. So, when you plate, you have to be very gentle, very careful. Seafood in general is fragile, delicate. I’m using a spatula. I’m using a napkin to let the liquid be absorbed in before it goes to the plate. I’m going to decorate the fish. I have some chives. It has a slight oniony flavor, but not overpowering, and it’s going to go well with the sauce and the fish. I have some vegetables here. We have some cauliflower, carrots, and turnips. And I’m going to plate them around the fish. I just have to finish the sauce. Whisking is about incorporating air and which makes the sauce slightly lighter in appearance. Adding some lemon juice. I’m saucing around the fish because I don’t want to destroy the beautiful texture that the fish has and the beautiful color. I want the fish to shine. And if you want the flavor of the sauce, you will decide how much sauce you want with your fish. This is it. It’s a salmon curry sauce with spring vegetables. This is a fish knife. It’s not even sharp. And you slice it. And you can see it’s no effort. And now I’m going to try. Really good. And you can see it’s perfectly cooked. It has the same texture. And if I lift it with my fork, you’ll see the texture is exactly the same all over the fil. And when I touch it, it’s warm. It’s hot. Salmon is a very rich fish, very delicate, and it goes very well with the coconut curry sauce. It brings a bit of spiciness. Uh the lemon juice brought a bit of acidity that contrast with the richness of the fish and gives you the illusion of lightness. When you eat it, you will eat the entire plate and thinking it’s a cloud. With this technique, it’s not very hard to achieve restaurant quality cooking in your kitchen at home. Not bad for an hour, huh? What do you think, Alex? 1 hour we do one cover.