Salmon is a fish that is widely eaten and loved by most of the people who eat fish. It is easy to make and tasty to eat. While defrosting salmon, leave it out for two to three hours. For faster defrosting, wrap it in a plastic wrapper and place it under running cold water for a couple of minutes. Salmon fish can be cooked in several ways, each bringing out a different and surprising taste. Some of the ways of cooking salmon have been explained below.

Baking Salmon
In this method, the salmon should first be seasoned and brushed with butter or a substitute. It should then be placed in a baking pan that had been greased, and cooked in a preheated oven at a temperature of around 300 degrees, for ten to twelve minutes, per inch of its thickness, when measured from its thickest point. The salmon must flake when done.

Steaming Salmon
For this method you need to use a steaming basket or a steamer. Neatly place the portions of salmon on the rack, pouring a liquid (water, wine, etc.) on the fish into the pan. Season the salmon lightly, and add herbs and spices to the water. Cover it and bring it to a boil. Steam the salmon for a minute per ounce over moderate heat. You can even wrap the salmon in a cheese cloth, in order to take it out from the steamer in full pieces.

Poaching Salmon
Gather some poaching liquid mixing white wine, chicken broth and water. Add a spoon of bouquet garni and boil it over low heat. Ensure that there is enough liquid to cover the salmon in a skillet. Poach for 6 to 8 minutes and serve it warm along with lemon dill sauce. You can also serve it chilled.

Pan frying
Pan fried salmon tastes the best of all. The basic trick is to let the oil or butter heat well before starting to fry the salmon. This enables the oil and juice to get captured and retain in the fish. Avoid letting the oil get too hot and smoke. For preparing pan fried fish, all you need to do is; first wash it thoroughly and wipe it with a damp cloth. Dip each of the pieces into milk, and then in flour or bread crumbs. You can even season the fish.

The quantity of oil in the pan should be at least so much that it can cover half the thickness of a steak or fillet portion. Fry on moderate heat for around 3 – 5 minutes on either side, until it turns golden brown in color.

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Salmon is growing as a very popular fish when it comes to eating both at home or in restaurants. But it can be expensive when you order out so why not try cooking salmon at home. Cooking salmon is not as hard as it may seem, if you try using different recipes you will see how simple it can be. Salmon can be considered to be a very healthy food so you don’t want to fry it or do anything that is going to take away from the flavor of the fish.

When it comes to cooking salmon, try to use your creativity. A great way to cook salmon is to bake it but what would make it taste even better would be a great marinade. Some people like to use lemon juice just because they aren’t really sure what they can use. You can try using a citrus marinade that uses lemons and limes. Or you can choose a soy sauce marinade or vinaigrette. You can really use your imagination by spicing up your salmon with garlic, onion powder, salt, pepper an even some Cajun spices if you feel daring.

Marinade the salmon for 1 hour and bake in a pan for about 20 minutes, some ovens cook faster than others, so make sure that you don’t over cook it. Then you have those people who prefer to simply to leave the salmon as it is. Salmon tends to have a lot of flavor so people just think that it is enough to just cook the salmon. If you go to your local supermarket you will find a large variety of fish marinades all ready to put used.

You don’t have to bake the salmon either; pan-frying is another way of cooking salmon. Simply use a bit of lemon and some cooking spray to prevent the fish from sticking to the pan. It can be tough to tell when salmon is done but the rule of thumb is that for every inch of thickness the salmon has cook about 10 minutes.

You don’t have to cook salmon as a thick piece you can slice them thinner and make salmon cutlets. Cooking salmon this way may prevent the fish from undercooking. Another great way is to cut the salmon into cubes and serve with rice. If you want something a bit healthier try adding the cooked cubes salmon to a salad and use light vinaigrette.

There are hundreds of salmon recipes on the web and in cookbooks. You could try cooking salmon everyday for a month and never have it the same way twice. Salmon can be a bit expensive to buy in the store and sometimes that is a deterrent for people. But if you buy a piece of salmon you can split it up and freeze some for future use. So you are really getting more than one meal from it. For more recipes, try looking online and type in cooking salmon into the search box and thousands of results are at your disposal.

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Cooking Salmon The Right Way

Very high in vitamin A and B complex and omega-3 fatty acid, salmon is a very popular fish worldwide. This very nutritious fish is known for its flavor, color and soft flesh. Any kind of cooking methods; baking, broiling, poaching, grilling, sautéing, smoking may be employed to cook salmon. Freshwater salmon have lesser flavor than saltwater ones. Salmon is distinguished by its pink color which it gets from a pigment present in crustaceans, on which the fish feeds.

As with fish, buying freshest salmon is very important. The several species of salmon differ from each other in texture, flavor and color. Usually farmed salmon is artificially colored. The canned ones are mostly the wild varieties and pink in color. Salmon should not be frozen for too long as they loose their sumptuousness. Some varieties of salmons like the dried and smoked salmon have to be soaked so that excess salt is removed.

Being a sturdy fish, salmon can withstand any type of cooking. The skin should be left on the salmon while cooking as it prevents breaking while turning. The skin can be easily removed after cooking. The most important consideration should be to prevent it from drying out while cooking. If salmon is overcooked, it becomes dry. To check whether it is done, it should be pressed with the back of a fork for firmness. The dry heat methods like grilling and baking require about 10 minutes and once it is done, salmon becomes flaky and changes it color. Fully done salmon will be opaque with no hint of pink color but if it is partially done, then salmon will be pink in the centre.

For baking, the salmon should be brushed with oil or butter after seasoning. It is baked in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Pan frying involves frying when the oil or the butter is very hot, but not so hot that it is smoking. After rinsing the salmon in water or wiping it with a damp cloth, the fillets should be dipped in milk and then in crumbs. These fillets or steaks should be then placed in the hot pan with the oil covering them at least half. One side usually takes 5 minutes to turn golden in color. Both the sides should be cooked on medium flame till they are done.

Poached salmon is prepared by putting salmon in boiling water and then simmering it till the time it is done. The water in the skillet can also contain onions, peppers or herbs if you desire. The poaching liquid can be a mix of white wine, water and chicken broth. Once done, the salmon can be taken out and drained. They can either be served hot or chilled. Steaming involves a steaming basket, which is placed in a pan filled with water, on which salmon pieces are arranged. The pieces are poured with wine or water. The salmon should be seasoned and water can have herbs. After water boils, it takes a minute for the pieces to get done. They can be carefully removed from the steaming basket so as not to break them. You can use a cheese cloth to wrap the pieces to avoid breakage.

One can use a wide variety of flavors with salmon. Any fresh herb, marinade sauce can gel well with salmon. Left over salmon can be used for salads, but they should be used with in two or three days.

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