is it healthier to bake or grill salmon

In Absolute Best Tests, Ella Quittner breaks the rules in her own kitchen to find the truth. She has boiled a lot of eggs, mashed a lot of potatoes, and seared more Porterhouse steaks than she can remember. Today, she tackles salmon.

I did not grow up eating much fresh fish. Even though my parents were great cooks, they didn’t usually make this. Maybe it’s because they grew up in a landlocked area or because they learned how to cook in the 1980s, when swordfish carpaccio was the most popular dish. When my dad rarely turned on the broiler for something like a piece of halibut, my mom would run out of the room with her pointer finger and thumb tightly clamped around her nose. As she ran out the door, she would open all the windows.

Because of this, when I left home and found the salmon fillet—a quick dinner that came bone-free—I felt like I had done some contemporary magic. To have a fancy dinner in twenty minutes, I would pat it dry, season it a lot, and put it in a medium-temperature oven while I made a salad. I would sometimes try something new with aluminum foil to make a friend laugh, but I always went back to my tried-and-true salmon recipe, no matter how reliable it was. In retrospect it’s easy to see how, eventually, I fell into a salmon slump. I told myself that there were better fish in the ocean, more satisfying meats on land, and more fun ways to make dinner in twenty minutes. From Our Shop.

So, you can imagine how excited I was when my editors brought up salmon for my latest round of Absolute Best Tests. In these tests, I compare popular ways to cook like they are my children. I reluctantly agreed to sear, broil, poach, steam, roast, and get charcoal for the grill. I did this with a knowing smile on my face, because I knew it would all turn out good, fine, and less fine in different ways. A day’s work. And so I patted a couple fillets dry and got to it.

Here’s what I’ll say upfront about that smug smile: It was deeply unwarranted. Someone who could tell you how happy I was when I took my first bite of sous vide salmon would be my dog Larry, who scampered under the couch to avoid my high-pitched screams. I missed the whole thing. That mid-temp oven protocol I used to swear by? Didn’t even make the list.

For all 12 tests, I used boneless, skin-on, center-cut salmon salmon fillets, which were roughly six ounces apiece. I seasoned with salt and white pepper. For some methods, I used olive oil. For others that involved high heat, I used avocado oil.

It was between 120 and 125 degrees Fahrenheit on an instant-read thermometer, which is just on the rare side for each fillet. This means just opaque all the way through, flaking easily when gently pressed. Another smart way to tell if salmon is done, according to Food Editor Emma Laperruque, is to pierce it with a cake tester, skewer, or paring knife for a few seconds and then touch the metal. If it feels cold, the fish isn’t quite ready, but if it feels warm, it’s ready to go. Get that fish out of the oven as soon as possible if it feels hot. The smaller the instrument, the prettier the fillet. ”).

Finally, a word about albumin, the white goopy protein that you may see on salmon: it’s fine to eat, though not very pleasant to look at. Alex Delany at Bon Appétit explains: “Think of what happens when you wring out a wet towel. The water inside the fibers of the cloth is pushed out as you squeeze the fibers closer together. The same principle applies to salmon. As salmon cooks, the flesh contracts, pushing out albumin to the fillet’s surface. The higher the heat, the more quickly the flesh contracts, and the more albumin becomes visible. ” In other words, more albumin can be an indicator of a particularly aggressive cook method.

I have categorized the 12 methods below into three groups: “Most Delicious,” “Most Efficient,” and “Fine But I’m Not Renting a Plane to Skywrite About Them Anytime Soon.” These groups were formed by comparing the four methods side by side. I sorted the methods in each category by alphabetical order because I thought about it for too long and too hard.

Folding salmon into a parchment paper packet and roasting it at 400 degrees Fahrenheit was a great way to cook it, and it gave me lots of chances to say “en papillote” to my partner and dog. The steam trapped by the parchment seal ensured that the fillet was juicy. The close quarters made it possible for the fish to have strong flavors. If I wasn’t doing a strict experiment, I could have stuffed it with spices and aromatics like ginger and garlic. And perhaps most importantly, salmon en papillote provided the opportunity to unwrap a personalized gift before tasting.

Ease of Method: The main problem was that it was hard to tell when the salmon was done cooking because it was hidden under a thick layer of parchment paper. (I used a finger to press the center of the packet and judged by feel. ).

Internal Texture: The fillet cooked en papillote was flavorful and tender, even though the seasoning was simple and there was a layer of albumin on top that made it look like it might not be.

Skin Crispness: None to speak of; in the future, I’d use skinless fillets for this method.

As a child, I regularly faked sick so I could stay home from school and watch cooking shows. To finish my draft on time, I’m going to skip over a lot of unnecessary information and get right to the important part: I saw someone poach a piece of salmon in olive oil. This memory became wedged in the recesses of my mind: decadent, intimidating, frivolous, impossibly pink.

It wasn’t until this round of Absolute Best Tests that I got the guts—or olive oil—to give it a try. Man, am I glad I did! Bring enough olive oil to cover the fillet in a saucepan to a gentle simmer, about 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Then add the salmon that has been seasoned and cook for 13 to 15 minutes. This made a piece of fish with a lot of different flavors, including grassy olive oil notes and just the right amount of salt.

Ease of Method: I would recommend this method only to a home cook with an instant-read thermometer. If you don’t, it will be hard to tell when the oil has reached 180 degrees Fahrenheit, and in the worst case, a lot of oil could be past its smoke point.

Internal Texture: Oil-poached salmon was the sleeper hit of this whole thing. The fish was slightly less tender than some of the other fillets, but so delicious, I barely noticed. (I’d guess this was because the cooking temperature wasn’t quite as low as, say, sous vide. ).

A quick way to slow-roast salmon is in the oven. The idea behind this method is that it’s hard to overcook because a few extra minutes at a low temperature aren’t as strong as an extra minute under the broiler. Based on this Genius recipe, I cooked it at 275 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes. The gentle heat made a specimen that was so soft and evenly cooked that a fork could easily pierce it.

Ease of Method: It was very simple to slow-roast the salmon, and the whole process only took 45 minutes. Placing the fish skin-side down on a parchment-lined sheet pan made for easy clean-up.

As far back as Absolute Best Tests go, the sous vide method hasn’t won very often (see: steak, hard-boiled eggs). Because it takes a while and requires special equipment, I’m often underwhelmed with the output.

But—but—if you’re cooking salmon, you should definitely get out your Joule or even just a silicone bag that you can seal and a thermometer. Putting salmon in a bag with its spices and cooking it indirectly at 125 degrees Fahrenheit for about 35 minutes (for a 1.5-inch fillet) made the fish so tender I could have spread it on toast. It tasted so strongly of salt.

How Hard It Is to Do: This was hard, but you should still do it when you have really good salmon.

Internal Texture: The fillet was buttery and soft, like kippered salmon gone weak in the knees.

Skin Crispness: Sous vide preserves the option for crispy skin. While the fish is still hot, pat it dry and then sear the skin side down in an oiled skillet for a few minutes before serving.

It turned out that steaming salmon was a very good, not too fussy method that kept more of the salmon’s flavor than cold-poached fillet (more on that later). I put the salmon in a steamer basket that I put on top of a pot of boiling water and let it cook for eight to ten minutes.

Easy to Do: Steaming anything is a low-stress activity as long as you have a steamer basket or a few balls of foil to make one.

Texture: The salmon wasn’t as smooth as the slow-roasted or sous vide fillet; it was buttery, but not creamy, and it was softer than the cold-poached or any of the high-heat fillets (coming soon).

I love my broiler for making pizza toast, bananas bruléed, and croutons at the last minute because it’s quick and works well. When it came to salmon, the broiler did not let me down in either way: the process (a quick broil of an oiled, seasoned fillet skin down on a pan that can handle high heat) was so quick that my fish didn’t even have time to get the char I was hoping for before it was fully cooked. (This leads me to believe the broiler method would be better suited to a thicker piece of fish. That being said, the fillet got harder to work with than those that were heated more slowly, and it lost more of its juices in the process. Perfectly edible and still enjoyable, but not something I’d think about for days after the fact.

How Easy It Is: The broiler makes cooking anything very simple; just watch it carefully so it doesn’t burn.

Skin Crispness: I got a little crisp going—nothing crazy, but more crackle than any method listed above.

The first result on Google for “how to cook salmon” is from The Kitchn. It says to roast the salmon at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for four to six minutes per half-inch thickness. I followed suit, and wound up with a worthy specimen in about 10 minutes. There wasn’t much flavor or juice in the fillet, but it was soft enough (more so than the broiled and stovetop-seared salmon).

Ease of Method: Almost as simple as tossing under the broiler, except you have to remember to preheat.

Internal Texture: Middle of the road, more on the “good” side than not. Points for consistency.

I cooked the salmon skin-side down in a hot skillet for about five minutes before quickly flipping it to finish. Eating it was like watching my favorite reality TV show: it was just as satisfying because it was predictable, and the quick comfort it gave me gave me a good dopamine hit. The skin was perfectly crispy, and the fillet was cooked pretty evenly. It wasn’t the tastiest of all the ways it could have been cooked, but it was still fun to eat.

Texture inside: Pretty good. If you want a quick fix of salmon, the stovetop sear made a fillet that was much juicier and more tender than the broil method.

Fine But I’m Not Renting a Plane to Skywrite About Them Anytime Soon

When you cold poach salmon, you add water, white wine or broth, seasonings, and the fillet. Then you bring the mixture to a simmer and lower the heat. This is done so that the proteins in the salmon don’t get tough. Theoretically, your poaching set-up should lend flavor, as well. The salmon was nice and tender, but it didn’t have as much flavor as the other most tender dishes (slow roast, sous vide, en papillote, and oil poach), which could be because the liquid took away some of the flavor.

From a flavor perspective, the grill method worked wonders for my salmon fillet. The logistics (charcoal, having to find shoes, salmon-y grate residue that was gross to clean!) and the time it took to heat up made it not seem worth it. I’d do it again if I was already grilling and had room for a few salmon fillets. But I wouldn’t turn on my grill just for a solo salmon dinner.

I was really looking forward to trying the skillet-to-oven method. It starts like the stovetop sear, but you finish your fillet in a 350°F oven with the skin down instead of flipping it and finishing it in the pan.

The skin was very crispy, and the fillet moved around more than a stovetop sear. However, I thought the salmon was a bit overcooked on the bottom, and the top had a strange texture that was more like cold-smoked salmon than roasted fillet. The flavor and succulence were there, but I wasn’t sold on the varying textures.

The stovetop cold method—place salmon skin down in a cold skillet before turning on the heat, cook for about 25 minutes, until the sides are opaque and the top is still bright pink—resulted in a juicy, tender fillet. But as with the skillet-to-oven salmon, I couldn’t get on board with the unevenness of the cook from bottom to top. (One huge benefit, though, was that the skin puffed up proudly, like a shrimp chip.) Next time I riff on this method, I’ll flip it before removing from heat.

A Mainstay You Can Evoke With Little Fanfare

• Heat the oven to 275°F.
• Place a salmon fillet in a baking dish. Add salt and pepper to taste and rub with olive oil all over.
• If you stick a thermometer in the thickest part and it reads 120°F, the salmon is done. This should take about 30 minutes for a 6-ounce fillet.

THIS is How I Get Perfectly Grilled Salmon Every Single Time

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