The Lodge at 58 North perches on a bend within the chilly, surging Naknek River in King Salmon, Alaska, the place each summer season tens of millions of Pacific salmon move by en path to spawn in freshwater. Which means resident chef Jason Brown is sort of actually sourcing the freshest salmon on earth, beginning with lean, glowing sockeyes in June, then prized, fatty kings on the July peak, and milder, reddish coho come August.
But regardless of the salmon species or cooking technique (his favourite is pan-seared), whether or not the fish was caught hours or months in the past, Brown at all times begins his prep the identical manner: submerging parts in a moist brine. It’s a principally hands-off step that pays off handsomely.
“The number-one motive to moist brine is texture,” says Brown. “The distinction is fairly dramatic. You get that lovely flake on every bit of meat. It’s far more moist, with that fats encapsulated in. In my view, it’s price the additional effort each time.”
Even for cooks, cooking salmon could be finicky to get excellent. In case you sear it too onerous within the hope of lusty, crisp pores and skin, you find yourself with albumin (a.okay.a. protein a.okay.a. white stuff) oozing from the flesh. And in the event you begin with wild salmon, the fats content material is decrease, making the margin for error even smaller.
Consider wet-brining as insurance coverage. Simple-to-understand, cheap-to-buy insurance coverage. Brown explains that wet-brining salmon—soaking it in water seasoned with salt—helps solidify the fats inside the protein, so it doesn’t leach out as rapidly as soon as the fish hits the warmth, “retaining it good and succulent.” In different phrases: much less likelihood of drying out.
The opposite choice is dry-brining, or curing. As an alternative of soaking in saltwater, you merely sprinkle the fish with salt. This may contain fewer dishes, however with regards to cooking salmon, Brown avoids it for good motive: Moist-brining distributes seasoning extra evenly. “Dry brining additionally leaves extra room for error, insofar as you’re not injecting as a lot taste evenly by the fish,” he says.
Science apart, it’s onerous to not wax poetic on the notion that getting a fish again into water will yield the plumpest outcomes. “That’s sort of how I used to be taught in fine-dining eating places,” Brown says. “This animal lives in water, why would not you then reintroduce it to water to season it and alter its texture?”
Methods to moist brine salmon
Subsequent time you’re cooking salmon fillets—whether or not they’re seared or grilled—brine them beforehand. It takes 20-ish minutes and you may spend most of that point doing one thing else, like engaged on a salad or unloading the dishwasher. Impressed by Chef Brown, right here’s the take a look at kitchen’s technique.
- Make the brine. In a bowl or measuring cup, mix 3 cups chilly water and 5 Tbsp. Diamond Crystal kosher salt. Stir to dissolve salt.
- Brine the fish. Add two 6–8 oz. salmon fillets to a bowl or casserole dish. Slowly pour saltwater on high of salmon till it’s lined, discarding any additional liquid. (In case you want extra liquid, make one other batch of saltwater and pour as a lot as you want on high.) Cowl the dish and refrigerate it for 15–half-hour when you work on the remainder of dinner.
- Prepare dinner the fish. Any cooking technique works wonders on wet-brined salmon: smoking, grilling, baking, or pan-searing. Whichever path you select, first totally dry the fish with a paper towel, then calmly season it with kosher salt.
