[0 - 2] - I'm Adrienne Cheatham, I'm a professional chef,
[2 - 3] and today I'm gonna show you
[3 - 6] how to make restaurant-quality salmon at home.
[6 - 8] We're gonna go over some techniques
[8 - 10] to take your salmon game to the next level.
[10 - 13] Save yourself from dry, boring fish.
[13 - 17] This is Restaurant Brioche-Crusted Salmon 101.
[18 - 19] There are some really easy ways
[19 - 22] to get restaurant-quality fish dishes at home
[22 - 24] that don't require a ton of work.
[24 - 28] My favorite is making this brioche-crusted filet of salmon.
[28 - 31] One of the biggest challenges with cooking salmon at home
[31 - 33] is overcooking it.
[33 - 35] This recipe helps buffer the heat
[35 - 38] and makes it a little bit more forgiving.
[38 - 39] You don't have to worry as much
[39 - 43] because the bread will give you a lot of flavor contrast.
[43 - 45] It'll give you some of that buttery richness
[45 - 47] to make up if the fish is a little bit dry.
[47 - 49] This is something that we used to do in restaurants
[49 - 51] when we were cooking for large parties.
[51 - 53] It's crunchy, it's delicious,
[53 - 56] and that is the beauty of this particular technique.
[59 - 61] Your fish should always be cold
[61 - 62] until you're ready to cook it.
[62 - 66] You never wanna let your fish fluctuate in temperature
[66 - 68] because that can contribute to it breaking down
[68 - 70] and spoiling a lot faster.
[70 - 73] This is straight out of the refrigerator.
[73 - 76] I like to season my fish a couple of hours
[76 - 77] before I'm gonna work on it.
[77 - 81] The seasoning will start to seep into the fish itself.
[81 - 85] It'll also pull out some of the excess liquid
[85 - 88] and help the flesh kind of tighten up a little bit.
[88 - 89] It's just one of those pro tips
[89 - 92] that help make things just a little bit better
[92 - 93] than you would normally do.
[93 - 95] I'm gonna go ahead and pop this salmon in the fridge
[95 - 97] until I'm ready to start cooking dinner.
[100 - 101] I like to use brioche
[101 - 104] because it's crisp and light when you cook it up,
[104 - 106] but it also has a little bit of sweetness.
[106 - 110] You can literally change this out for any bread.
[110 - 112] I've done this with sourdough, pumpernickel,
[112 - 115] whole wheat bread, sliced white sandwich bread.
[115 - 119] The best thing about using a whole loaf that's not sliced
[119 - 120] is that you can determine
[120 - 123] how thick the breading crust is going to be.
[123 - 127] This recipe is also a great way to use up some bread
[127 - 129] that's getting stale or not so fresh.
[129 - 133] So now that I have my two beautiful slices of brioche cut,
[133 - 136] I'm gonna place my salmon directly on top
[136 - 139] with what would be the skin side facing down.
[139 - 140] It's the flatter side of the two,
[140 - 144] so I don't have to worry about the bread not making contact
[144 - 146] with the uneven top of the salmon.
[146 - 148] You don't need to put anything on there
[148 - 150] to hold the fish to the bread.
[150 - 153] When you start to cook it, it will release that white stuff
[153 - 154] that you see coming out of salmon.
[154 - 157] That's called albumin. It's similar to like an egg white.
[157 - 159] It's just a protein,
[159 - 162] and it will make it stick to the bread itself
[162 - 164] without having to add anything else.
[164 - 167] Now I'm just lining my knife up with the edge of the salmon
[167 - 169] and I'm trimming the bread right there.
[169 - 172] Again, cutting right alongside the bread.
[172 - 174] The fish is seasoned, it's ready to go.
[174 - 176] If you're gonna cook it right away,
[176 - 179] you can let it sit out for up to 20 minutes
[179 - 180] to come to room temperature.
[180 - 183] But if you wanna wait for an hour or so before you cook it,
[183 - 185] just go ahead and pop it in the fridge.
[188 - 190] It is time to start cooking our fish.
[190 - 193] This is a really cool process that I absolutely love
[193 - 195] because it is very forgiving.
[195 - 197] We're gonna start in the saute pan,
[197 - 199] but we're gonna finish in the oven,
[199 - 202] so the fish itself will get a very gentle
[202 - 203] kind of cook around it.
[203 - 205] I'm gonna start on low heat.
[205 - 207] I'm using a little bit of neutral oil,
[207 - 209] and let that slowly heat up.
[209 - 211] Add the butter now and just let that kind of melt.
[211 - 213] The butter is more for flavor.
[213 - 217] The oil is really gonna help us facilitate even browning,
[217 - 220] and it'll also help raise the smoke temperature
[220 - 222] and help us minimize the risk of burning.
[222 - 224] I'm using a stainless steel pan,
[224 - 226] but you could use any oven-safe pan.
[226 - 228] The butter is bubbling now,
[228 - 230] and you can see it starting to turn
[230 - 232] a little bit of a darker golden color.
[232 - 234] I don't wanna go too high, too fast
[234 - 236] because I don't wanna burn the brioche.
[236 - 239] I wanna give it a chance to absorb the fat
[239 - 243] and slowly start to get golden brown, delicious, and crispy.
[243 - 245] I'm carefully placing my salmon
[245 - 248] with the bread side down into the pan.
[248 - 250] The butter is bubbly.
[250 - 251] Give it a little shake.
[251 - 253] Gradually increase the heat
[253 - 256] from like medium low to barely medium,
[256 - 259] and make sure you're shaking your pan occasionally
[259 - 261] to make sure that it's not sticking.
[261 - 264] Shaking it in the pan also helps distribute the heat evenly,
[264 - 267] and you don't get a dark spot here and a light spot here.
[267 - 269] It's looking GBD.
[269 - 270] Butter is delicious,
[270 - 272] but I love a little bit of aromatic flavor.
[272 - 276] So I'm gonna add a couple sprigs of thyme to the fat
[276 - 278] and one clove of crushed garlic
[278 - 283] just to add a little bit more aromatic flavor to this dish
[283 - 284] while it's cooking.
[284 - 287] You can see that the bread has kind of pressed down
[287 - 290] and condensed under the weight of the salmon.
[290 - 291] Flip it now so that we don't cook it
[291 - 293] all the way on the bread side,
[293 - 295] and then we're gonna pop it in the oven.
[295 - 297] And don't worry if you get a couple of light spots,
[297 - 300] you can always flip it back over and brown it
[300 - 302] right before you take it out of the pan.
[302 - 303] If I wanted to do this ahead of time
[303 - 305] before I have guests coming over,
[305 - 308] instead of flipping it and putting this pan in the oven,
[308 - 311] I would take them out of the pan and put them on a tray.
[312 - 313] That way when my guests come over,
[313 - 315] I can put this whole tray in the oven
[315 - 317] for five to seven minutes.
[317 - 318] Say you have 50 guests,
[318 - 321] just brown the bread, put your fish on a tray,
[321 - 322] pop it in the refrigerator,
[322 - 325] and then right before the party starts,
[325 - 326] get it back in the oven
[326 - 328] so your fish is freshly cooked for your guests.
[328 - 331] I have my oven preheated to 350.
[331 - 332] That will help cook everything,
[332 - 334] but we're not gonna go so hot
[334 - 336] that we risk burning the bread.
[336 - 339] Cooking time depends on the thickness of your fish.
[339 - 340] These are very thick,
[340 - 343] so I'm gonna check them at four to five minutes,
[343 - 345] but I have a feeling they might take closer to seven.
[348 - 352] The fish has been in the oven for about five minutes.
[352 - 354] Let's check it. It looks like it actually might be done.
[354 - 356] So there's a couple of ways
[356 - 358] to look at your fish to see if it's done.
[358 - 361] You see this white protein, if that's starting to come out,
[361 - 363] your fish might be cooked all the way
[363 - 365] and the protein is starting to leach out.
[365 - 367] It doesn't mean our fish is overcooked,
[367 - 369] but we wanna take a look inside.
[369 - 371] So I'm gonna use the corner of the spatula
[371 - 374] just to barely open up one of the flakes.
[374 - 377] We can see right in the center that it is opaque.
[377 - 380] You don't see any of that deep pink translucent look,
[380 - 382] but it's not overcooked, and that's a great thing.
[382 - 386] Another way to check if you have a cake tester at home
[386 - 389] is to insert it straight into the center of the salmon,
[389 - 392] give it a couple seconds and touch it to your bottom lip
[392 - 393] or just under your bottom lip.
[393 - 395] If it feels really, really hot,
[395 - 396] you know your fish is overcooked.
[396 - 399] If it feels warm, you're perfect.
[399 - 401] So when you're inserting your cake tester,
[401 - 404] sometimes you can feel the cake tester
[404 - 406] breaking through each piece of sinew,
[406 - 409] which is the membrane that holds the muscle groups together.
[409 - 412] That's a really good indicator that your fish is very rare.
[412 - 414] I do not need to put this back in the oven
[414 - 417] because it is already about mid well.
[417 - 419] There's also residual heat in the pan
[419 - 421] that will help carryover cook.
[421 - 422] So our salmon is cooked.
[422 - 425] It's time to get it out of the pan and onto the plate.
[425 - 426] I'm just gonna serve it
[426 - 428] with a little simple salad on the side.
[428 - 432] I mean, to me, this is very simple in terms of technique,
[432 - 435] but so delicious, very high impact,
[435 - 437] and it has that wow factor.
[437 - 440] And this is how I make restaurant-quality salmon at home.
[441 - 449] Ooh, look at that crust. Hmm.
[449 - 452] The fish is tender, it's flaky.
[452 - 454] It's not overcooked and dry.
[454 - 456] The bread gives you the crust on the top,
[456 - 458] some light fluffiness in the center.
[458 - 461] And because it's absorbed that flavor from the butter
[461 - 463] and the thyme and the garlic,
[463 - 464] it's not just plain, boring salmon.
[464 - 467] The bread, it'll give you some of that buttery richness
[467 - 470] to make up if the fish is a little bit dry,
[470 - 473] and that is the beauty of this particular technique.
[473 - 474] Cooking salmon at home
[474 - 477] does not have to be redundant, dry, and boring.
[477 - 481] With just a couple of cool, simple techniques,
[481 - 482] you can really up your game
[482 - 484] and give yourselves and your guests
[484 - 486] an incredible wow factor.