Roasted Salmon for a Crowd

When it comes to serving a crowd, mos t cooks turn to a large roas t or bird. But wouldn’t it be nice to serve ish?

j B Y A N D R E W J A N J I G I A N k

The vast majority of the time when I cook salmon, I buy individual fillets for quick weeknight meals. They’re easy to pan-sear, poach, roast, or grill, and their uniform shape means they cook evenly. But salmon is ideal for entertaining, too. It requires little prep work; cooks faster than a roast or stew; dresses up beautifully with countless sauces, glazes, and rubs; and makes a striking centerpiece.

But cooking a whole side of salmon—a single fillet that weighs 4 to 5 pounds and serves upwards of eight people—demands different considerations than cooking individual fillets does. The large fillet doesn’t fit in a skillet, so you can’t cook it on the stovetop. But cooking it in the oven comes with hurdles; namely, browning is more difficult without the stove’s intense heat.

I wanted to come up with an approach for a whole roasted fillet that would be evenly moist inside and gorgeously browned on top. And since this salmon would be a for-company dish, I wanted bulletproof methods for shuttling the cooked fillet from pan to platter and for cutting tidy portions.

Embroiled in Problems

I tried one recipe that actually called for flipping the fish halfway through cooking, which was a cruel proposition. I knew I could come up with a more straightforward approach that would deliver the results I sought. I was interested in experimenting with the broiler, which would be the surest way to apply concentrated heat to the fish’s surface.

I placed a 5-pound (average weight for a whole side) salmon fillet on a rimmed baking sheet, slid it onto an oven rack placed about 7 inches beneath a preheated broiler (which I hoped was enough distance from the element that the fish wouldn’t burn before it was cooked through), and cooked it until the thickest portion registered 125 degrees. That took about 20 minutes, by which time the surface had quite a bit of uneven color. A whole side of salmon slopes considerably on the tail end, so the browning was mostly isolated to the thicker portion that was closest to the broiler element. Meanwhile, the fierce heat had overcooked the top ½ inch of the thicker part and all of the thinner ends and caused the fish to shed loads of albumin, the unsightly white protein that seeps out of overcooked fish. Honey-Do The easiest way to prevent the tapered portions from overcooking was to do away with them. I had the fishmonger lop off the tail portion and belly flap, leaving me with a uniformly thick fillet that weighed about 4 pounds, which was still plenty for at least eight guests. (If you do buy a whole side, see “Buying and Trimming a Side of Salmon” on page 28 for tips on trimming the tail and belly flap.)

Next, I salted the fish, which we’ve found helps it retain moisture and prevents the albumin from seeping out during cooking. After 1 hour, I patted it dry and repeated the broiler experiment. This time, the albumin stayed inside the fish and the flesh was nicely seasoned. But the uppermost part of the fish was still parched. What I needed was a way to help the fish brown as quickly as possible under the broiler so that I could lower the oven temperature and the salmon could cook gently for the bulk of the time. Sprinkling sugar over the top of the fish helped, but the color was still spotty—it was hard to evenly distribute the crystals—and rather pale. But what about honey? The sugars it contains caramelize more readily than white sugar. I used 2 tablespoons, which was enough to coat the entire fillet but not so much that the fish tasted sweet, and it was easy to brush on in an even layer (for more information, see “The Sweet Spot for Even Browning”). This time, the surface began to caramelize in 5 minutes and was nicely browned after 15, at which point I turned the oven Once the fish is done salting, it can be on the table in 30 minutes. And to 250 degrees and slow-roasted the fish either of our no-cook accompaniments can be prepared while it roasts. until done. The flesh was almost uniformly cooked from top to bottom, and it was better still when I tried again and turned down the oven temperature after 10 minutes (doing so accounted for any carryover cooking that occurred while the broiler cooled). T E C H N I Q U E C U T T I N G P E R F E C T P O RT I O N S Don’t mar your perfectly cooked side of salmon with sloppy portioning. Here’s how to divvy up the illet into tidy pieces. 1 . Use thin metal spatula to cut down center seam of illet to halve ish lengthwise.

Watch: Salmon f or Company 2 . Insert spatula into illet at A step-by-step video is available 45-degree angle, following grain, at CooksIllustrated.com/jun18 to cut 8 to 10 equal portions.

R E C I P E T E S T I N G The Sweet Spot f or Even Browning

To ind the best way to brown the salmon as quickly as possible, we coated one portion of the illet with granulated sugar and another portion with honey and left the remaining portion uncoated. After broiling the illet, we compared the results. The sugar-coated portion was spotty and almost as pale as the uncoated portion, but the honey-coated portion was deeply and evenly browned. Why? The sugars in honey caramelize more rapidly than does white sugar (sucrose), which must irst break down into fructose and glucose before it can caramelize.

S U G A R N OT H I N G H O N E Y

But here’s a quirky thing about broilers: While they fiercely heat the upper half of the oven, they leave the bottom half surprisingly cool, particularly when the bottom is blocked by a side of salmon and a baking sheet. In fact, I found that the salmon needed a good 25 minutes to cook through after the broiling step, presumably because the lower portion of the oven took a while to heat up. That made me wonder if I couldn’t speed up the cooking by preheating the oven before turning on the broiler. Sure enough, preheating the oven to 250 degrees before broiling the fish raised the temperature of the oven’s top portion by 50 degrees and the bottom portion by 125 degrees. This shaved 10 minutes off the cooking time. (Some broilers also don’t heat evenly from edge to edge; in those cases, it helps to cover the browned portions of salmon with a piece of aluminum foil to shield them while the paler sections catch up.) I also moved the fish onto a wire rack to raise it off the baking sheet, allowing for better air circulation, which helped it cook more evenly.

Foiling the Fumble

A side of salmon is quite sturdy when raw but very fragile once cooked, which meant I had to be strategic about getting it to the table in one piece. So I made a long foil sling, coated it with vegetable oil spray, and placed it on the wire rack before loading on the raw salmon. Once the salmon was done, I grabbed the ends of the sling, transferred it to the serving platter, and gently slid the foil out from underneath the fish. I then experimented with a few ways to portion the fish (see “Cutting Perfect Portions”).

A squeeze of fresh lemon juice was all it took to temper the richness of my salmon, but a pair of vibrant, no-cook condiments—an arugula-based pesto and a crisp cucumber relish—offered even more dress-up potential.

ROASTED WHOLE SIDE OF SALMON

SERVES 8 TO 10

This recipe requires salting the fish for at least 1 hour. Look for a fillet that is uniformly thick from end to end. The surface will continue to brown after the oven temperature is reduced in step 4; if the surface starts to darken too much before the fillet’s center registers 125 degrees, shield the dark portion with aluminum foil. If using wild salmon, which contains less fat than farmed salmon, remove it from the oven when the center of the fillet registers 120 degrees. Serve as is or with Arugula and Almond Pesto or Cucumber-Ginger Relish (recipes follow).

1 (4-pound) skin-on side of salmon, pinbones removed and belly fat trimmed Kosher salt 2 tablespoons honey Lemon wedges

1. Sprinkle flesh side of salmon evenly with 1 tablespoon salt and refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours. 2. Adjust oven rack 7 inches from broiler element and heat oven to 250 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and place wire rack in sheet. Fold 18 by 12-inch piece of foil lengthwise to create 18 by 6-inch sling. Place sling on wire rack and spray with vegetable oil spray. 3. Heat broiler. Pat salmon dry with paper towels and place, skin side down, on foil sling. Brush salmon evenly with honey and broil until surface is lightly but evenly browned, 8 to 12 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through broiling. 4. Return oven temperature to 250 degrees and continue to cook until center of fillet registers 125 degrees, 10 to 15 minutes longer, rotating sheet halfway through cooking. Using foil sling, transfer salmon to serving platter, then carefully remove foil. Serve, passing lemon wedges separately.

Going to Extremes For Perfection

Broiling can deeply brown a large piece of salmon, but it’s not a good method for cooking the ish from start to inish because the intense heat overcooks the outermost layer. To achieve a deeply browned exterior and a silky interior, we used the broiler to jump-start browning and then used very low

B RO I L TO B ROW N ; B A K E AT 2 5 0º TO F I N I S H

(250-degree) heat to bake the ish gently. A high-low cooking method guarantees perfectly cooked fish.

ARUGULA AND ALMOND PESTO

MAKES ABOUT 1½ CUPS

For a spicier pesto, reserve, mince, and add the ribs and seeds from the chile. The pesto can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours. If refrigerated, let the pesto sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

¼ cup almonds, lightly toasted 4 garlic cloves, peeled 4 anchovy fillets, rinsed and patted dry 1 serrano chile, stemmed, seeded, and halved lengthwise 6 ounces (6 cups) arugula ¼ cup lemon juice (2 lemons) ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 1½ teaspoons kosher salt

Process almonds, garlic, anchovies, and serrano in food processor until finely chopped, about 15 seconds, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add arugula, lemon juice, oil, and salt and process until smooth, about 30 seconds.

CUCUMBER-GINGER RELISH

MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS

For a spicier relish, reserve, mince, and add the ribs and seeds from the chile. To keep the cucumbers crisp, serve this relish within 30 minutes of assembling it.

½ cup rice vinegar 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil ¼ cup lime juice (2 limes) 2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger ½ teaspoon kosher salt 1 English cucumber, seeded and cut into ¼-inch dice 1 cup minced fresh mint 1 cup minced fresh cilantro 1 serrano chile, stemmed, seeded, and minced

Whisk vinegar, oil, lime juice, mustard, ginger, and salt in bowl until smooth. Add cucumber, mint, cilantro, and serrano and stir to combine.