30 Before 30: Salmon Meuniere (#1)

I love, love, LOVE sockeye salmon. It makes for delicious lox. It makes for delicious dinners. It basically makes for delicious everything. I usually just bake it with lemon and butter and call it good, but since I'm doing my 30 before 30, I wanted to try something new. Well new resulted in very similar flavors. It was fun anyway, as are most Alton Brown recipes.

Very rarely do I have to double a recipe. The one posted below is for one. Double everything and turn up the heat a bit.

Salmon Meuniere via Good Eats – The Early Years:

1 8 oz. skin-on sockeye fillet (or trout, if you're into river fish)

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 Tb. canola oil

2 Tb. unsalted butter, divided

1 Tb. capers, drained but not rinsed

1/2 medium lemon, juiced

2 Tb. finely chopped parsley

Put a 12-inch skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat, avoiding non-stick.

Season flesh side of salmon with salt and pepper. Dredge fish with all-purpose flour. I followed Alton's tip here to put a 1/2 cup per fillet into a lidded rectangular container, cover with the lid, and gently shake it. Shake off the excess flour and move along. So much easier than regular dredging!

Add oil and 1 tablespoon of butter to hot pan. The butter will melt, then foam, then turn light brown. My pan was a wee bit too hot and the butter proceeded almost immediately to medium brown. It was a nuttier flavor and good, but not my intention.

Add fish to pan, flesh side down. Gently jiggle the pan to make sure there's not sticking. Cook until a golden crust forms on the fish, about 2 minutes. If the fat in the pan starts smoking around the edges, drop the heat a bit.

Using a slotted spatula or fish turner, flip the fish away from you and jiggle a little harder than before and cook another 2 minutes or until the meat facing up starts to flake or separate.

Remove fish to a plate. Add the remaining butter to the pan and when it melts, add the capers. Fry them for 30 seconds, then kill the heat and squeeze in the lemon juice. Swirl until sauce thickens slightly from the flour.

Pour the sauce over the salmon and garnish with parsley.

The one big benefit to this recipe as opposed to my old stand-by was how much faster it was. Oh, and who can say no to crispy salmon skin?

Recipes Complete: 1

Recipes to Go: 29