When the usual kebabs have already become boring, try to cook non-grilled salmon. You will not regret!
Having chosen a beautiful back or a steak or fillet, we carry the fish more likely home, to the kitchen, on the way thinking about how best to cook and serve it. You can’t lose time so that you don’t have time to defrost: salmon are more often sold frozen, no fish tolerate repeated freezing.
Grilled salmon - basic technological principles
As a rule, salmon are sold frozen, having gone through all the preliminary stages of cleaning. The only things you need to pay attention to when buying it are the dates and quality of the packaging. If the fish fillet is barely noticeable under a layer of hoarfrost, do not hesitate to go to another store, because this fish has been frozen more than once: most likely, only fish cakes or meatballs will be successful from such a fillet. For grilling, you need fish only with elastic flesh, which after thawing does not fall apart in your hands at the slightest touch.
In the process of defrosting, do not put fish under a stream of hot water, do not try to place it closer to the stove, but rather, put it in the refrigerator by unrolling and putting it in a container with a lid.
For reinsurance, if nevertheless, the fish was subjected to repeated freezing, and this was not found when buying it, immediately prepare the marinade, which must necessarily contain acid, at least 15%.
Salmon is one of the best varieties of fish. Its advantage lies not only in its valuable biochemical composition, but also in the convenience of cooking. It does not have a pronounced, unpleasant smell of fish - salmon can be fried even without any marinade. Long exposure in the marinade is needed only if it is necessary to achieve some special taste.
Experienced culinary experts unanimously advise choose the most dense part of the carcass for grilling - the back. Based on this, we can confidently add that it is better to choose large salmon carcasses for grilling: the larger the fish, the older it is, and it follows that the meat of older individuals is denser. True, a reservation must be made right there: old individuals are less fat, but this can easily be fixed by adding vegetable oil to the marinade.
If the fish is grilled with the skin, don't forget to make skin incisions. This technique will speed up the pickling process, and when frying, when the skin begins to shrink under the influence of temperature, the notches will help maintain a beautiful, even shape.
You can fry fish in the temperature range from 150 ° C to 180 ° C. Depending on temperature, varies frying time from 8 to 15 minutes, with a piece thickness of not more than 2.0-2.5 cm.
To get a good degree of frying, do not forget to remove excess liquid after pickling, so that moisture does not create the effect of steaming. Although, this fish does not have a crisp: the salmon has thick and rather hard skin, which is most often removed before frying, and the flesh will crack only if it is breaded. But the fish in the dough - no place on the grill. These are other recipes.
As for the taste combinations, everyone has different tastes. But as an example, just in case, look at a few recipes.
1. Grilled salmon in coconut milk with ginger and curry
Ingredients:
Salmon fillet 4 pcs. 180 g each
Green onion 120 g
Curry
Ginger
Garlic
Lime or lemon (juice) 150 ml
Coriander (cilantro)
Salt
Butter or sesame oil 80 g
Coconut milk 0.4 L
Chopped greens and fried sesame seeds - for serving
Cooking:
Ginger root and garlic grate on a fine grater. Add chopped onion, chopped cilantro, spices. Pour the cooked pasta with juice and coconut milk. Salt.
Lay slices of fillet on prepared sheets of foil, greasing each of them with marinade. In foil, add a piece of oil to each serving. Seal the fish tightly in the foil. Soak in the marinade for at least five hours. Bake fish in the same foil: at 150 ° С - 15-20 minutes, at 180 ° С - 10 minutes.
Garnish the finished fillet with fresh cilantro and roasted sesame seeds.
2. Grilled salmon - fried steaks
Ingredients:
Salmon (steaks) 2 pcs. 250 g each
Lemon 1 ½ pcs.
Salt 25 g
Sugar 40 g
Ground pepper
Olive oil
Dill
Cooking:
Make a marinade from lemon juice, chopped dill, salt and sugar and pepper. Process prepared steaks: make fish cuts on the skin of a fish with a knife so that during frying, when the skin is tight, the steaks do not deform. Rub each serving with marinade, pour the remainder of which into a plastic bag and put the fish there. Seal tightly. Marinate for at least 5 hours. Can be left overnight.
Dry the fish with a napkin before frying, grate with olive oil on top. Fry at 180 ° C, 3 minutes on each side. Transfer to a saucepan, cover for 5 minutes to make the fish ripen. Garnish with sprigs of dill, a slice of lemon. Olives or olives, pickled cheese, avocado and cherry are very suitable for a side dish.
3. Grilled salmon in soy sauce with pickled ginger
The "noble manners" of salmon facilitate the process of its preparation. She does not hide in impassable and muddy thickets of the river, but prefers the mouth of the cleanest rivers, clear and cool sea water. Therefore, the smell of this fish does not cause horror among the cook, and does not bother gourmets. To enhance the flavor of any dish, soy sauce, which plays the role of a catalyst, will help.
Ingredients:
Salmon fillet 400 g
Soy sauce 100 ml
Lemon ½ pcs.
Vegetable oil 70 ml
Pickled Ginger 150 g
Chives 50 g
Avocado 1 pc.
Spices and herbs (cilantro, parsley)
Vinegar
Sugar
Cooking:
The secret of this salmon marinade is the simplest and most refined. Add a pinch of sugar to the soy sauce. Portion slices of salmon grate with a mixture of lemon juice and soy sauce. Keep the fish in a closed container for at least two hours. Dry, coat with oil and fry at 180 ° C, 3-4 minutes on both sides.
To the baked fish, serve a side dish of pickled ginger, green onions, previously aged together with sliced avocado in a marinade of chopped herbs, wine vinegar and sugar.
Such fish can be served differently: with shrimp in batter and fresh vegetables, with yogurt-based sauce or cream cheese, with french fries or rice.
4. Grilled salmon with vegetables and spicy tomato sauce
Salmon is a fish that does not need to be accompanied in the form of a side dish, but it goes well with vegetable sauces, although they somewhat mask its noble smell. Spicy tomato sauce is perfect for this fish, but at the same time it will justify the presence of the simplest vegetables baked next to the noble grilled fish.
Ingredients:
Vegetables - 300 g each:
Lettuce (slices)
Carrots (circles)
Eggplant
Onion
Gooseberry jam
Salt
Salmon back 800 g
Allspice
Sugar
Salt
Wine, dry white 150 ml
Oil 50 ml
Nutmeg
For the sauce:
Mashed Tomato 450 g
Chile
Green hot pepper
Celery root
Red raisins 200 g
Cilantro
Basil
Garlic
Clove
Sesame oil 100 ml
Cooking:
First, pickle the fish: put the prepared portioned pieces (4 pcs.) In a container. Add wine mixed with oil, ground nutmeg, Jamaican pepper, sugar, salt. Add all the spices to taste, but be aware that after cooking, their severity will decrease slightly. Seal the fish with foil and put it in the cold.
Transfer the finished tomato puree to a pan or stewpan. Add oil, chili, ground cloves. Boil over low heat for about five minutes. Grind green pepper, garlic and part of the leaves of cilantro and basil into a paste using a blender. Add the resulting paste to tomato puree, let it boil. Remove the sauce from the stove and refrigerate.
Pat the fish with a napkin, cover with fat. Sliced sliced vegetables with jam, adding a little salt. Fry fish and glazed vegetables on a wire rack. Serve with the sauce.
5. Grilled salmon in lemon marinade with rosemary
Ingredients:
Back of salted salmon 600 g (3 servings)
Milk 0.5 L
Lemon fresh 150 ml
Rosemary (fresh leaves) 90 g
Sugar 30 g
Allspice
Butter
Cooking:
Wash the fish, soak in milk to remove excess salt. Rinse again in cold boiled water and marinate in a mixture of lemon juice, chopped rosemary, crushed peas, allspice. Add a pinch of sugar. Put the fish in the marinade in the refrigerator.
After five hours, wrap each serving in a foil well-oiled with butter and bake.
6. Grilled salmon in honey teriyaki
Ingredients:
Honey 50 g
Large orange 1 pc.
Ginger 70 g
Soy sauce 150 ml
Water 200 ml
Corn Starch 10 g
Salmon fillet 1.0 kg
Cooking method:
Dilute starch in cold water, add soy sauce and honey. Cook over low heat, with continuous stirring, until the sauce acquires the consistency of thick sour cream. Cool it to room temperature.
Place the prepared fillet on a sheet of foil. Place slices of orange and chopped ginger on top and under the fish. Pour the sauce and seal. Let the fish stand for a couple of hours so that it can be saturated with aroma. Keep it on the top shelf of the refrigerator.
Bake in foil.
Grilled salmon - cooking tips
- Cooking red fish on an open fire is easy and difficult at the same time. Accompaniment for red fish, you can choose the simplest, but as for the temperature regime during frying, in this matter you must be careful and pay utmost attention so as not to dry the fillet. Salmon fish has an average degree of fat content, which, moreover, also varies depending on the catch season, the age of the individual, etc. In order not to spoil the steak when baking, do not rush to send it to the fire. The baking temperature of the fish should not be higher than 40-50 ° C.
- Lubricate the surface of the steak or fillet with vegetable oil to keep the juice inside the piece during the frying process.
- After removing the hot fish from the heat, immediately wrap it with foil, putting a piece of fresh butter inside. This will give the fish a delicate creamy taste. Fried butter creates a pleasant nutty flavor. Fish and dairy products interact very well.
