As a person who is always looking to try new things, salmon meunière was one of the items at the top of my list as I welcomed this New Year. In making it, I have come across quite some lessons which have aided me in preparing the perfect dish. As such, I will delve into what tips you should have at hand first before moving on to how you can make salmon meunière that will have you licking your plate.
The place you buy your salmon determines the ease of preparation. Though you can generally pop in at any butcher shop and leave with nice beef steak, the same does not hold true when it comes to seafood.
For one, most stores do not scale the salmon properly, and you could find that your selection has pin bones. There are also cases where stores do not even out the salmon, and you end up buying an uneven piece that will have you struggling during preparation.
As such, you could end up slicing off quite a significant amount of your salmon which you cannot use for other purposes and thus you would undergo a loss. The best way to go about buying is to go to a reputable shop that deals with seafood. If you are unsure of how to double check for scaling and bone removal, take a friend with you or do some research on the same before purchase.
It will save you money and energy in the end. If you do not do this, you are better off investing in a sharp knife to help you even out the salmon. Even then, you will still count your losses.
How to Debone Salmon Steak
You could get a great supplier and still end up going home with a boned salmon. If this is the situation, there is an easy way out, and you need not fret about it. You could get it done, though it would be much less strenuous if you were to get the perfect cut from the start. Start by washing a pair of pliers with soap and hot water before rinsing them out with lots of water.
Start by applying pressure on the flesh and grasp the end of the pin bone. Carefully pull it out slowly to ensure that you do not rip the meat in the process. However, if you do tear it apart, this will not affect the preparation and will only alter the aesthetics.
If this is not an issue to you, rip away! Move from one end to the other, plucking out the bones as you move to ensure that none remains. On applying pressure to the steak along its length, you will feel if there are any bones in the fish.
You can now move on to preparation.
It could be that you are having a bad day and your fish still has some scales. In this situation, let the skin side face up and run a sharp knife blade down the fish. The scales will come off with ease. However, you should note that there is an easy way to avoid all these challenges and it involves choosing the right store.
Many are the times that I advise people to follow their hearts when it comes to recipes. If a recipe calls for ricotta cheese, the chances are high that I will try it out with an equivalent such as cottage cheese. Though this system works a lot with many recipes, this salmon recipe does not do well with tweaking, something which I came to realize over time.
First off, I tried the recipe the traditional way, and the results were terrific. True to my nature, I tried varying the ingredients and well, the results were not that good. As such, if you are the kind of person who loves to think out of the box when it comes to cooking, I will advise you to stick to the basic principles of this recipe to get the most out of it.
It won’t hurt and the standard way of making it is already amazing.
How to Make Salmon Meunière
This recipe serves two adults, and it takes an average of thirty to forty-five minutes. It is essential that you note that timing will affect how good your results are and as such, be sure to keep your eye on the clock at every stage.
For the salmon, you will require:
- 28 ounces of salmon
- Two tablespoons of kosher salt
- Two teaspoons of pepper
- Two tablespoons of oil
- One tablespoon of unsalted butter
- ¼ cup of flour
For the sauce, you will require:
- ¾ tablespoons of lemon juice
- Five tablespoons of unsalted butter
- Three tablespoons of chopped parsley leaves
One large smashed garlic clove
If you wish, there is another sauce variation that you can use for the salmon, and you will need:
- Two teaspoons of soy sauce
- Two teaspoons of sweet cooking rice wine
- One tablespoon of butter
- Two teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
Preparing this dish is relatively easy, and if you love salmon, you will love how tasty the result is. If you are not a fan, then your view on the same is about to change for good. There are many themes that you will put to use in this recipe, and they all have a benefit attached to them.
You will start off by taking the salmon out of the fridge, and you will let it warm up to room temperature for about half an hour. This process will make it easier for you to handle the fish and will also work in bringing out its flavors.
As it is warming up, you will commence pulling out the parsley leaves which is a pretty simple process. All you do is hold on to the stem and line up the parsley leaves with a knife before yanking the stem. In this way, you will remain with the leaves. You can also choose to remove the leaves one by one. Chop the parsley leaves into pieces. They do not have to be perfect, but if you wish to have regular sizes, you can pay attention to the cuts.
The goal at this point is to end up with a handful of parsley leaves.
If you are using fresh lemon in your recipe, cut the fruit into halves and squeeze some juice from them. All you need is a ¾ tablespoon. If you get more than this, you can use it for later cooking sessions. You can also opt to squeeze juice from one half and refrigerate the other, depending on the size of the lemon.
Some people opt to use garlic smashers, but if you do not have this at hand, there is an easy way to do it. Place a knife on the clove and smash your hand on top of the blade. When doing this, some precautions are essential. There are cases where people have opted to crash the knife down, and this can lead to severe cuts in the event of a wrong move. You should also not use the edge of a blade as this too can have disastrous results. When the clove is in a smashed condition, removing its skin is pretty easy, and it will then be ready for use.
When the salmon has been at room temperature for at least half an hour, you can get started on cooking it. Start by patting it dry before seasoning it with some pepper and kosher salt. Next, place a pan on medium fire and add some oil to it. Once the pan is hot, throw in some butter. You should be very careful when doing so as butter tends to splatter owing to its water content.
Wait a while until the splattering comes to an end. During this time, spread some flour out on a flat surface and dip the salmon in such that you completely cover it. The importance of this process is to enable you to get a crispy finish on the skin. If you do this too early, the fish will soak up the water, and thus the frying won’t be as good as you would expect. Therefore, the best time to perform the dipping is seconds after the butter calms down. In this way, you can coat the fish and immediately dip it in the butter.
When adding the fish to the pan, ensure that the skin lies at the bottom and that the salmon is lying away from you. In this way, oil splatters will not come your way. You should be around during cooking to ensure that you do not overcook the fish. Let the salmon cook on this side for three to five minutes and then flip it to the other side for three to four minutes. If you have trouble estimating time, it is best that you use a watch. Remove it from the pan and place it on a plate before covering it with foil. You should be very alert for this next part as it determines how crispy your salmon is at the end.
Pour out the oil in a container that is heat tolerant before wiping the inside of the pan. It is vital that you take safety measures while doing this and you could wear a heavy-duty mitt or other material that can keep you safe. The importance of wiping is to ensure that no old mixture remains as this is likely to burn and affect the results.
Add butter and smashed garlic to the pan and give it time to melt and cook. This process should take about three minutes, and the result will be a brown mixture which smells divine. You can now remove the pan from the heat. Combine lemon and parsley into the mix. There is likely to be splatter at this stage so be sure to exercise caution. You can now uncover the fish and pour the sauce on it.
Serve immediately and enjoy this delicious meal.
If you choose to use the alternative sauce, the process is the same. You will start off by wiping the pan on the inside and pouring in the sauce components. Within three minutes, you should be ready to pour the sauce over your fish and enjoy it. You can garnish it with some leaf lettuce and cherry tomatoes to your desired amount for that beautiful finish. These meunière sauce recipes will both result in tasty salmon.
On a Lighter Note
Gamers who hear of salmon meunière will immediately think of Breath of the Wild where this food originated. In the game, users get to prepare this dish over a cooking pot, and there are specific ingredients which one must use to be successful in making it, much like the dish we created above. When you use the recipe as given, you come up with a hearty salmon meunière.
However, if you choose to be creative in the game, you end up with the standard salmon meunière. To make this dish in the game, you require having at least one hearty salmon, one or more tabantha wheat pieces and one or more pieces of goat butter.
Meunière could either mean a mode of preparation or could be used to refer to a sauce, which depends on the context in which people use it. In this case, it relates to the dipping of the salmon in flour before cooking it as well as the making of sauce using butter, lemon and parsley.
Whether you are making salmon meunière in the Breath of the Wild or you are preparing a nice meal for your loved ones, the key lies in following the ingredients to the letter, and it will indeed be a hearty meal. Thank you for reading through my recipe and be sure to take note of the stated tips. Get set to enjoy mind-blowing salmon meunière!
