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With salmon, a popular choice of fish for home cooks, you can make dishes that look like the ones served at a restaurant. French chef Noboru Tani shares his recipe for salmon meuniere. The fried salmon has crispy skin and tender flesh, and the flavors of the butter and lemon are exquisite.
In home cooking, salmon is often cooked using a fish grill. “If you learn how to cook salmon in a pan, you will have more options when cooking,” Tani said. The important thing is to remove the smell from the fish and cook the skin until crispy, according to Tani.
The trick is to cover the salmon with a very thin layer of flour. “Flour helps lock in the savory flavor of the salmon,” he explained.
The Yomiuri Shimbun Pat the floured salmon between the palms of the hands.
If the salmon is covered with too much flour, it will absorb too much oil and the smell of the fish will be transferred to it. Pat the floured salmon between the palms of the hands to carefully shake off the excess.
When you fry the salmon, do not shake the pan but move the fish using tongs. First, cook the skin until crispy. Fat and water are released from the fish during the cooking process, so use the tongs to mop them up with paper towels to get rid of the smell.
Next, fry both sides of the fish. “Please make sure that oil is always in contact with the side facing down,” Tani said. Add a little more oil to the pan if necessary. Lift the salmon horizontally from the middle with the tongs; if it does not bend, it is cooked.
When cooking fish a la meuniere, it is often cooked in butter, but Tani uses olive oil. Cooking fish in oil is easier than in butter, which more easily burns. He prepares brown butter separately, skims it and pours that skimmed portion over the salmon. This method also allows the flavor of the butter to stand out.
Along with the vivid color of the salmon, the glaze and aroma of the butter is quite appetizing. The aroma of the lemon that is squeezed over the fried salmon adds a refreshing touch to the dish.
The Yomiuri Shimbun Variation of sauce ravigote that Tani prepares at his restaurant
Variation of ravigote sauce
The accompanying sauce is a variation of ravigote sauce, a lightly acidic sauce using chopped vegetables. Cook shallots with white wine and white wine vinegar until the liquid reduces. “The rich sourness and savory flavor of the ingredients is extracted,” Tani said.
He prepares the sauce in advance as a versatile accompaniment to many dishes at his restaurant. It can be mixed with a chopped boiled egg to be used as a tartar sauce.
The rich sour flavor is excellent when served on field mustard. If you put a little of the sauce on the salmon, it will make the taste of the dish more authentic.
Salmon meuniere
Ingredients (serves 2):
2 salmon fillets (100 grams each)
50 grams butter
1 domestically grown lemon
Field mustard to taste
20 grams cornichons (or pickles)
10 grams capers
20 grams shallot
50 milliliters white wine
15 milliliters white wine vinegar
A touch of chopped parsley and coarsely ground black pepper
Directions:
1. Sprinkle a small amount of salt over the salmon.
2. Finely dice the cornichons, capers and shallots.
3. Cook the shallots in the white wine and white wine vinegar in a small pot while stirring, until the liquid reduces.
4. Add the shallot mixture into a bowl with the cornichons, capers, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, parsley, coarsely ground black pepper, juice from 1/6 of the lemon and grated lemon zest.
5. Add the butter to a small pan and melt while shaking it. As soon as the butter browns and the bubbles, which had been growing smaller, disappear, turn off the heat and transfer it to another bowl. Wait for a moment before skimming the brown butter, reserving the skimmed portion.
6. Cover the salmon with a thin layer of flour. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil to another pan and heat. Using tongs, place the salmon in the pan skin-side down and fry until the skin becomes crispy. Remove the fat and water released from the salmon with paper towels and cook both sides of the salmon. Squeeze the rest of the lemon over the salmon and turn off the heat.
7. Transfer the salmon to a plate and pour the reserved portion of butter over it. Add boiled field mustard and the contents of the bowl with the shallots.
