No need to have several Michelin stars to cook salmon to perfection. And even if the method of the day is shared by a starred chef, you will be perfectly able to reproduce it simply and without any specialized equipment at home. The secret? A pan, parchment paper and a lid. In just three minutes and off the heat, your salmon will be cooked through and will be perfectly pink and tender. You won’t even need a thermometer to check the temperature! So follow Stéphanie Le Quellec’s advice for a “magnificent mid-cook” of salmon. We promise you’ll be amazed!
Turn off the heat before cooking: a move you might not have thought of
The first reflex to drop to obtain a nice pink-cooked salmon is to keep the pan on the heat from start to finish. “I heat a pan to white heat on high, then I turn off the heat“, explains the chef. Once the pan is very hot, there’s no need for flame anymore, “it’s the inertia of the pan’s heat that will in 3 minutes cook the salmon“. A principle that immediately reassures the less experienced behind the stoves, since it completely eliminates the risk of overcooking linked to too-strong heat or a few seconds of inattention.
A precise cut and arrangement, before even lighting the pan
Everything starts with the preparation of the fish. The salmon is cut into thick slices (about two centimeters), across the width of the fillet, then placed on a sheet of parchment simply brushed with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkled with salt. The other detail that matters is to place the salmon slices tightly, pressed against each other. This compact arrangement guarantees even heat diffusion, so that each piece cooks at the same rate without any one of them overheating or cooling faster than another.
Parchment paper: a shield against drying out
It is parchment paper, not the pan itself, that welcomes the salmon slices once the heat is off. The fish never touches the hot metal! The heat reaches it indirectly and progressively. This is why the flesh remains just as fluffy and pink, far from the dry salmon that one often gets when it is placed directly in contact with the pan’s heat.
Two-step cooking, for a “little oven” effect
The cooking sequence lasts only a few seconds. The first minute is done uncovered, as the residual heat starts its work. “After one minute, I cover and let it go for two more minutes, three minutes in total,” specifies Stéphanie Le Quellec. By covering, she recreates what she calls a “kind of tiny inertia, a small oven that will gently raise the temperature inside the fish” while keeping it pink and tender.
A result that changes everything
For a stress-free half-cooked result, this method is foolproof! “We really get a magnificent half-cook,” says the starred chef. A pearly, tender texture, obtained without a thermometer, without constant monitoring, and above all, without fear of completely missing the salmon’s doneness. This could transform a weeknight dinner into a plate worthy of a fine restaurant in record time and with no particular skill required! Feel free to serve your salmon as is or with a delicate herb sauce, for example.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Stephanie Le Quellec (@steflequellec)
