Sous Vide Salmon

Fish can be difficult to get right. Cook it too long and it gets dried or rubbery. Cook it too little and it could make you sick. Getting perfect fish at a restaurant is hit-or-miss; in my experience it's typically overcooked.

With this recipe you can get perfect salmon every time.

Note: for convenience, the temperatures in this recipe are already set 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) above the desired internal temperature of the salmon. Also, this recipe is tuned for salmon. Different kinds of fish need different temperatures to cook properly.

Tools

• Sous vide cooker: this is essential, my cooker looks like a crock pot, but any kind will work
• Zip-top bags: name-brand will be better; off-brand may leak which results in lost flavor
• Spatula
• Frying pan
• Spatter guard (optional)
• Spoon

Ingredients

• Salmon: I prefer the farmed Atlantic Salmon from Costco
• Salt
• Mild-flavored oil: I use a refined coconut oil which is liquid at room temperature
• Cooking Oil: I use extra virgin olive oil for my salmon and butter for Pineapple's

Directions

1. Start heating the sous vide to 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47 degrees Celsius)
2. Cut salmon into portions
3. Place salmon portions in separate zip-top bags
1. If you have too many portions, just seal the excess bags and place them in the freezer
2. For the frozen portions, you can resume on the next step whenever you are ready to cook them
4. Add some of the mild-flavored oil to each bag
5. Drive out the air from the salmon-and-oil-filled zip-top bags by submerging all but the zipper in water 
1. The oil is there to fill in the gaps instead of leaving bubbles next to the fish
6. Seal the zip-top bag
7. Submerge the sealed bag in the sous vide
8. Once the sous vide is up to temperature, set a timer for 25 minutes (45 minutes if the salmon is frozen)
9. When the timer is finished, remove the zip-top bag from the cooker
10. Add 1-2 tablespoons of cooking oil/butter to the frying pan 
11. Heat the pan to medium
12. Using the spatula, transfer the fish to the pan
13. Sear for 30-45 seconds (30 for butter, 45 for olive oil)
14. Flip and sear the flip side for 30-45 seconds
1. Spoon the oil/butter on top of the salmon for the rest of this sear
15. Transfer the fish to a plate
16. Salt to taste
17. Enjoy!

Notes

This recipe is adapted from "Modernist Cuisine at Home". The original recipe calls for soaking the salmon in a salty brine for 3-4 hours which helps firm up the salmon. However, I often do not have the flexibility to soak the salmon before cooking it.

Regardless, this recipe will produce a moist, flavorful, firm salmon with a crunchy crust every time.

Butter

Although I cannot consume butter as part of my diet, pineapple can, and so can many other people I cook for. I like the texture of the fish when I cook it with olive oil, but I do enjoy the aroma as I cook with butter.

I've found that the quality of the butter matters a lot. Some butter generated complaints (I don't know what brand, but I think it may have started to turn), others gather no responses, while still others elicit compliments.

The best butter I've found so far is Kerrygold salted butter. It's from grass-fed cows and I can tell just from the smells during cooking that it has more flavor (and thus more nutrients). Even my most-sensitive eaters enjoy salmon seared in this butter.