A foolproof way to cook America’s favorite fresh fish
Summer is here in North America — and that means we have wild-caught fresh Alaska salmon in our markets. It’s the best-tasting salmon we’ll be able to buy all year.
This seasonal delight turns any meal into a feast. And it never fails to impress, because most people think cooking fish is difficult.
Almost everyone has a fish-cooking horror story. Fish fillets and steaks tend to be thin, so they cook fairly fast. That means there’s a fine line between almost raw, overcooked, and falling-apart flaky. And even if we cook the fish perfectly, the surface can sometimes get a bit too dry, particularly if we crank up the outdoor grill.
Enter poaching. When you cook fish in liquid, it remains moist and luscious. And because poaching provides gentle heat, you have a bit more leeway than with other cooking methods. So if the fish is finished a few minutes before the rest of dinner, no problem. A fatty fish like salmon can stay on hold (off heat) in its cooking liquid for a good 10 minutes.
And poaching is easy. If you can boil water, you can poach salmon. Really.
