America's Test Kitchen (2000–…): Season 21, Episode 15 - Salmon Steaks Done Right - full transcript

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-Welcome to "America's
Test Kitchen" at home.

Today, I'm making perfect pan
seared salmon steaks.

Jack is going to talk
to us all about salt.

Adam has a roundup
of the best seafood tools,

and last but not least,

Erin is going to make
a Brussels sprouts salad.



You got a lot going on today,
so stick around.

♪♪

-I love serving salmon when
company is coming for dinner

because it's elegant
and everybody likes it,

and I especially love
serving salmon steaks

because they're cool and also
they have two flesh sides,

so you get a lot
of good browning.

But the problem
with salmon steaks

is this bone in the middle

and all the pin bones
that radiate out from it.

We're going to solve that today
by getting rid of those bones

before we start cooking,

but first, we're going
to brine the fish.

I know brining fish is a little
unusual, but it does two things.



First, it changes
the protein structure

so that the protein strands
actually hang on to moisture.

That means more moist fish.

The second thing it does
is it prevents that ugly albumin

from leaching out
during cooking,

so the salmon will be a looker.

First up, we have some water.

This is two quarts of water.

To this,
we're going to add

a quarter cup of table salt.

And if you're using kosher salt,
be sure to double that amount

because table salt and kosher
salt do not measure the same

because their crystal sizes
are different.

Alright,
be sure to whisk the salt in

to make sure it's dissolved.

Alright,
now here are the salmon

and they're beautiful.

Each of these are between eight

and 10 ounces each,
three quarters of an inch thick,

and you can see
they're all about the same size

so that they'll cook
at the same rate.

Now, this brine
is a quick brine.

There's no need to find room
for this in the fridge.

You can just let this
sit on the counter

and it's just going
to take about 15 minutes.

Well, that salmon
is sitting in the brine,

I'm gonna whip up a quick sauce.

I'm going to make
a tarragon chimichurri.

A chimichurri is simply a fresh
herb sauce pulled together

with a little either vinegar or
lemon juice and some olive oil.

So today I'm going to use
a base of parsley,

and I'm going to need about
half a cup of parsley.

And of course,
I washed this already,

but I'm going to show you
a quick trick.

You can gather
all the parsley up,

and then you take your knife,

and you shave,

and the knife just
grabs the leaves.

You get some stems in there,
not too bad,

and you just shave
the parsley off,

and then you're halfway there.

Just pull out
some of the bigger stems,

and the parsley stems taste
a bit bitter,

so you don't want
to include them.

There you go.
Nice, easy way to prep parsley.

So, I'm gonna gather
these together,

gonna give it a rough chop.

Alright.
So that's the parsley.

Moving on, we're going
to add some tarragon.

Just going to need
about two tablespoons.

Into the bowl this goes.
Alright.

Now, we're going to add
some olive oil.

You want about a quarter cup
of olive oil.

Alright. We're going to add
a little white wine vinegar.

But again, if you wanted
to vary this,

champagne vinegar is nice.

Also, lemon juice is nice.

Just a little bit of crushed
red pepper flakes,

you know, an eighth
or a quarter of a teaspoon.

I like to have it
a little spicy,

and salt and pepper.

Moving on, we're going
to add the garlic.

Now, having that bright,
raw flavor of garlic

is just lovely in a chimichurri.

Let's give this a little taste,

and see if it needs
any more salt or pepper.

Mmm. It's going to be killer
with the salmon.

It's good to go.
Alright.

So, now I'm going to
take it out of this mixing bowl.

Just put it in a nicer looking
bowl, because it's for company.

♪♪

So, the fish is out
of the brine,

and now we're going to
pat it dry with towels.

Make sure all that excess
moisture is off the salmon,

because that'll prevent
browning in the skillet.

Time to work
on those pesky bones.

So you see there's this
big bone in the center

and this line of cartilage
going up to the top.

What we're going to do is
we're going to start at the top

on one side of that line
of cartilage

using a paring knife.

You could also use
a boning knife.

But a small knife works best

because
it's just a bit more agile.

You're going to go
around that bone.

You might feel some pin bones.

You can just kind
of jump over those,

and then you're going to go down
the inside of the skin

on the inside
of this salmon steak.

You're just going
to gently free it.

So that's one side.

We'll do the same
on the other side.

Just take a pair of kitchen
shears or poultry shears,

and you can just snip out
that center piece,

and there you have it.
So now the big bones are out.

Time to go in and look
for any little pin bones

that have been left behind.

Sometimes you get a lot,
sometimes you get none.

It really depends on
the piece of salmon.

Feels pretty good. I feel
one there and one on the side.

And this is a pair
of fish tweezers.

They're pretty inexpensive
and easy to find,

worth having in your drawer.

If you don't have them,
a good pair of needle nose

pliers will work well.

And if you find the bone,
just grab it, pull it out.

Alright, I don't feel
any more pin bones in there.

That's good. Alright.

So now what we're going to do
is we're going to tie this up.

So it's a nice even piece
of salmon

that'll cook at the same rate,

and we're going to
make it look pretty.

So what I'm going to do is
I'm going to cut away the skin

on one of these lengths
on the side,

about one half inches or so.

No need to trim
too much of it away.

Alright.

Now, what we're gonna do is
we're going to tuck this piece

into the center of the salmon.

I'm going to wrap
this other tail right around

so the skin will mostly line up,

and then you have a nice
even piece of salmon to cook.

So we're just going to secure
this with some kitchen twine.

And for that first knot,
I like to do a double knot

because that'll help
that twine stay in place,

then it holds so you can get
a nice tight second knot.

And there you go.

One down, three to go.

Alright.
So now it's time to get cooking.

And I have the salmon
all laid out here.

We're just going to season it
with some salt and pepper.

Let's get the second side here.

Now, one last trick
before we start cooking

is that we're going to dust
the salmon in cornstarch.

That's going to make
a nice crust,

and it'll prevent things
from scorching in the pan.

So what I have here
is some cornstarch.

It's just in a pie plate.
You can use any sort of plate.

We're going to hit both sides
of the salmon,

and then you want to brush off
any extra

with a pastry brush.

Handle these gently
when they're raw.

They'll firm up as they cook,
but right now,

you want them
to keep that nice shape.

Alright.
Just a thin layer.

So these are ready
for the skillet.

Over here, I have a 12-inch
non-stick skillet,

and I have two tablespoons
of vegetable oil in there.

I'm heating this up
over medium high heat.

We're going to get it really hot
just until it starts to shimmer.

So now I'm going to gently
lay the salmon in the pan.

And then, as always, when you
lay something in a hot pan,

put the front side down
and then lay the rest away.

That way, if any waves
of hot oil happen,

they happen to the back
of the pan, not towards you.

Now, the salmon will cook
pretty quickly,

about three minutes
on each side,

but the magic temperature we're
going for is 125.

And yes, I'm going to use
an instant read thermometer.

That way you can tell each piece
of salmon is perfectly done.

And again,
if some are different sizes,

they might come out of the pan
sooner than others.

That way, everyone has a perfect
piece of fish.

It's been about three minutes
on that first side,

and they look beautiful.

About three more minutes
on the second side.

So it's been
about three minutes

on the second side.

Again, we're looking for
about 125 right in the center.

That one's perfect.
Alright.

So this one's coming out.

You can see there just
a little bit

of that white albumin
came out on the side.

Very often when you cook salmon,
you get a lot of that.

You can see there just
a little bit this time

thanks to the brining.

Alright, I'm going to give it
a quick pat on the paper towels

just to drain off any grease so
it doesn't get on the platter.

That's one.

And yeah, I'm going
to temp each one

because I want everyone to have
a perfect piece of salmon.

I'm going to take a little bit
of this chimichurri.

I'm just going to put a little
right in the center

of each piece of salmon.

Use a pair of kitchen scissors.

You just peel off the twine.

So there we have it.

Time to give this salmon
a taste.

Mmm.

A little extra chimichurri,
because I can,

and a little squeeze of lemon.

Oh.

Beautifully cooked
all the way through.

Nice and even,

and still juicy.

Mmm, that's good.

That's how I like
to cook salmon.

so if you want to make the
perfect pan seared salmon steak,

start by brining the fish
for just 15 minutes,

then cut out the bones and tie
the pieces of salmon up

for even cooking.

And last but not least,
cook the salmon

till it registers
just 125 degrees.

From "America's Test Kitchen"
at home,

the perfect recipe for
pan seared salmon steaks

with a tarragon chimichurri.

♪♪

-Is there anything
more important

to your cooking than salt?

I don't think so,
so if you don't understand it,

you're in for trouble.

I'm here to help.

Let's start
with the three different

choices that you have.

At the very top level,
you can choose either

table salt, kosher salt
or sea salt.

Let's dig in.

So, I've got
table salt over here.

All the brands
are pretty much the same.

They all contain an additive
that prevents caking.

Some of them
also have some iodine.

The iodine is to address
nutritional deficiencies.

They're less of an issue today
in the United States,

but can be an issue elsewhere.

The thing about table salt
is it's very fine.

It's very regular.

I find it a little difficult
to work with by hand.

You often get sort
of salty spots.

Next up, we have kosher salt.

So this is like table salt,

typically pumped up
from underground salt mines.

It's ancient oceans
that have evaporated

and there's salt
underneath the earth.

They send water down,
they pump up a brine.

What's different here is that
they rake the brine as it dries

so that the crystals
are more irregular.

They're actually kind of large,

and they're not
all the same size.

If you look under a microscope,
you'll see that these are

really quite different
from each other,

as opposed to the table salt,
which is very uniform.

But the other thing
is there's no additives here,

so this is just salt.

No anticaking,
and there's no iodine.

It breaks apart more easily
in my hands.

It's less likely to stick
to my fingers

when it comes
to sprinkling over food,

because I like
to cook with my hands

rather than measuring spoons.

For everyday use,

I'm using the kosher salt
more often than not.

And there are these two choices
in the supermarket,

Diamond Crystal and Morton,

and they're surprisingly
different.

I'm going to pick up the Morton.

They're a little bigger.
They're actually harder.

That you're not going to see,
but you can definitely

feel that as you're cooking.

And the reason
why it makes a difference

is it's a little
harder to crush,

and it's also a little harder
on the tongue.

The Diamond Crystal kind of
has little hollow crystals

that almost melt in your mouth.

So, in addition,
there's sea salt,

and you guessed it,

this actually comes
from the ocean.

Now, these vary a lot.
They can be really fine.

They can be really coarse.
This is my favorite.

This is an English sea salt.
It's called Maldon.

And you can see
the crystal size.

Look at the size of this one.
It's really irregular.

These are finishing salts.

No matter the sea salt,

you shouldn't be putting this
in a pot of pasta water

because it's really expensive,

and honestly, you're just
pouring money down the drain.

So these are finishing salts
for the table,

and I like the big crystals.

I mean, look, you can really see
on the tomato the varying sizes.

And so anything
that you're serving, fish,

chicken, meat, vegetables,
at the table

put a bowl
of delicious sea salt.

So, throughout all of this,

the most important thing
is for you to understand

that these measure
really differently

and whether you're measuring
with your hands or a spoon,

this is really, really important
because the crystal size varies.

You get more or less salt
in your hands or in a spoon.

The good news is table salt
all measures the same.

So a teaspoon of this

is always going to be
a teaspoon no matter the brand.

Now, it gets a little bit
more complicated

when you're trying
to substitute for kosher.

You need two teaspoons
of the Diamond Crystal

in order to equal
one teaspoon of table salt

and to have
the same weight of salt.

The Morton is in between.

You need one and a half
teaspoons of Morton kosher

in order to have the equivalent
of one teaspoon of table salt.

This matters because you don't
want to end up with food

that's either under
or oversalted.

And if math isn't your thing,
just go slow with the salt.

Add a little, taste.

You can always add more,
and that's the most

important thing
I want you to remember

when you're cooking at home.

♪♪

-My "Test Kitchen" compatriots
and I live

in coastal New England,

and this is
a seafood lover's paradise.

Here's some of the equipment
you're going to need

to prep fish and shellfish.

Now, it's always best
to keep fish on ice.

So if it's going to be a little
while between getting home

and cooking your fish,

you'll want a container
that can store the ice

and the fish together
and do it neatly.

These are Cambro
dry storage containers.

This one is
the six-quart size.

We actually use this for dry
storage like flour or sugar,

but it's also great for storing
ice and fish together.

And this one is
the 12-quart size.

They come in a wide
range of sizes,

and the prices do vary.

When we bought this,
it was about $7,

but you'll want to check prices
before you go ahead and buy one.

Now, when you're going
to cook fresh lobsters,

you need a large pot
to do it in.

We've tested
12-quart stock pots,

and this is our favorite.

This is the Cook N Home
stainless steel stockpot

with lid in the 12-quart size.

It's $45,
and testers liked it

for a few different reasons.

Number one,
it's fairly light,

so it's easy to lift up,

and that's important
if you're going to have

a pot full of soup or stock.

Also, these handles
are really generous.

They're big wide loops.

They have a rubber coating,
so they're easy to grab.

It makes it easy to pick up
the pot and pour from it.

Okay, your lobsters are cooked.

Now you're going to want
to get through the shells.

A lot of people
use crackers for that.

We actually prefer these.

These are the RSVP International
Endurance Seafood Scissors.

They're about $15.

You can see that the blade
is narrow and arched.

It's also got micro serrations
on the cutting edge,

which made it really effective
for tough shells

and delicate shells.

We're going to try it
on this lobster.

First, we're going
to cut through

the top of the tail like so,

then we're going to cut through
the other side of the tail.

And this is why
we like that arch,

because it follows
the contour of the tail,

and then you can just
break it open like that

and out comes
your lobster tail intact.

Now, a personal favorite,
fresh oysters.

If you're going to buy oysters
and open them at home,

please do not use
a regular knife.

They're too sharp
and they're too flexible.

You could really
hurt yourself with that.

A dedicated oyster knife
is just the opposite.

The blade is rigid,
it's thick and it's dull.

This, by the way,
is our favorite oyster knife.

This is the R. Murphy New Haven
style oyster knife

with a stainless steel blade.

It's $27.

You cannot go wrong
with this oyster knife.

You always want
to protect your hand,

so you fold a dish towel
over it,

but leave the pointed end out

because that's the part
you're going to work with.

That's called the hinge.

You work it in,
and when you feel it catch,

twist it and that will pop off
the top of the oyster shell.

Then you can take
the blade of the knife,

and just drag it along the top
to release the oyster.

You can do the same thing
on the bottom,

that will release the oyster
from the bottom shell,

and then you're ready to go.

You get a squeeze of lemon
or a hit of hot sauce,

if that's what you want
or a mignonette.

And cheers, you have your oyster
ready to go.

♪♪

-I am part Brussels sprouts.
I'm convinced of it.

I eat them
pretty much year round,

whether it's in salads
or roasted or fried

or in hash, in a pasta.

You name it, I eat it.
I love them.

Today, I'm going to show you how
to make Brussels sprout salad

with a warm mustard
vinaigrette,

and we're going to start
with the vinaigrette.

I'm going to start off
with measuring out

five tablespoons
of white wine vinegar,

and then a tablespoon
of grainy mustard.

I always dip
and sweep everything.

Grainy mustard
can be pretty potent,

so you want to make sure
you only add a tablespoon,

and then I'm going to add
a teaspoon of sugar,

and a quarter teaspoon of salt.

And now I'm just going
to whisk this together.

This is the base
of my vinaigrette.

There's more to come.

So now I'm going
to add a shallot,

so I'm going to thinly
slice a shallot.

Just cut off both ends.

Cut it in half,
and then it's easy to peel.

Sometimes there's
a couple of lobes in a shallot.

You cut it in half, and I'm
going to cut it crosswise.

Hold on to it
at the root end.

I'm just going
to thinly slice it.

I'm using the claw, so I'm
holding on to the shallot

so it doesn't move,
and I'm using my middle knuckle

to guide my knife.

So now we have our shallots.

I'm going to add them
to my vinaigrette base.

Now, I'm going to add apricots.

The apricots
add a nice sweetness.

So I'm going to add a quarter
cup of chopped apricots.

Add this to our vinegar mixture
with the shallots.

I'm just going to
stir that together

so everything
is thoroughly combined

and the shallots
are as submerged as possible.

Okay, so everything
is now submerged.

What I'm going to do now
is I'm going to microwave

this 30 to 45 seconds
until it starts to steam.

What I'm doing is making
a quick pickle of the shallots.

They're going to heat up
in the vinegar

and they're going to absorb
some of the acid,

give the salad a little
more dimension.

♪♪

So, that took about 45 seconds.

As you can see, it's steaming,

and I'm just going
to give it another quick stir.

I'm just making sure
that all the shallots

are submerged
in the vinegar mixture.

Put this aside to cool
for about 15 minutes.

Okay, now it's time to prep
the star of the show,

and that is Brussels sprouts.

I have one and a half pounds
of Brussels sprouts,

and they're about one to two
inches in diameter.

They're about the size
of a golf ball.

Because I have so many
Brussels sprouts to prep,

I'm going to do it
assembly line style.

I'm going to trim off the ends
and cut each one in half,

and I'm going to do that
for all of them.

And the outer leaves are going

to fall off as I go.
That's okay.

This is a little faster
than prepping each one fully.

Now, I'm going to go
through each Brussels sprout

and peel off
any tough outer leaves,

and a lot of times,
they just pop right off.

You really want to peel them off

until you get down
to the lighter green,

and that's usually
taking off one

to two layers
of the outer leaves.

If you don't remove them,
they will have that tough,

chewy texture to them,
which we don't want.

Okay, so this is the final step.

Because we're eating this raw,

it's really important
to tenderize them

as much as possible
by slicing them very thinly.

That's going to be a big step
in making them more tender.

I'm going use my claw and just
run the knife right through it.

I'm holding on to the root end,
and I'm basically shredding it.

I'm going to continue to prep
the rest of these Brussels

sprouts before
we can go on to the next step.

You might have noticed
that I didn't add any oil

to our vinaigrette.

This is where the oil comes in.

I'm going to start with five
tablespoons of vegetable oil.

I'm going to add it
to a 12-inch non-stick skillet,

turn the heat on to medium,
and we're going to heat the pan

and the oil until the oil
starts to shimmer.

So typical ratio of vinaigrette

is three parts fat
to one part acid.

What we're doing here
is we're kicking it up.

We're increasing
the amount of acid,

and we're turning this
into a ratio of 1:1,

so one part acid
to one part fat.

And the reason that
we're doing that here

is because Brussels sprouts

are very pungent,
they're very strong,

and they need a vinaigrette
that can stand up to it.

So adding more acid
is going to really help

to kind of cut
through that pungency

and it's going to make
the perfect balanced salad.

Okay, our oil is shimmering.

I'm going to add
a third of a cup

of chopped shelled pistachios.

Pistachios are going to actually
infuse some of their flavor

into the oil, which is going
to add to our vinaigrette.

This is going to take
about one to two minutes.

I'm starting to see them
get nice and brown.

This is as far
as I'm going to take it.

Let's go and finish
off the salad.

Okay.

So, now we're going to take
the heat that's in the pan.

First, I'm going to add our
shallot and apricot mixture.

You can hear it sizzle.

I'm just going to stir this in.

Mmm, it smells so good.
Oh, gosh.

Look at that. Ooh.
Ha, I'm awake.

Now I'm going to add my prepped
Brussels sprouts.

The heat from this pan
and the heat from the oil

is going to help
to soften the Brussels sprouts.

It's not really
going to cook them.

Basically, I'm just going
to keep stirring them

so that the heat is evenly

distributed throughout
the Brussels sprouts,

and I'm going to do this
for about one to two minutes

just until those leaves
start to darken.

They're still going to
definitely have a bite to them,

but they're going to be just
soft like we want them to be.

Alright.
That heat is doing its thing.

You can see some of the leaves
are getting a little darker.

I'm going to transfer it back
to a large bowl.

By adding
just some leafy greens,

it's really going to
break up the texture.

So here I have one and half
ounces of watercress

that I've chopped up roughly.

Another thing I'm going to add
is Ricotta Salata.

This is four ounces.

I have a vegetable peeler,
and all I'm going to do

is just shave it right on top.

And Ricotta Salata is a dry,
salty cheese.

It has a little
barnyardy flavor to it,

and it goes really well
with dried fruit.

And we have our apricots
in here,

so this is where
the salty comes in.

Now I'm just going
to toss the watercress

and also the ricotta cheese
into the Brussels sprouts.

I don't want to over mix it.

I don't want to break up
that Ricotta Salata too much.

There we go.

Look, I'm in heaven.

It is salad time.

I am so excited for this.

Alright.

There's so much
going on with this salad.

It is excellent.

The Brussels sprouts are tender,

and the apricots are adding just
a perfect amount of sweetness

along with
the crunch of the nuts.

This is exactly the type
of salad that I love to eat,

because it has a lot going on
and it's very complex

and -- and it has
Brussels sprouts,

my favorite thing
in the whole wide world.

So, if you want to make
this fabulous salad,

slice your Brussels sprouts
very thinly,

use a 1:1 ratio
of oil to vinegar

and use the residual heat
from the pan

to further tenderize
your Brussels sprouts.

From "America's Test Kitchen"
at home,

my favorite recipe
for Brussels sprouts salad

with warm mustard vinaigrette.