Howard's Salmon

I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to travel through Europe the summer after I graduated college.

I spent a couple weeks with my family in Italy, a month backpacking through London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Munich, Zurich, Barcelona and Paris with my close friend and his girlfriend and three weeks working at a sleep-away camp near Nantes in France.

My campers in Nantes

After the camp was over, I returned to Paris to live for a week at the house of my father’s best friend since childhood. That friend, Howard, had taken a similar post-graduation tour of Europe in the 1970’s. On that trip, he found a lovely woman in Paris, married her and never left.

While I could go on and on about the wonders of the food culture in France and the many simple culinary pleasures in which Parisians partake on a daily basis, I write today to discuss a recipe I learned not from any of the wonderful restaurants or pastry shops I patronized, but rather from the American living in Paris himself.

Come and get your love

The dish in question involves an incredibly popular fish, a highly underused kitchen appliance and perhaps the fewest number of ingredients and steps involved in any great recipe. Ever.

In contrast to the hundreds of types of mild, flaky, white fleshed fish swimming the world’s waterways, salmon are uniquely colored and flavored. Their bright pink flesh is bursting at the gills with natural oils that give the fish its famous flavor.

The broiler (that thing on the “ceiling” of your oven) is an often overlooked way of cooking that basically functions as an upside down grill. The heat descends directly from the flames and cooks the food sitting beneath it at a distance that can be controlled by the position of the oven rack.

In Howard’s Salmon recipe, the preparation is as follows:

Take a salmon fillet (preferably even in thickness), sprinkle kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper over the top and rub it into the flesh gently. That is all.

Salt, pepper and a little bit of love

Put the fillet on a baking sheet or in a cast iron pan (or anything that can take the direct heat) lined with aluminum foil and place your oven rack on the top level. Turn the broiler on the "high" setting and slide your pan underneath the flames so that the fillet is centered under the contraption, ideally about 4 inches from the flames.

4 inches from the broiler, give or take a few centimeters...

Next comes the most difficult step.

Watch it.

Just sit there, keeping your eye on the flesh, and watch the fish.

After about 5-7 minutes, the top of the fish will begin to brown. Turn the broiler to the “low” setting and wait until the top of the fish is a rich mahogany color. Right before its about to start burning, pull the fish out of the oven.

That’s it.

The natural oils in the fish rise to the top of the fillet as the heat rains down from the broiler. These oils interact with the flames and constructively fry the exterior of the salmon, giving it both a pleasantly crispy texture and rich flavor.

The oil also serves as a barrier to prevent the moisture from inside the fillet from escaping during the cooking process. The flesh will be tender and moist, yet cooked through perfectly to a medium done-ness.

Serve it immediately or park it in Tupperware to chill for up to three days before serving cold and you’ll enjoy some of the most simple, delicious salmon of your life.

When it's golden brown, its perfectly cooked

I like to serve the salmon with a homemade Dijon honey mustard dressing constructed as follows:

4 Tablespoons Hellman’s Mayonnaise (there’s no substitute for Hellman’s, trust me I’ve tried)
3 Tablespoons of any good Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons of honey
½ Teaspoon (each) of garlic powder, chile powder (I prefer ancho, but any will do), curry powder, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper

Mix to combine.

Enjoy.