Sous Vide Salmon Recipe (2024)

I find that fish can turn watery and mushy if left in the water bath for too long at low temperatures, and dry and chalky when left too long at above 125°F (52°C) or so. For thinner fillets, half an hour to 45 minutes is plenty; for extra-thick fillets, 45 minutes to an hour is all you need.

Note that salmon isn't great cooked at temperatures above the pasteurization point (130°F/54°C), so, for safety purposes, I strongly recommend against letting more than three hours pass between the time you start cooking and the time you serve (unless you chill immediately after cooking).

What Kind of Salmon Should I Buy?

Whatever is freshest and fits your budget! Whether you use wild king, sockeye, coho, or any variety in between, the best salmon is always the freshest salmon. Look for salmon with firm flesh that is glistening and doesn't show any indentations from fingerprints or marks of mishandling. Fresh fish should hold its shape after being touched.

When buying salmon, I prefer to buy larger cuts and divide them into individual portions myself so that I get exactly what I want, rather than letting the fishmonger do it for me.

How Do I Portion My Salmon?

When you're portioning a large piece of salmon, the first step is removing the pin bones. Gently run your fingers across the surface of the fish, and, unless the fishmonger or you have already removed them, you'll find a ridge of thin, flexible bones protruding from the flesh.

Use a good pair of needle-nose pliers, or, if you have them, somesturdy fish tweezersto pull the bones out. Grasp the tips of the bones, then pull them out by pulling along their length to minimize damage to the surrounding flesh. Make sure you also get any bones that are protruding from the cut faces along the sides of the slice.

Salmon is often portioned by cutting crosswise across the entire fish, from back to belly. I find that with a larger king salmon, this creates awkwardly large or skinny portions. I much prefer to first split the fillet down the center along the natural division between the upper half and the belly. Using a sharp knife and steady, long strokes, I slice through the salmon, making sure to cut through the skin as well.

Next, I divide each of those halves into even five- to six-ounce portions. (You can, of course, make the portions bigger if you prefer.) The resulting pieces are closer to square in shape than the long, skinny rectangles you'd get by portioning without splitting.

Should I Brine?

Many recipes for sous vide salmon recommend soaking the fish in a saltwater brine before cooking in order to season it more deeply and to give it a denser, firmer texture. I tried cooking a few pieces of salmon side by side: one plain, one soaked in a liquid salt-and-sugar brine, one soaked in a plain salt brine, one rubbed (dry-brined) with salt and sugar, and one rubbed with salt alone. For the brined and dry-brined salmon, I tested various brining times, ranging from 15 minutes up to overnight. I cooked each sample of salmon sous vide at two different temperatures—115°F (46°C) and 130°F (54°C)—for 30 minutes, then tasted them.

The difference is quite striking, with both the salmon that was water-brined and the dry-brined salmon coming out with a firmer, more pleasant flesh. Without any brine, salmon cooked at lower temperatures can taste mushy and watery; at higher temperatures, it will taste dry and chalky. With brine, salmon at low temperatures has a smooth, buttery texture, and at higher temperatures, it retains more moisture.

I found sugar in the brine to be distracting; however, if you like the added sweetness, there's no harm in it. I prefer dry-brining to water-brining for the sake of convenience: All you have to do is salt your salmon, seal it in a bag, then let it rest before cooking. Half an hour seems to be the magic number—you get a strong brining effect, but still keep things moving along in time for dinner.

Should I Add Fat?

When cooking things like steak or chicken, I typically don't add extra fat to the bag—all it does is dilute flavor by removing fat-soluble flavor compounds. With salmon, on the other hand, some sort of fat is essential if you're cooking more than one piece in a single bag. Salmon proteins will bind together when heated while in contact, which means that two adjacent pieces of fish within the same bag can end up fusing into one, tearing and flaking when you subsequently try to separate them before serving. Fat will coat the fish and help prevent this problem.

With delicate fish, I also generally like adding a few aromatics to help nudge the flavor along. Most often, I reach for a few fresh thyme sprigs. Adding fat to the bag can help the flavor from these aromatics spread around the salmon more easily.

Skin On or Skin Off?

Sous vide salmon skin can be quite delicious if you sear it until crisp after cooking—think of it as salmon cracklings. But if you prefer your salmon skinless for any reason (say, if you're going to serve it simply poached, without searing), there's a much easier way to get rid of that skin than trying to cut it off before cooking: Just wait until after you've cooked it sous vide. The cooking process weakens the bond between skin and meat, making it very easy to peel it off gently with your fingers.

Once the skin is removed, you can also very carefully flake off the dark brown flesh underneath if you'd like. There's no harm in eating it, but some people don't like the way it looks.

Do I Need a Vacuum Sealer?

You don't need a vacuum sealer for sous vide salmon! Because of the short cooking time and low temperature, a regular old zipper-lock bag will work fine. To remove air from a zipper-lock bag without a vacuum sealer, usethe water displacement method. It's fast, efficient, and tailor-made for situations like this.

To do it, simply place your food in a plastic bag, and seal the bag almost all the way, leaving about an inch open. Slowly lower the bag into a tub of water, holding the opened end above the water level. As the bag is lowered, the water pressure should force air out of the bag. Just before it fully submerges, seal the bag completely, and you're ready to cook.

How Should I Serve It?

Depends on how you like it!

Option 1: Sear It

If you're serving it straight away for dinner, and you enjoy crispy skin, I would suggest searing the salmon skin side down in hot fat (vegetable oil orclarified butterworks well) in a skillet. For fully rendered and crisp skin, you do need to leave it in there for a few moments—long enough that you'll start to see some white coagulated proteins around the seared edges of the salmon. This, unfortunately, cannot be helped unless you decide to remove the skin completely and cook it separately for serving. (To do this, peel off the skin, then sear it in a pan while holding it flat with a spatula, or a second pan.)

Be very delicate when searing sous vide salmon, as it can fall apart easily. A thin, flexible fish spatula will help with this job.

Option 2: Chill It

Sous vide salmon is great served cold. When it's cooked to 105°F (41°) and then chilled, you can slice it and serve it like sashimi, though it will have a unique texture all its own. After cooking it at higher temperatures, you can flake the chilled salmon and serve it in salads, in sandwiches, stirred into pasta, or on top of rice bowls. It's a great way to use up leftovers.

Option 3: Just Serve It

The last option is to skip any post–sous vide treatment and just serve it as is, perhaps coating it with a bit of extra-virgin olive oil or with a flavorful vinaigrette or sauce. Sous vide salmon has an incredibly moist, tender texture that I find lovely even without crisp skin or browning to contrast it.

Tips for Sous Vide Salmon

Adding Aromatics

When you place the salmon portions in a single layer inside one or more zipper-lock bags, add a couple of teaspoons of olive oil per fillet to each bag, turning the salmon and using your hands to make sure that it's coated on all sides in order to prevent sticking. From there, feel free to add some gentle aromatics, like fresh herbs such as thyme, parsley, or dill; thinly sliced shallots; or grated citrus zest. However, do not add large chunks of food, which can damage the shape of the fish, or acidic ingredients, which damage the texture.

Let Chill

In order to firm up the flesh, let the bagged salmon rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before cooking. If you'd like, you can leave it in the refrigerator for up to overnight.

Blot Dry Before Searing

To make the salmon easier to sear, you'll want to get it as dry as possible. Carefully remove the salmon from the bag using your hands or a fish spatula, keeping it supported at all times to prevent it from breaking. Place it on a double layer of paper towels, then use another paper towel to gently blot the surface dry.

When searing, place the fish in a hot pan, skin-side down, and make sure to gently press on it with a fish spatula so that the skin makes good contact with the pan. Let it sear until the skin is browned and crisp, about a minute and a half. Flip the salmon, briefly kiss the second side with the pan to give it a touch of color, then remove the salmon and serve.

Perfectly moist and tender dinner is ready.

August 2016