Using the oven and broiler is a versatile and ideal way to cook salmon— whether it is slow cooking individual portions, roasting a whole fish, broiling a miso-glazed fillet, cooking sous-vide salmon without fancy equipment, or flash finishing a pan-seared fillet in a superhot oven. Some of the techniques are wonderfully simple, easy for both the confident cook and the novice. Slow-Cooked Salmon with Spring Vegetables (page 96) is just one of the recipes that nearly anyone can make with no difficulty. If easy origami sounds like fun, and you need a perfect job for young helping hands, make Salmon Baked in Parchment with Tomatoes and Corn (page 92). It’s the perfect choice when the farmers’ market is overrun with these two summertime vegetables.
Salmon takes on a global profile when cooked in the oven. Under the broiler, Japanese-Style Salmon Broiled with Sake and Miso Glaze (page 86) is my variation on the classic preparation made with sablefish (black cod). I like to graze; if you do too, make Broiled Sesame Salmon Bibimbap (page 87), my recipe for a Korean-style rice bowl with soyglazed salmon.
Not everyone likes to eat salmon skin. I do, but it has to be cracker-crisp, a bit salty, and robustly flavored. Anyone who enjoys eating crisp salmon skin should immediately turn to my recipe for Crispy Salmon Skin—The Bacon of the Sea (page 102). One way I have used it is with leftover rice and salmon and fresh spinach, green onions, and ginger. I put together a tasty salmon fried rice for breakfast and topped the rice bowl with a wok-fried egg and crumbles of salmon bacon. That dish got a big thumbs-up from my husband.
Finally, although I had long wanted to learn the high-end technique of sous vide (French for “under vacuum”), I was reluctant to spend the money on an immersion circulator. After watching several videos online, I realized that I could cook salmon using sous-vide principles without the costly equipment. The delicious result is Low-Tech Sous-Vide Salmon with Sorrel Butter (page 90).