I've Nailed Crispy Salmon Skin!

[Rain City]

First off, I'd like to point out that my 3 year old loves this stuff. Like, hammers it. Not sure why I feel so proud of this, but I do. My wife doesn't care for it for some reason (psycho), so it's awesome that my daughter and I get to have it as "our thing".

Anyways, so I've played with different methods from drying it, to over salting it, to torching it. Nothing was consistent enough. To be clear I'm talking about after you've baked a whole fillet and the skin is wet and limp and left sitting on the parchment in the pan. Tonight I literally just flipped the salmon off the skin into a plate, leaving the skin in the pan. I then salted the skin and dumped some olive oil over it and made sure it was well coated with a puddle of oil in the pan. Threw it back in the oven on the lower rack with the broiler on. The oven was still hot from baking the salmon. It popped and cracked and essentially deep fried the skin for about 3-4 minutes. As soon as the skin started to look brown around the edges I pulled it out and put it onto a paper towel lined plate. Dabbed off the excess oil from the top and by the time I made it back to the table it was one solid crunchy chunk. No soft spots, no burnt spots. Just perfect. Very fast and easy. Sorry no pics.

 

[tubber]

Are you one of those guys with beer bottle caps nailed to a scrubbing stick, or do you eat the scales for full nutrition and less mess at the cleaning station? My wife won't eat it either.

 

[Rain City]

Are you one of those guys with beer bottle caps nailed to a scrubbing stick, or do you eat the scales for full nutrition and less mess at the cleaning station? My wife won't eat it either.

This time of year I just hose most of them off on the deck when I'm bleading it. My boat is covered in scales to be honest.

 

[triplenickel]

I like to do it the same way but use my bbq rub for spice. The crunch, sweet, salty and spicy, mmmmm!

 

[Rain City]

I like to do it the same way but use my bbq rub for spice. The crunch, sweet, salty and spicy, mmmmm!

I'm going to try that next time. Great Idea.

 

[Bugs]

I do a lot of sashimi or cubing for poke with chinook. In both cases you don't want the chewier grey meat against the skin... but it is amazing for fat content and flavor. Now I usually try to work a sushi meal in. I fillet the meat off the skin leaving ~1/4" of meat on the skin. Marinade the meat for a little while with soya and mirin... then rub sesame oil on the skin side and broil skin side up until crispy for salmon skin rolls.

 

[17 ft sea ranger]

i bbq 90% of my salmon. Hot grill, flesh side down to start. Flip fillet and finish cooking with the skin down. When cooked slide spatula in between skin and flesh to remove leaving skin and remaining hot oils on grill till your desired doneness....

 

[Rain City]

i bbq 90% of my salmon. Hot grill, flesh side down to start. Flip fillet and finish cooking with the skin down. When cooked slide spatula in between skin and flesh to remove leaving skin and remaining hot oils on grill till your desired doneness....

I prefer to bbq as well. And in that case I can usually do a good enough job on the skin there. Still not perfect. Sometimes I come home and it's already coming out of the oven, to my dismay. That's when I jump in like the hero and add some crunch!

 

[the force]

First off, I'd like to point out that my 3 year old loves this stuff. Like, hammers it. Not sure why I feel so proud of this, but I do. My wife doesn't care for it for some reason (psycho), so it's awesome that my daughter and I get to have it as "our thing".

Anyways, so I've played with different methods from drying it, to over salting it, to torching it. Nothing was consistent enough. To be clear I'm talking about after you've baked a whole fillet and the skin is wet and limp and left sitting on the parchment in the pan. Tonight I literally just flipped the salmon off the skin into a plate, leaving the skin in the pan. I then salted the skin and dumped some olive oil over it and made sure it was well coated with a puddle of oil in the pan. Threw it back in the oven on the lower rack with the broiler on. The oven was still hot from baking the salmon. It popped and cracked and essentially deep fried the skin for about 3-4 minutes. As soon as the skin started to look brown around the edges I pulled it out and put it onto a paper towel lined plate. Dabbed off the excess oil from the top and by the time I made it back to the table it was one solid crunchy chunk. No soft spots, no burnt spots. Just perfect. Very fast and easy. Sorry no pics.

I hear you, my kids looove kokanee skin thought it is tricky to get it to the right crisp w/o over cooking the fish. Definitely going to try this now!
The amount of omegas, it’s gotta be good for them.

 

[the force]

I do a lot of sashimi or cubing for poke with chinook. In both cases you don't want the chewier grey meat against the skin... but it is amazing for fat content and flavor. Now I usually try to work a sushi meal in. I fillet the meat off the skin leaving ~1/4" of meat on the skin. Marinade the meat for a little while with soya and mirin... then rub sesame oil on the skin side and broil skin side up until crispy for salmon skin rolls.

Just for clarity, do you mean you marinade the cubed fish for the bowls, or the meat side of the skin? Your making me hungry either way lol