Grilled Salmon Escabeche

By Ali Slagle

Grilled Salmon Escabeche
Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Susan Spungen.
Total Time
15 minutes, plus grill heating
Rating
4(244)
Notes
Read community notes

This recipe yields both tender salmon and crisp skin, while also solving for salmon’s tendency to stick and fall apart on the grill. First, cooking the salmon skin-side down the whole time protects its delicate flesh from the intense heat and gets the skin so browned that it minimizes sticking. Then, once it’s cooked most of the way through, the fish is transferred to a dish of quick-pickled fennel. Just the flesh is submerged in the brine so it cooks, while the skin above the liquid remains potato-chip crisp. This utilizes the age-old technique of escabeche, in which fish, meat or vegetables “cook” in a sauce of vinegar, oil and seasonings. Feel free to add coriander seeds, onion or other flavorings you like in your pickled vegetables. Serve the salmon and fennel with grilled bread, boiled potatoes, a salad or mayonnaise.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 4(6- to 8-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets
  • ½cup freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 4 limes)
  • ¼cup apple cider vinegar or unseasoned rice vinegar
  • ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1½teaspoons sugar
  • ½medium fennel bulb, bulb and stalks thinly sliced, fronds chopped (about 8 ounces)
  • 4fresh thyme or oregano sprigs or bay leaves
  • 3garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

574 calories; 40 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 17 grams monounsaturated fat; 9 grams polyunsaturated fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 42 grams protein; 742 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Prepare a charcoal grill for two-zone cooking over medium-high heat by pouring the coals onto one half of the grill. For a gas grill, heat all of the burners to medium-high, then turn off one of the end burners before cooking.

  2. Step 2

    While the grill heats, pat the salmon dry, and set aside to air-dry. In a metal 3-quart dish (like a 9-by-13-inch pan), large (12-inch) oven-safe skillet or a disposable aluminum pan, stir together the lime juice, vinegar, oil and sugar. Add the fennel, thyme and garlic. Season generously with salt and pepper, and stir to combine.

  3. Step 3

    When your grates are heating (or on a gas grill, when your grill is nearing temperature), put the dish over indirect heat (where there aren’t any coals or where the burner is turned off). Cover the grill and let the fennel mixture warm until the grill reaches temperature, about 5 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    When you’re ready to grill, season the salmon all over with salt and lightly coat with olive oil. Take the salmon, a tightly folded paper towel soaked with olive oil, a fish spatula and a rimmed baking sheet to the grill. Using gloved hands, transfer the dish of pickled fennel to the baking sheet (or another heat-safe surface, like concrete).

  5. Step 5

    Clean the grates with a grill brush, then oil the grates with the paper towel. Add the salmon skin-side down over direct heat (above the flame). Cover the grill and cook until the skin is browned and releases easily from the grates and the flesh is opaque three-quarters of the way up the sides, 3 to 6 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fish. Check the fish often and move it around the fire to avoid flare-ups.

  6. Step 6

    As the fish finishes, nestle it skin-side up among the pickled fennel. Let sit for 5 minutes or up to 30, until the fish is cooked through. Eat with the pickled fennel. Leftovers can be refrigerated and eaten cold or at room temperature the next day. (Remove the skin as it will be soggy at this point.)

Tip
  • Medium-high is 375 to 450 degrees. You should be able to hold your hand 4 to 5 inches above the grates for 4 to 5 seconds.

Ratings

4 out of 5
244 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Sherri

I did it by putting the fennel and marinade in a glass baking dish in a 200 degree oven, pan-frying the salmon, skin side down, until the skin was crisp and the flesh was about 2/3 or 3/4 done, then putting the salmon flesh side down in the marinade and kept it in the warm oven for about 10 minutes. My husband said it was the best salmon he ever had, and I make a LOT of salmon.

Katryn

Recipe is badly written and more complicated than it should be. I had to keep rereading it to figure it out. I don’t see the need for the fennel mixture to have to go on the grill. Why not just warming it on the stove? Other than that, it’s very good. The salmon and pickled fennel mixture go very well together.

James

This was delicious and fun to make. I think the recipe gets a little confusing because it is overly detailed in places, including unnecessary steps. I added white onion and red pepper to the marinade and warmed it at 350 for 10 minutes. Warming just helps tenderize the fennel and diffuse the flavors a little faster. I seared the salmon in cast iron over high heat for 5 minutes then marinated for about 20 minutes, skin up and out of the marinade.

Kathryn

This sounds promising, but I also find this recipe poorly written. Am I correct in thinking that the transfer of the fennel mixture takes place OFF the grill? (Rather than remaining on the indirect side?). Why is a baking sheet needed when the dish or pan itself is oven-proof — simply to provide a heat-protective surface for setting it? When the fish is put into the fennel mix, this also takes place off the grill, so that the residual heat alone completes the cooking?

Joe

This was pretty good, though I’d definitely add some onions to vary the flavors.

David

I suggest using the entire fennel bulb. Otherwise it gets thrown out in a few days.

M

Rating for results and not recipe (I respectfully agree with other reviewers that the instruction wanders and expounds unnecessarily: basically, grill one side, then turn over into warm marinade to finish). Juicy flavour bomb with crispy skin! I personalized seasonings as is fun with escabeche, adding capers and zests. Also we prefer rarer salmon so I only grilled until the skin crisped and a quarter inch of flesh turned opaque; rare flesh was transformed to firmness by the escabeche poaching.

matt in da bronx

Loved this dish! Cooked it twice this week. But i’m not sure how hot to let the fennel mixture get. Should the fennel remain relatively raw and crunchy or should it cook through and be soft? The recipe doesn’t specify.

ChaRae

Used entire bulb, slightly less sugar and a little extra lime juice. Just amazing. Put in 9x13 metal pan put in 200 oven. Grilled salmon and then laid skin up back on fennel. Did keep in 200 oven too long (grilling steaks for the carnies and needed the room) and salmon dried out but wow, the flavor of the fennel mix carried it...everyone still loved it enough to not mention the dried salmon! 8 yr old loved! Suggest doubling fennel mix to use on salad next day. It's that good!

Maghil

The best part of the dish was the pickled fennel. Photo shows a bed of it, far more than the 1/2 bulb noted in the recipe. Go ahead and throw in the whole bulb, and one or two more, if you’d like to emulate the photo.

James

This was delicious and fun to make. I think the recipe gets a little confusing because it is overly detailed in places, including unnecessary steps. I added white onion and red pepper to the marinade and warmed it at 350 for 10 minutes. Warming just helps tenderize the fennel and diffuse the flavors a little faster. I seared the salmon in cast iron over high heat for 5 minutes then marinated for about 20 minutes, skin up and out of the marinade.

Susan

This is delicious! After reading everyone's comments, I made sure to read the recipe a couple of times before embarking on making it. It wasn't that hard to follow, and it was yummy! Can't wait to have it for lunch tomorrow!

judy eagle

In view of Death Valley going to probably 123F soon, etc., why not use at toaster oven or oven? Less toxic fuel, fewer toxins in the food, air, even skipping a manufactured, expensive grill. Yum. Grilled fennel.

Kathryn

This sounds promising, but I also find this recipe poorly written. Am I correct in thinking that the transfer of the fennel mixture takes place OFF the grill? (Rather than remaining on the indirect side?). Why is a baking sheet needed when the dish or pan itself is oven-proof — simply to provide a heat-protective surface for setting it? When the fish is put into the fennel mix, this also takes place off the grill, so that the residual heat alone completes the cooking?

Katryn

Recipe is badly written and more complicated than it should be. I had to keep rereading it to figure it out. I don’t see the need for the fennel mixture to have to go on the grill. Why not just warming it on the stove? Other than that, it’s very good. The salmon and pickled fennel mixture go very well together.

Sabrina Dennis

I am looking forward to trying this! Heating fennel on the stove would work, but I sometimes like to cook my whole meal on the grill without having to go back inside and therefore it makes sense to do it on the grill. I wonder if a different vegetable would work, like cabbage?

sarah p

Anyone made this without use of a grill?

Sherri

I did it by putting the fennel and marinade in a glass baking dish in a 200 degree oven, pan-frying the salmon, skin side down, until the skin was crisp and the flesh was about 2/3 or 3/4 done, then putting the salmon flesh side down in the marinade and kept it in the warm oven for about 10 minutes. My husband said it was the best salmon he ever had, and I make a LOT of salmon.

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