Baked Wild Salmon

Incredibly good. I made this with a 1/2 lb of salmon, wound up cooking it for approximately 15 minutes after checking once around 10. Perfectly cooked and tender. Served with a vinegar-y frisee salad, delicious

I made this tonight following the directions, and it's a total game-changer for me in terms of how I will cook wild Alaskan salmon. I brined a 6-ounce skin-on fillet of wild sockeye salmon for 20 minutes and baked it at 275ºF until the thickest part hit an internal temperature of 115ºF. Let it rest a bit and then enjoyed every bite. The fillet was moist and delicious. You folks who keep posting alternative cooking techniques need to give this method an actual try.

Live in Alaska so we have loads of wild salmon fresh and frozen. Used this with a freshly caught salmon. I didn’t brine but salted and let sit for 30 min. Covered in butter and lemon slices and roasted according to the instructions, the salmon was beautiful.

We eat a lot of salmon and this recipe is the best we ever had! Simple and brings out the best natural flavor of the fish. Used a 3.5 lb. fish and kept the same water to salt ratio.

Sockeye salmon is not my favorite because it’s so lean (I love the crisp skin when I cook fatty salmon) and the flesh is drier than I typically like. I was looking forward to this method to see if brining made any difference. I followed the recipe, drizzling my brined and dried sockeye with olive oil before it went into the oven. Fifteen minutes and it was ready. The brine seasoned it and kept it moist & tasty. Served with/Spicy Corn & Shishito Salad & baked potatoes. Excellent!

Dear Ali Slagle, There is nothing we in the Northwest enjoy more than knowingly cooked wild salmon. As more people join us in eating this delicious fish, I hope everyone will learn that king and Chinook salmon are one and the same and the only food of our beloved native Puget Sound Orcas. Unlike people they don't substitute Coho or Sockeye. If this endangered species is to survive we need to leave the King and Chinook salmon for them. Thank you Jean

We have been enjoying Copper River Salmon here in the Pacific Northwest. Expensive and a very short season, but worth it. I like to lightly sprinkle garlic salt and olive oil drizzle on it along with sliced lemons while cooking. One pound is perfect for 2!

No need for all that salt!

Does anyone know would this work for farmed salmon?

A great variation: preheat oven to 500 F with a heavy cast-iron skillet for 30 minutes; prepare salmon on parchment paper skin side down as suggested (if fish is thick, cut through almost to the skin in 1” cubes). Transfer parchment to skillet and bake for 8-9 minutes. Really heavenly, delicate texture and flavor with crispy skin.

Back in the 1990's my wife and I experienced Tom Douglas's salmon at Etta's Seafood. Tom owned a number of restaurants in Seattle and wrote the book "Seattle Kitchen." Etta's Seafood Rub was sold (and may still be) at supermarket's in the Seattle area. We used to stock up on our trips to see our son in Seattle but now make our own using this recipe: https://inthekitchenwithkath.com/2015/06/08/ettas-rubbed-with-love-salmon/. The key is to not overcook the salmon, and to use wild salmon, of course

A question: if the salmon is frozen, do I thaw it first, and then brine it, or can the frozen fillet be thawed in the brine? Thank you.

I live in Seattle & eat salmon a lot. This recipe and others in the NYT seem overly complex. For simplicity and easy clean up, my "go to" method is to put salmon skin side down on a plank and grill it until the temperature reaches 120 degrees (for wild) or about 125 degrees (for farmed): Buy plank. Soak it in water for 30 minutes or so. Lightly brush salmon with olive oil (with option to add mustard). Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and some fresh herbs (dill is good). Cook to 120/125 (~10 mins).

I baked a 560g fillet of fresh Sockeye following this recipe to the letter and the result was some of the best salmon I’ve had in a while. I left it in the brine for 20 min and after 20 minutes baking, the internal temperature was 120F. The flesh was very moist and it did not have an overly salty taste (I use salt sparingly). I will definitely use this method again along with a recipe for BBQ salmon based on a West Coast First Nations recipe that I have been using for nearly 50 years.