You won’t believe how good this salmon is
Trust me, people try my salmon and they’re left speechless. They’re even more speechless when I tell them exactly how I did it. It’s really that good.
Salmon is one of my go-to fish, it tastes bloody amazing and it’s so easy to cook even if you think you don’t know what you’re doing. Trust me, people try my salmon and they’re left speechless. They’re even more speechless when I tell them exactly how I did it. It’s really that good. There’s no crazy techniques to this one. Just an oven, some spices and a whole load of butter.
Now, over the years I’ve tested the optimum cooking temperature for salmon because you really do need different temperatures with different sized pieces. I prefer a more aggressive heat when cooking smaller fillets of salmon – but this is just a little too harsh for whole sides, like the one I’m using for this recipe.
Gochujang and gochugaru really take the throne here. Gochugaru is a Korean chilli flake, bright red and varying in coarseness. Gochujang is a thick Korean chilli paste that’s bold in flavour, sweet, spicy and has a slight umami kick. You can find gochujang in a lot of supermarket international aisles these days or online. It’s not the end of the world if you can’t get these ingredients; if so, I would suggest going down the Middle Eastern route and using a harissa paste instead as it’s so easily available and will still give you that spicy kick. It’s really important that you either make a foil boat for your salmon or use baking parchment so the skin doesn’t stick, because honestly that’s a pain you don’t want to experience.
Try also my coconut banana muffins recipe & my coconut dahl recipe.
Chilli butter baked salmon
Ingredients
- 900g-1kg salmon fillet, skin on
- 2-4 tablespoons olive oil
- 125g butter
- 2 tablespoons gochujang paste (or 3 tablespoons harissa paste)
- 1 tablespoon gochugaru
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1½ tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons honey
- Salt and pepper
- Lime wedges, to serve
Method
- Allow the salmon to sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes and preheat the oven to 180C.
- Pat the salmon dry, drizzle with the olive oil and massage this in. Then generously season with salt and pepper, just like you would season a steak. Now, if you don’t know how you would season a steak, simply season your salmon from a height to ensure even coverage. About 20-25cm above the salmon should do the trick.
- Bake the salmon for 13-15 minutes, or until the chunkiest and thickest part reads 50-55C. Allow the salmon to rest for 5-7 minutes.
- While your salmon is resting, melt the butter with the gochujang, gochugaru, sesame oil, minced garlic and honey. Whisk over medium heat until combined – you don’t want to thicken the sauce.
- Pour your glorious chilli butter over the salmon and serve with a few wedges of lime. Tuck in and enjoy.
Serves 6
This is an edited extract from Flayvaful by Nathaniel Smith.