Salmon: Buying, Storing, and Cooking It Right

Most salmon is one of two: farmed Atlantic, fattier, milder, available year round at a steady price, or wild Pacific, sockeye and coho, leaner, deeper colored, seasonal and stronger flavored. Farmed fat makes it forgiving in the pan; wild cooks faster and dries out quicker, so it wants lower heat or a marinade.

Color comes from diet, astaxanthin in wild fish, added to farm feed, and it says nothing about freshness. Freshness reads in the flesh's bounce and the smell, not the shade.

Fresh salmon should smell like clean water or cucumber, never fishy, and the flesh should spring back when pressed. Look for moist, glossy fillets with tight flake lines, and avoid browned edges or pooled milky liquid. Sashimi-grade is a marketing term with no legal standard; if you ever eat it raw, buy from a fishmonger who handles for raw consumption and keep it cold, this matters.

A whole side is cheaper per pound and freezes in dinner portions beautifully. Skin on protects the flesh in the pan and crisps into the best part if you let it.

Raw salmon keeps 1 to 2 days in the coldest part of the fridge, ideally on ice in a dish. Cooked salmon keeps 3 to 4 days covered. Frozen holds quality 3 to 6 months, vacuum sealed longer, and thaw it overnight in the fridge, never warm.

Cooked salmon reheats gently, low oven or a covered pan with a splash of water, or flake it cold into salads and bowls, which is honestly where leftovers shine.

Check for pin bones by running fingers along the fillet against the grain, then pull them with fish tweezers or clean pliers; they are cheap and the difference at the table is real. Pat the surface dry, salt it 15 minutes ahead if you have time, and start it skin side down in a hot oiled pan, pressing for 10 seconds so the skin lies flat. Most of the cooking happens on the skin side, flip for the last minute.

Doneness: the FDA says 145 F (63 C), opaque and flaking, which is fully safe and firm. Chef practice pulls it at 125 F (52 C), translucent center, relying on carryover heat; it is juicier and it is a personal risk call, like runny yolks. For young children, pregnancy, or immune compromise, 145 F is the number, no debate.

• Trout: the closest swap, cooks identically, milder and often cheaper, and the same 145 F (63 C) rule applies.
• Arctic char or steelhead: sits between salmon and trout, silky and quick, interchangeable by weight in almost any salmon recipe.
• Firm tofu or cauliflower steaks: for a plant based version of a glazed salmon dish, both take a miso or maple glaze well; roast hard at high heat for edges, since neither flakes like fish.