Paprika-Caked Salmon Steaks

Salmon has made a comeback since indentured servants wrote in their contracts that they should not be given it to eat more than twice a week.  However, to be good, salmon must be bought very fresh from a superior source (perhaps not the local supermarket) and cooked with great care.  It is all too easy to end up with something dry and chewy.  Here's a simple way of cooking salmon steaks that works well for me.

You'll need a heavy pan such as a cast-iron skillet.  Buy one; it's a wonderful thing to have.  (I admit this assumes that you have a good deal of strength in your wrist or are prepared to use both hands to carry the thing about.) Put about a tablespoon of butter in the pan and warm it up.  Take the salmon steaks and pat them dry with paper towels.  Then, put paprika on them.  Lots.  I put on as much as will stick.  Put it on both sides, but don't bother with the skin-covered edges.  Paprika is only the dried, crushed flesh of mild, red capsicums, after all.  Turn the heat under the pan to medium-hot; you want the butter to spit a bit but not smoke.  When the butter is hot, put the salmon steaks in and note the time.  Prod them to make sure they're not sticking and, if the pan has a cover, put it on.

Now, you're going to cook the salmon for five to eight minutes, half of the time on each side.  Jostle the pan or prod the steaks once or twice to make sure there's butter between them and the pan bottom.  But the most critical thing is to get the time exactly right.  It will depend on the thickness of the steaks and how you've interpreted "medium-hot".  Steaks that are one inch thick take seven minutes for me.  Thinner steaks, obviously, take less and thicker, more.  Here's a tip stolen from the The Official Fulton Fish Market Cookbook.  Take a thin, metal skewer (such as you might use to close the neck of a turkey on the stuffing) and thrust it on an angle into the salmon steak when you're about a minute short of the probable cooking time.  Wait five to ten seconds.  Whip the skewer out and press it along your bottom lip.  If you regret having done this, you'll also regret having cooked the salmon as long as you have.  If the salmon is done, you will find the skewer comfortably warm.  If you can't feel any warmth, give it the other minute and try again.  You'll get the hang of this after a few acceptable meals and the rest will be perfect.  (This technique, by the way, works with any solid-fleshed fish and any cooking method.)

I usually serve salmon this way with bulghur-wheat and a robust green vegetable such as broccoli, asparagus or green beans, see the photograph above.