Published May 1, 2008. From Cook's Illustrated.
For a poached salmon recipe with supple salmon accented by the delicate flavor of the poaching liquid—in under half an hour—, we came up with some tricks: Using less poaching liquid allowed us to cut back on the vegetables and aromatics in the broth, saving preparation time; adding alcohol to the liquid lowered its boiling point, creating steam that cooked the part of the fish that wasn’t submerged; and resting the fish on lemon slices prevented the bottom from overcooking.
To ensure even-sized pieces of fish, we prefer to buy a whole center-cut fillet and cut it into four pieces. If a skinless whole fillet is unavailable, follow the recipe as directed with a skin-on fillet, adding 3 to 4 minutes to the cooking time in step 2. Remove the skin after cooking (see “Removing Skin from Salmon”). This recipe will yield salmon fillets cooked to medium. If you prefer rare salmon (translucent in the center), reduce the cooking time by 2 minutes, or until the salmon registers 110 degrees in the thickest part.
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