Sous Vide Salmon

Salmon is the fish people overcook most, because it looks underdone right up until the moment it's ruined.

Sous vide removes that problem completely. The fillet reaches the temperature you set and stays there, so there is no moment to catch. What's left is one decision, made before you start: how you want it.

Brine first. Ten minutes of salt and sugar firms the surface, seasons it through, and stops the white albumin weeping out when it hits heat.

The finish, every time

Skin off, and finished in a pan with butter and garlic.

Out of the bag, dried hard, into a hot pan with a little neutral oil for thirty seconds on the presentation side. Then the heat down, butter in with a couple of smashed garlic cloves, and baste for thirty to forty seconds, tilting the pan and spooning it over.

Lemon or lime at the end, to taste. Lime with anything I'd put chile near, lemon with everything else.

That's the finish for all of these, and it's the reason the skin comes off. The skin is good when it's crisp and nothing when it isn't, and a basted fillet doesn't need it.

The temperature, which is the whole decision

• 115°F barely set, nearly raw at the center. Excellent and not for everyone.
• 122°F soft, silky, falls into large flakes. The classic number.
• 126°F a touch more set, still silky, and where I actually land. I like mine slightly more done than most recipes assume.
• 130°F firm, traditional, what a good restaurant usually serves.
• 140°F fully set and firm, which is what most people mean by cooked.

Pick one and the fish arrives there. That's the entire appeal.

If it's not right

• White streaks on the surface: didn't brine, or the sear was too long.
• Mushy: too low for your taste rather than a fault. Go up five degrees next time.
• Dry: 140°F is the top of the range, and above it salmon goes the way it does in a pan.
• No crust: fillet was wet, or the pan wasn't hot enough.