---
title: 'The Best Salmon You''ll Ever Make (Restaurant Quality)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=hVucbPZxJwY'
video_id: 'hVucbPZxJwY'
date: 2026-06-30
duration_sec: 1721
---

# The Best Salmon You'll Ever Make (Restaurant Quality)

> Source: [The Best Salmon You'll Ever Make (Restaurant Quality)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=hVucbPZxJwY)

## Summary



## Transcript

yeah no I I I think it looks good yeah I
mean you can buy human hair tpay but you
know I prefer a horse you know camel's
good I mean pretty much I mean you can't
even really tell but it's are we live
right now uh well so first things first
guys I just got a hair transplant and I
don't want to gloat I don't want to brag
but I look pretty good can we go to the
uh camera number four so I can
just is that nice yeah it's yeah like
it's nice I'm married obviously but dude
I was walking around in the store eyes a
lot of action yeah eyes on me uh no
we'll save that for another day all
right guys we're here we're making pan
fried salmon this is one of my favorite
things to cook at home I love cooking
fish in a pan I love doing it with
salmon especially because of that
crunchy skin and now I did cook salmon
for will frell that is a thing I'll
explain that story a little bit later in
the video as this is cooking but for now
let's start with this salmon right I
have my little hand washing station down
here as always so you guys can always be
staring at me we have a new system today
my my wife who maybe you'll see at some
point you guys will meet her she's going
to be uh writing down your questions in
the chat handing them off to Marcus and
Marcus will read them to me so that's
what we'll be doing one second I need
one thing here you want to get hit with
one what's that you want to get hit with
a question um yeah you whenever you know
whatever what's your favorite salmon
type of salmon oh favorite type of
salmon I mean money aside probably King
Salmon is really the best um besides
that I like there's a there's a salmon I
used to buy all the time called skuna
Bay I really like that salmon um yeah
wild salmon there's tons of amazing wild
salmon if you can get it from a small
fishery like ship from Alaska that's
really good otherwise I'm looking for
fat content you know a lot of the salmon
that you buy in the store that's wild is
so so lean and it's really hard to cook
it and make it tender so I'm always
looking for a little bit of fat as you
can see here with this Sal
forget the exact name of this one if I
can figure that out I'll tell you but I
think it's a farm salmon um the first
thing you're going to want to do
whenever you get a piece of salmon I
mean I would love to say trust your
fishmonger but you can't always right
feel for those bones make sure those pin
Bones have been removed you can see
where bald okay you can see where they
did it right here and I I'm feeling
right I feel no bones they did a really
good job the second thing I'm going to
do is a lot of times I'll just kind of
remove a little bit of this cartilage
here see this there this this little
strip and I like to just slice in a
little bit and see if I can just get
like a little bit of this
out just to clean that up a little bit
it's not the best knife for it but let
me get another one
actually Sunny could we yeah we push
that way a little bit C with the salmon
The Cutting Board yeah we're good yeah
so go with this going with this little
slicer that does a better job you don't
have to do this but I'm just cleaning it
up a little bit you know no problem see
just like
this okay here we go here we go here we
go and by the way we're using this
technique for salmon that you're going
to see today you can use this for a lot
of other
fish should have had some trash
handy um but the temperature is what you
need to get right for the salmon right
now the next thing I'm going to do flip
your salmon over make sure you get it on
the skin right that's the whole point of
this recipe
and what you want to do is check for
scales right so this one's been done
pretty darn well and you can see I don't
know if you can see that on camera but
right here there's a few scales can you
guys see this it's just a shine right
there you see that it's kind of might be
hard to
see but what you want to do is run your
knife the opposite way was it this way
no here yeah this is the way you see how
the scales are opening
up and I'm just getting those out now if
I had a lot of scales on the fish and I
needed to kind of scale SC it myself I
would be taking this to the sink because
these little scales they shoot all over
your kitchen when you scale a fish and
they stick to everything they stick to
your skin they stick to like any surface
any surface so you definitely want to
scale your
fish just make sure it's done right I
remember once I was shopping at Whole
Foods in Colorado and I was talking to
the fish guy and I was getting some
salmon just a piece like this and I
could see it was like really poorly
scared SC and I'm like sometimes you can
ask them can you scale it for me so I
don't have to do it at home cuz it makes
a mess and he was telling me it's scaled
and I'm looking at it I know it's not
scaled I'm like no it's not scaled he's
like oh yeah it's been through a machine
so I mean you know that really depends
where you go to buy your fish some
people are good some of them just aren't
that you know they don't even care about
fish They Don't Care About Fish they
have no passion for fish they have no
love for the
fish so that's up to you right so I just
run my knife and make sure there's no
scales look there's a bunch in the
middle there coming
up all right we got a question Sunny
what's our question uh tell us about the
bacon of the sea yeah bacon of the sea
guys it's coming don't worry I think I
coined that term by the way I did I was
the first person to say this bacon the
sea thing guess who I saw saying it some
months later Gordon Ramsey stole it he
stole it stole my thing bacon of the sea
is what happens when you cook salmon
skin properly and it gets really crunchy
it it almost has a fishy bacon like
Flavor it's so so good and if you've
never tried or experienced really crispy
good Salmon skin I highly suggest you
do oh okay I'm going to I'm going to
leave it at that wipe it off with a
towel that's the next thing you want to
do you want this skin to be as dry as
possible that's going to get so it gets
as crunchy as possible right so let me
just clean
up wash my hands wash my hands wash my
hands trying to keep these lives moving
we don't want this to get B boring you
guys trying to go fast with it okay
let's go let's just keep it
moving hit one okay now let's go back
back back back now check it out next
thing you see the belly there's the
belly of the salmon right there one of
my favorite Parts cuz it has the most
fat here's the thing see how skinny it
is if you cook it all in one piece you
have this little floppy belly just
flying all over the place I don't like
that personally so I'm preheating My Pan
over
here keep things moving what I like to
do oh watch this belly off right let's
get my other knife this one works
better I'm going to use the tip of the
knife so you can push through that skin
it's like
so now that belly is off and I cook the
belly I just do it separately just do it
separately I'll show you why in a minute
right so probably what I'll do with this
I'll just slice it into three pieces
like
so put that there
now with your fish you can cut it as big
or as small as you want like a 6 o
portion sort of standard for restaurants
this one I kind of like a bigger piece
so I'll just go like
this you know you could get two out of
that or you could get another three out
of that it's really up to you piece just
like this looks really nice to me right
and there's your like perfect portion of
salmon can we get that there looking
good nice fat one piece that's why I
take the belly off right when your
protein is just one even thickness it's
going to cook really evenly
so I'll probably cook this piece later
what I'll do right now is just salt
these let's get my hand washing going
on
okay these knives out of
here I'm just going to hit these kosher
salt sometimes you guys I score the skin
which can be a fun trick if you run your
knife just a little bit in make three
little slices and that can be fun
because then you can actually pull off
the strips of salmon skin much like they
look like little pieces of bacon but you
don't always have to do it um it does
give you that nice kind of effect for
pulling it off but doing it this way
give you a really nice uh clean
presentation as well so I'm going to
Salt the um these little bellies too and
this big piece I'm going to save for
later let's get these out out of here
real
quick clear down clear down clear down
clear down keep it moving keep it moving
keep it moving go go go okay here we
go we're cooking baby we
live now one of the most important
things when you're cooking salmon is the
temperature right certain fish certain
fish skins can handle higher
temperatures like for instance Snapper
you can do like medium high salmon low
to medium even towards that lower end
you really want to get that temperature
right so I've had this pan on the heat
for a few minutes and you don't need a
lot of oil especially if you're using
using fatty salmon that's just avocado
oil going
down and we're going to let that oil
heat up right first let the pan that let
the pan heat up then put the oil in let
that heat up and then drop your salmon
right so whenever I have oil in a pan
I'm moving it like that not to well to
spread it around the pan but also to see
how it shimmers right it gets these like
little fingers kind of a advanced
technique but if you know you know
right okay
a little more heat a little more heat if
you put the fish in when the pan is too
cold that can also make it stick so we
don't want that now I burnt myself so
bad doing this once where I threw the
fish in it went around and splashed back
on me right so whenever you're putting
fish or any kind of protein into a pan
don't ever forget this put it
in and let it fall away from you away
from you
right let's cook two pieces
be a little crowded but it'll be all
right and let's pull them at different
temperatures now here's the next thing
that I
do make sure uh you put a little
pressure on the fish like this you can
use a spatula for that like I'm using my
hands but you can absolutely and
probably should use a spatula I like
using my fingers though cuz I can feel
actually what's happening with the skin
you feel the little
vibrations uh happening under there and
that's a really cool feeling and so I'm
doing this to just create a really good
contact so so that skin has a really
good contact with the pan and that's
going to help just to get this most
amazing like crispy glassy almost like
the top of a creme brulee type skin it's
very cool so you don't need to hold your
hand here the whole time maybe 20 30
seconds done you got a question we got a
question we got a bunch of questions
yeah what do you got how do you start
abusing the fridge or why okay
so well let me I got to keep an eye on
the salmon um you know it started like
I think I just ate a steak in the early
days kind of pound it on the counter
like pound on the counter like that you
know just like when something's good and
then I just started doing that on the
fridge and that kind of just evolved and
snowballed into what it is today right
so it started and I was I wasn't
actually trying to mess up my fridge
right it was like I didn't want to put
any dents in it um and then I actually
started putting dents in it you know and
now it's like it's just falling into
pieces out there which I love I love
this slow this slow destruction of the
fridge that's what I want I want the
fridge to be like a little burning pile
of metal and Rubble by the time I'm done
with it you know so that's the plan and
that's kind of how it
started now while that cooks you guys
just really want to maintain that heat
if you if the if it's too hot the skin
is going to be is going to burn before
the salmon is cooked if it's too low the
skin is going to be soggy and then the
salmon will be cooked through so you
don't want that either it's really
crucial that you get that
right you see what I'm not doing with
the salmon what am I not doing right now
you know it's sometimes in life it's
about what you what what to not do right
and what I'm not doing is messing with
this I'm not flipping it or flopping it
or peeking at it or whatever right what
oil are you using that's just avocado
oil it's just a neutral high smoke point
oil you could use peanut or another one
or whatever you like grape seed and
so after a few minutes I can just have a
little peek I'm going to even turn the
heat down a little bit I have my Just a
Touch over low you guys and what I'm
looking at right now now can we go to
camera uh three is I'm looking at the
side of the fish right and so I'm trying
to cook if you can see that let me let
me turn that around maybe we can see
better kind of here yeah I'm trying to
cook the fish here I'm trying to cook it
one/ third of the way up right you see
how it's changing color I'm trying to
cook it a third of the way through on
that skin side before I flip and you can
tell just by looking at the side of the
fish you know I get a good spatula right
these little offset spatulas or these
are also really
good and I'm just now and now I'm
confident that it's not stuck at all so
I'm just starting to peek at it a little
bit and if you feel like if you feel
like oh that Skin's not getting crispy
enough but the salmon is cooking you got
to turn it up if you feel like your your
skin is burning you got to turn it down
it's as simple as that and you see how
much oil I put not even a teaspoon look
how much look how much fat has come out
of the salmon already right you see that
you be careful with
that okay I'm going to wait for the flip
so you know when I worked in ask Aspen I
worked at the U Hotel actually I don't
want to I don't want to say where he was
maybe that's not cool I worked at a
hotel near Aspen on a ski resort and
will frell used to come there all the
time it was his favorite little winter
getaway right and he would always order
salmon and I was in charge of that
station at the time and so I ended up
cooking him salmon so many times not
like I was with him cooking salmon but I
was making him salmon and he always
ordered room service cuz he's obviously
incredibly famous um but he did come and
eat it the restaurant one time and he uh
the chef talked to him he's a very like
almost shy kind of quiet guy just he's
not like you you know like you see in
the movies and my wife worked room
service so she would go and deliver the
salmon to his room so it was kind of a
joint effort there between my wife and I
um and I don't really care that much
about like celebrities or whatever but
will frell is just someone that I
personally really love I love Step
Brothers like that movie is one of my
favorites of all time I've probably seen
it like literally 10 times um so it was
cool to you know see him and feed him a
little bit right and there's that joke
in like what is it in Step Brothers like
I didn't want salmon I said it four
times but actually he all he ate was
salmon to be to be fair okay now we go
third of the way through now here's
another great trick right you got your
spatula turn it upside down you see that
right so when I'm going under the fish
I'm not going like this I'm going like
this it's a subtle thing but that is
going to make it so your skin really
doesn't stick and it's just coming off
so loose so I do that move first now I
know it's loose now we can flip oh man
this is
beautiful this is so
beautiful wow and you can see already oh
it's so beautifully crispy right now
that's awesome we got a we got a good
question Yeah question it up let's did
you season it did I season what have you
is this guy just joined the live who's
this guy just joined the live yeah I
seasoned it you guys saw me season it
okay now immediately keep the heat low
little bit of butter going in if you
want you could add garlic shallots you
know I'm going to add some time here in
a minute um but you don't have to you
know what I mean you don't have to now
what you don't want to do is overcook
this right here's the thing I say pull
salmon around 120° fah if you're not
doing a lot of basing or if you're doing
some light basing if you're going to
base it more like I'm going to do right
now I would say you should pull this at
like 105 110 because of that carot over
cooking if you were here on the oh thank
you yeah if you were here on the last
live you'll know um the carryover
cooking just like we did a steak and it
went from like 110 to like 135 right
same for fish if you're doing a lot of
basting you got to account for carry
over cooking right you're always waiting
for the butter to foam see how it's
foamy like like that then you start
basting you don't want to pour over I
see a lot of people mess that up where
they just melt the butter and then they
start basting and if if you're doing
that it's just wetness right and you're
going to ruin that crispy skin got to
wait for the foam and then you're good
to
go so give these a little treatment Bas
base base base baby base Bas basee I'm
going to Temp it right now right I don't
want to pun puncture the skin so I'm
going in surgically right here it's
pretty cold still right this is a
smaller piece it's going to cook
faster you know if I if I'm cooking for
myself I don't use a thermometer I like
doing it so I can instruct and so I can
be a better teacher you know
if it was me I would just base these for
say like 3 minutes and they would be
good I'm sure of
it I'm here for you guys all right I'm
here to serve man I'm here to
serve is it the is it a studio kitchen
or a Home kitchen this is a home kitchen
guys I do everything in my house it's
nightmare you know it's like you don't
know when you're working when you're not
you need like designated shoes and stuff
like that you know my work shoes am I am
my shoes off am I not working now is the
couch a work area I don't know it gets
gets weird
but yeah we're at
home I want to have a studio someday so
I can uh you know like separate uh you
know home life and work life a little
bit it's funny my wife's running around
the corner and uh delivering us all
these questions what do you got hit me
said let Marcus based all right Marcus
get in here quick cuz I got to get these
out soon let's go let's go let's go no M
I got no mic I got Che M I'll stay here
I'll stay here for you okay okay okay
there take it easy easy easy I got to
get over this got to we got to switch
cameras it's doing good it's good
somebody's got a lot looser of a wrist
than me I got a tight wrist a jack wrist
a strong Wrist all right I got to go do
what I'm supposed to that was good good
job I I'm proud of you that was proud of
you
bud okay I'm going to be beating myself
up all weekend about that base you know
what like right now I'm
uh hold let me get a that one just hit
100 right this little little one I'm
getting it out I'm getting it out at 100
100° 100° no way it's done it's going to
be a it's going to be beautiful it's
going to be beautiful this next
one need a little more time on that one
right I'll cook this one a little longer
so we can just kind of compare how one
looks pulled at 100 versus like I don't
know 110
115 keep that heat low keep that heat
low question hit me how long did you how
long did you cook professionally I
cooked professionally for 15 years well
yeah 15 years like in restaurants and
then after that I had my own catering
business uh operating in Aspen and I
just would like work for very very
wealthy people mostly the thing about
Aspen Colorado is like it's not a
millionaire town it's like literally a
billionaire town right so I met one guy
who was doing that started working with
him he gave me my first client and then
it's all just word of mouth and there
and there I did you know I did gigs for
people who like owned my insurance my
car insurance company you know people
like that um uh did a gig for Lance
Armstrong bunch of people a bunch of
people you know um I did a g a gig for
Ryan Sheckler the skateboarder that was
really cool Ryan Sheckler was awesome he
um he tipped us like $500 he's just a
cool guy you know like a cool cool guy
cool
cat I keep this one going a little bit
um but yeah you know I had fun doing the
the private cooking and Catering I like
it's just some people were cool some
people weren't some people were just
partying and like you'd be trying to
cook and like it just I don't know I
just hate that Vibe you know like
partying is okay but like some people
took it too
far that one's coming up almost around
110 we're going to pull it soon got a
question hit me I what uh what got you
interested in cooking what got me
interested in cooking all right so I
started washing dishes when I was 15
years old in Sonoma County California
that was in uh God 2003 right
and so my brother was a chef in that
restaurant he was working on the line
and so as I was washing dishes I was
just started getting interested in the
kitchen and the cooking and then when I
was 16 in that same restaurant I started
doing uh that hold on that just hit
about 110 I'm I'm going to pull it out I
started doing um salads and desserts
right the Garman station and that all
just kind of snowballed from there and
then I worked in like four or five five
restaurants before I left for England
when I was 21 and you know when I was 17
I was managing this Brewing this
Sebastapol Brewing Company where I grew
up which was insane I don't know what
happened like a series of events led to
me managing this kitchen in the daytime
and I was like I was putting in $2,000
orders like twice a week this was a huge
place and uh I was like making menus and
organizing events and like I was just a
wreck I I I shouldn't have been doing
that I shouldn't have been doing it not
at
all oh my God okay so now I'm just
letting these rest my friends oh I
forgot to do the time
I I had the time ready I was going to
put that in in the last 30 seconds but I
I forgot so that's okay what are you
going to do what are you going to do uh
let me get a plate let me get a plate
get a plate go get a plate get a plate
all right I'll show the salmon again
show the salmon okay I'm back show the
salmon he's back sometimes I like to do
stuff like this like I go one oh my God
one oh my you got the wedding ring
two three don't try that at home okay so
we're letting it rest right that's why
I've got it on the
rack um lemon right I need a new
knife lemon lemon cam lemon cam lemon
cam by the way you guys want a slice of
lemon I love doing it like this someone
wants to know how often you uh order
door Dash door Dash I I'm an Uber I'm an
Uber Eats guy I like cutting the lemon
like that no um that's a good question
so I I would say I probably order Uber
Eats uh um h four to six times a month
probably something like that some days
I'm in I'm in here cooking all day long
and like I don't just like just like a
chef working in a restaurant like you're
kind of sick of the things you've been
cooking and so I don't know if I don't
want to like make a mess or something I
will order Uber Eats you know usually
from lauro which is one my local
favorite restaurants here in Austin
that's a free that's a free plug lauro
Yos yeah you ow lauro you ow some money
bro you ow a bucket of rice see I pulled
this if can you get a look at that so I
pulled that like literally less than 110
and look at it now it's just it's just a
really good lesson about carryover
cooking right when you're basting things
if you don't bathe something it's not
going to it's still going to carry over
cook but not nearly as much that's just
like look at it climb it's just it's
it's insane she
climbing yeah yeah Marcus have you ever
eaten Salmon skin yeah a couple times
the crispy salmon skin yeah I'm curious
how many people in the chat have eaten
uh have had crispy salmon SK you know
cuz blow it up it's yeah blow it up it's
one of those things where I I don't know
I feel like you may think it's gross try
it once and you're going to be like oh
okay that is officially like bacon of
the sea it really is it's delicious oh
it's so good it's so good so I want to
tear into these right now but we got to
let it rest we got to let it rest we got
to let it rest so uh I'll make up a
question where's worst burn you've had
in the kitchen yeah that's the one I was
telling you guys about right I put the
fish in the pan what happened was
um the fish went around like I put it in
I did try to lay it away from myself but
I did it in I was just being lazy and it
went around the side of the pan and then
from the back flopped towards the front
oh okay hold on but before I had been
heating up that pan and forgot about it
and with a bunch of a good amount of oil
and it was billowing smoke and I don't I
should have just gotten rid of that pan
and started fresh but I just left it and
let it cool down for a bit so this was
extraordinarily hot oil like way hot
than a deep fryer and I threw the fish
in so dumb right and it splashed back on
me and it went was it it was this hand
and it went all it went like literally
all over here and I just knew
immediately like this was the worst burn
I've ever suffered and I've had a lot of
burns I ran to the back wrapped it up uh
finished service right I got 2 minutes
off for that you know you got to die to
go home when you work in a professional
kitchen you literally have to die and
the next day I had a blister the size of
two two to three golf balls right here
about literally coming off my hand about
that big it's it was horrendous
horrendous I don't want to I don't want
to keep talking about it cuz while we're
around food cuz that was pretty gross
the whole thing was like very gross like
what I had to do and then to just work
with that wound for a long time it was
it was nasty so yeah okay um I think I I
don't think we can wait any longer
Marcus we grab some forks and and run in
here bud coming on in here bud oh man
here we go here we go now y'all yeah all
right we're going to try
this um little lemon right fat and acid
you guys I talk about it all the time
but man that little bit of lemon on here
goes a long way go ahead Marcus do the
honors crack in crack in CRA Get It
crack in crack in look at that nice and
soft I'm not using try hold will you try
the will you try the the the skin skin
first will you try just the skin please
let me let me get all this beautiful
fish off my
skin guys hear that crunch oh it goes
hard listen to that that's bacon of the
sea this is so good
m
m and the the fish
itself very tender this is perfect M
nothing wasted M no more
I we got to we got to fight the fridge I
I yeah I would close my eyes and polish
this off but you got job to do yeah
okay I'm on it let's fight this thing
let's set it up all
right all wait you said it you setting
it up I got it I'll go talk I'll go talk
I'll go I don't know what I'll you get
in there Marcus tell them what's up
what's this is the I I'm panicking I'm
panicking hard don't freak out dude I'm
not freaking out Sunny I'm all right now
now we're going to switch to the other
can I think I nailed it I think that was
pretty good okay all right son heading
out all
right weighing in at however much a
fridge weighs in Sunny weighing in at
168
lb making them look good
yeah yeah yeah yeah get it
yeah
oh all right all right that's a oh he's
still going he's still okay yep sneak
attack a bit of a coward's move
but good good yo good punch good punches
I sucker punched it I know I saw that
punched it you got it good didn't even
see it coming yeah
wow I mean I'm out of breath yeah that's
sad hey takes energy to fight that
fridge all right guys any one more
question and then I got to I got to
bounce let's end it what's the what's
the best meal you've ever had oh my God
I I can't answer that question okay I
can I can just quick just quick the fat
duck in London three Michelin star
restaurant hon Blumenthal best best
dinner I ever had had in my life was
incredible incredible all right guys I
love you I love you thanks for joining I
hope you cook some fish soon I hope you
apply these techniques and uh until next
time you know I love you and I'm out