Pacific salmon
Photo: Calgary Reviews from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0

History

Salmon was the staple food of the Coast Salish for thousands of years before Seattle existed. The Duwamish, Suquamish and Muckleshoot ran weirs and traps on the rivers that drain into Puget Sound. The first cannery on the Columbia opened in 1866; by 1900 Washington was canning more salmon than any other state. The 1974 Boldt decision restored treaty fishing rights to 20 Washington tribes. The most prized run today is the copper river king, which arrives at Sea-Tac in mid May to a press cycle that has run uninterrupted since 1983.

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Common allergens: Fish

Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 15 minTotal 25 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 4 wild salmon fillets, 150 to 180g each, skin on
  • 2 tbsp neutral oil with a high smoke point
  • Flake sea salt, black pepper
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • Fresh dill
  • 30g cold unsalted butter

Method

  1. Pull the salmon from the fridge 20 minutes before cooking; cold fillets in a hot pan cook unevenly.
  2. Pat the skin completely dry with kitchen paper. Score the skin lightly three times with a sharp knife.
  3. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium high until shimmering but not smoking.
  4. Season both sides with salt. Lay the fillets in skin-side down. Press flat with a fish spatula for 20 seconds so the skin does not buckle.
  5. Cook undisturbed 4 to 5 minutes until the skin is crackling crisp and the flesh has turned opaque two thirds up the side of the fillet.
  6. Flip. Cook 60 to 90 seconds more on the flesh side. Slide the butter into the pan, baste twice.
  7. Lift onto warm plates skin-side up. Squeeze lemon, scatter dill, finish with flake salt.

Tip from the editors. Wild salmon is leaner than farmed and goes from medium-rare to dry in 30 seconds. When you can lift a flake from the centre of the fillet without resistance, it is done.

Where to eat pacific salmon

Pacific salmon in Seattle

Canlis ★ 4.9

$$$$ Tasting $185 per personFilipinoChef Aisha Ibrahim

Canlis in Seattle is the city's enduring fine-dining room: chef Aisha Ibrahim runs a five-course tasting that draws on her Filipino heritage and Pacific.

Book6 to 8 weeks ahead

Directions Book

Westward ★ 4.5

$$$ SeafoodWallingford

Westward in Seattle on Lake Union's north shore is Renee Erickson's seafood room with a fire pit, deck chairs and the city's best whole fish off the wood.

OrderDungeness crab in season, cracked over crushed ice, with a glass of Chablis.

TipArrive by water on a Boatel from the Center for Wooden Boats for the most Seattle of dinners.

Directions Book

Matt's in the Market ★ 4.4

$$$ Pacific NorthwestPike Place Market

Matt's in the Market in Seattle is the Pike Place Corner Market room with windows on the clock: a Pacific Northwest kitchen sourcing five floors down.

OrderThe catfish sandwich at lunch, on Macrina sourdough with house remoulade.

TipLunch counter seats walk in at 11:30 and turn fast; dinner needs a reservation for window tables.

Directions

Shaker + Spear ★ 4.3

$$$ SeafoodBelltown

Shaker + Spear in Seattle's Belltown is the Kimpton Palladian seafood room: a kitchen working off the Pike Place fishmongers and Hood Canal growers down.

OrderThe whole roasted rockfish with brown butter and capers, deboned tableside.

TipThe two top by the kitchen pass is the best seat for solos; happy hour 16:00-18:00 with $2 oysters.

Directions Book

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