Coho salmon is one of the largest representatives of the salmon genus. A healthy individual can reach 14 kilograms. Catching one is a pleasure, cooking is no less, because the coho salmon meat is soft and pliable, with a pronounced taste.
The most delicious dishes of coho salmon meat are baked fish. Professionals cook it entirely, in the West – even on a spit. It is difficult to bake such fish at home, so the most acceptable way to cook a dish similar to a restaurant one is to bake coho salmon in foil.
For this dish, choose medium-sized fish no more than 20 cm in length. Gut the purchased fish, leaving both the head and fins, rinse under cool running water. Dry, rub with a little coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place a slice of lemon and either a circle of onions or finely chopped garlic in the belly.
5 minutes before cooking, pierce the top of the foil with a fork, so the fish will brown a little
Wrap the fish tightly in foil: coho salmon are fatty, so if there is even a small hole, the juice will flow out onto the baking sheet. Bake in a well-heated oven for 20 minutes. Serve with boiled potatoes or rice. Soy sauce is also appropriate.
Large fish should be used to make a steak. It’s amazingly tasty and simple. Gut the fish. Cut off the head, fins, tail (they will make a great ear!). Rinse. Cut the meat into large pieces into a steak and rub with salt and pepper. Drizzle with lemon and toss on a hot wire rack. Turn the wire rack every 3-5 minutes, but do not touch the meat, it is very tender and will just crumble. Take your time to remove the finished steak. Leave the fish on the wire rack for 5 minutes, after sprinkling with lemon juice diluted in water. Coho salmon will be removed from the cooled grill without damage.
Like any representative of salmon, coho salmon is delicious salted. The most troublesome part of the process is removing the bones from the fish and skinning. To facilitate the work, freeze the fish and, without melting, under cold water, starting from the tail, pull off the skin with a stocking. Try to make as few cuts as possible.
Leave the skinned fish for 20-30 minutes, then cut with a sharp knife along the spine in 2 halves. Use tweezers to remove the bones and cut the meat into pieces no more than 1–2 cm wide. Place the slices on the pre-oiled bottom of the plastic container, season with salt and sprinkle with large pepper, lay on top of the next layer and salt and pepper again. You can make 5-8 layers, the fish will be very juicy.
Having laid the pieces, pour them with vegetable oil (no more than 3 tablespoons per 1 kg of fish), cover with gauze, put a light oppression, close the entire structure with a lid and send it to the refrigerator. In a day, the salmon fish is ready for consumption.