Preparing Fresh Salmon

From selection to preparation and cooking, we have some tips and tricks to ensure your salmon is fit for a king!

Selecting Salmon

Select salmon with moist, shiny skin, firm flesh and a fresh aroma. A 10-pound King Salmon can serve between 8 and 10 people.

Cooking Salmon

Cook salmon in as large a piece as possible; larger sections stay moister.

Preparing Salmon

What do you do with a whole California King Salmon? Here are a few ways to prepare your fish, if you do not wish to cook it whole.

  • skinning salmon

    To Skin

    Insert a sharp knife at an angle behind the gills at the belly flap, then cut just to the backbone. Turn the knife flat and cut flesh from the bone, sliding the knife over its rib bones. Sever at the tail end and lift off the fillet. Turn the fish over and cut the fillet from the other side.

  • fillet illustration

    To Fillet

    Lay the fillet skin-side down. With a knife, free a corner of skin from the flesh at the wider end of the fillet. Grasp this free corner and, holding your knife flat against the skin, cut horizontally to release the flesh from the skin.

  • salmon steak

    To Steak

    With a sharp or serrated knife, cut cross-section slices of desired thickness (usually 3/4-inch to 1-1/2 inches thick) from dressed fish. Do not skin. If backbone is large, cut down to it on both sides, then tap the knife with a mallet to cut through the bone.