Change Up Your Salmon Routine With Jacques Pépin's Elegant Parchment Method

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Of all of Jacques Pépin's most enduring tips for home cooks, cooking fish en papillote might be a favorite. The recipe is included in his cookbook with Julia Child, "Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home." En papillote requires placing the items to be cooked inside of parchment, sealing it, and then cooking it. Pépin builds directly on the parchment, seasoning the fish on both sides, then topping it with thinly sliced vegetables. Thinly slicing the vegetables ensures that they will cook through entirely by the time the fish is also done cooking.

The fish and vegetables are finished off with a massive chunk of butter before folding the parchment in half and then beginning to seal everything up. Once folded in half, fold sharp, angled, overlapping pleats, beginning at one corner and continuing all the way to the other corner, but don't seal up the very edge. For flair, Pépin uses a bike pump to inflate the parchment. 

This last step isn't necessary, as you can just blow into the parchment to inflate it using a straw, or skip it entirely. After, twist the corner to seal it up and brush the parchment with melted oil to brown the paper for a fancier look, but it is also optional. Finally, bake on a sheet tray in a 400-degree Fahrenheit oven for about 10 minutes. To serve, place the entire packet on a plate, or you can also open the paper and slide the entire dish out onto the plate. 

Not only is cooking fish en papillote an easy and relatively healthy way to cook fish, but it's also a wonderful cooking method to use for a dinner party. Wrapping up each little package does take a bit more preparation, but you can assemble them ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator until you're ready to cook. This gentle cooking method makes cooking the fish to perfection easy, and serving them is a fun adventure for your guests as they each get to open their own little package as tendrils of deliciously-scented steam unfurl. 

Another selling point of this cooking method is that the cleanup is minimal, as all the juices stay contained within the parchment paper, and you can just toss the paper after you've finished eating. Cooking a protein en papillote is one of the early lessons taught in culinary school when working with fish, as it's simple yet effective. 

You can use plain butter or any fat you like on the fish, including olive oil, but you can also play around with the fat used when cooking en papillote, like with Jaques Pépin's basil butter for salmon. While that recipe uses the herby compound butter for baking in a hot oven, it's equally applicable to cooking en papillote, as the butter will still melt beautifully and coat the salmon as it slowly cooks.