The Only Time You Should Cook Salmon Without Skin

With most animal products prepared long before we consume them, animal skins can nauseate some. So, when buying some uncooked salmon, it may be tempting to avoid salmon meat with skin still attached. However, in most cases, it is best to cook salmon with the skin on. As The Kitchn explains, the skin protects the delicate meat from overcooking. 

Cuisine Seeker says for pan frying or barbecuing, you should cook salmon with the skin down — though if you have a thick fish, you can flip it over just before you finish so there is a more even cook. But if you are baking the salmon, it's better to cook with the skin facing the heavens as the thick layer will better trap the meat's moisture.

There is also the fact that salmon skin is good for you. With the caveats that pregnant or nursing people should avoid the potentially infected skin, Healthline notes that the skin contains the much-desired omega-3 fatty acids, which may convince many to leave the skin on. But, if you come across a piece of the fish without skin, or simply prefer to remove it, there's a method you can use.

You can always poach the skinless salmon

https://wp.looper.com/wp-admin/submission-detail.php?a=272325#The Kitchn's Kelli Foster gives the command to cook with the skin off is in cases of poaching: "[Poaching] is a more gentle cooking process, so it's OK to cook sans skin if you choose." Fine Dining Lovers explains that poaching fish is a relatively fool-proof process, involving a short simmer with low heat, which breaks down protein structures while retaining the food's moistness, structure, and taste.

Poaching is an easy process, but that doesn't mean you can't switch it up if you're in the mood for something a bit different, with some more depth than your average, unseasoned piece of fish. Toby Amidor, a nutrition expert and author behind the book "The Best 3-Ingredient Cookbook," told Mashed that poaching your meat in liquids other than water — like vegetable broth, wine, juice, or even coconut milk — is a great way to "easily [add] more flavor."