There's nothing as disappointing or wasteful as overcooking a nice piece of meat, leaving it dry and tough. Overcooked steak is the ultimate blasphemy to most cooks, but the same mistakes can be made with a great cut of salmon; fortunately, you can cook perfect salmon every time by paying attention to the temperature.

By “perfect salmon,” we mean a balance of crunchy, crispy skin and juicy, well-seasoned flesh. You can get fancy with additions like citrus and herbs, but the most important factor is temperature, because applying high heat throughout the whole salmon cooking process leads to a dry, flaky, overcooked interior.

To cook great salmon, place the seasoned filet skin side-down on a relatively hot pan, but keep the heat turned up only until the skin is seared, nicely browned, and crisp, and not a second more. Then, transfer the salmon to a 200-degree Fahrenheit oven and bake for around 40 minutes for melt-in-your-mouth meat.