When I think of Stephen King, it’s not necessarily in the context of dinner. He did, however, go viral a few years ago when he tweeted his recipe for microwaved salmon, and today I decided to give his method a try.
Like my disconnect between Stephen King and recipes, I also have never considered putting “salmon” and “microwave” in the same sentence, but here we are! In a way, microwaving seems like a nice option for cooking fish. It requires very little clean-up and, if you do it the right way, I imagine you’d have hardly any fishy smell permeating the house.
It’s also the fastest way I’ve ever gotten a piece of salmon from fridge to table. King recommends cooking the filet for just three minutes.
Simply Recipes / Coco Morante
How To Prepare Stephen King’s 3-Minute Salmon
In its brevity, Stephen King’s 3-Minute Salmon recipe reads less like Stephen King and more like Ernest Hemingway: “Dinner: Get a nice salmon filet at the supermarket, not too big. Put some olive oil and lemon juice on it. Wrap it in damp paper towels. Nuke it in the microwave for 3 minutes or so. Eat it. Maybe add a salad.”
Since King doesn’t mention a power setting, I assumed he meant to use full power. I should have known that things were taking a turn for the worse when I started to hear some ominous popping noises coming from the microwave! I’m pretty sure that’s when my fish was going from cooked through to very much overdone.
Unfortunately, three minutes at high power was way too long for a six-ounce fillet of salmon. Tested with a thermometer, it was practically at the boiling point. Whoops! Stephen King’s salmon recipe had turned into a horror story.
I soldiered on, removing the salmon from its covering of damp paper towels and plating it up with a salad, as per King’s serving suggestion. When I went to take a bite of the fish, it resembled canned tuna in its firmness. While it wasn’t great to eat on its own, it will be just fine repurposed as a salmon salad mixed up with mayo, lemon juice, celery, and some chopped capers.
Maybe Stephen King really likes very well-done salmon. Or maybe he has a microwave with a whole lot lower wattage than mine. Either way, this recipe definitely needs to be modified! I’d reduce his “3 minutes or so” to a minute and a half, checking the salmon for doneness with a thermometer at that point until you hit the temperature you’re comfortable with. The USDA recommends an internal temperature of 145°F for safety, though many chefs cook their salmon to just medium-rare, which is 20 degrees cooler than that.
Simply Recipes / Coco Morante
The Right Way To Make Stephen King’s 3-Minute Salmon
Trying and failing at Mr. King’s salmon method had me thinking of another authority on microwave cooking, the company Anyday. I use its lidded glass dishes to heat up frozen vegetables and also for the occasional serving of morning oatmeal. I hadn’t ventured into seafood cookery with them yet, but when I looked into it after the salmon debacle, it turns out there are plenty of microwave seafood recipes on the company’s website!
Like King, Anyday recommends cooking salmon for just a few minutes, but it specifically recommends setting your microwave power to level five, which on my particular appliance is labeled “50%.” With that advice in mind, I’m going to try it again. My suspicion is that the gentler heat will yield the best results for microwaving salmon without the scary ending!
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