When salmon skin is cooked well, it’s heaven: Crispy, fatty, and savory. But this can be ruined when you cook the wrong side first. If you pick the wrong side for your cooking method, the salmon skin will steam instead of crisping up, and all of the fat that usually makes it crunchy will instead become gelatinous and oily.
The side you should place it down on first depends entirely on which cooking method you’re using. If you’re frying salmon, you should always start skin-side down and keep it that way for the majority of the cooking process. This will give the skin the necessary amount of time to crisp properly and will save you from overcooking the salmon flesh if you try to do it the other way around. The same goes for if you’re cooking the fish on a grill or a barbecue.
If you’re baking, roasting, or broiling salmon, however, your salmon should be flipped. Cooking it skin-side up gives it constant contact with dry heat, which will allow the skin to get gradually crispy. It also means that the fat in the skin doesn’t get trapped underneath the fish, pooling on your baking sheet, and instead melts and moistens the meat.
