You see this technique everywhere now in every restaurant, but I want to say that I am the hipster of this technique as a home cook when I was 13 years old… joking… (but actually). I learned this from Gordon Ramsay’s The F Word when he was still a screaming terrifying chef (not his soothing MasterClass rebrand).
Scoring the skin like this allows you to get an ultra-crispy finish on the salmon (or any fish for that matter). This is because it allows the fat to render out of the skin and crisp up.
Ingredients:
Salmon
Salt & Pepper
Olive Oil
Directions:
Bring a non-stick pan to medium heat
Grasp the salmon filet and bend so a little crescent shape is created with the skin side up
Use your knife [I recommend one of mine :) ] and slice through the skin and flesh, without actually breaking through the other side of the meat or going to the complete edge of the skin (you do not want strips of skin falling off the fish, nor do you want fish sticks)
Salt and pepper your fish, be sure to get into the canals of the cut fish (if you’re feeling fancy, you can add other herbs in between)
Put the pan on medium, when it gets hot, splash a bit of olive oil (salmon is very oily so it doesn't take much)
Place fish skin side down
Leave for 10 minutes or until the three quarters up the fish’s edge turns opaque
Flip and cook for another 3-5 minutes or until the fish is completely cooked
Done.