Tommi Tuominen’s tips for cooking baked fish

Never overcook fish. Mari Moilanen

Chef and restaurateur Tommi Tuominen tells what not to do to the fish.

Tuominen is used to eating “running salmon” in his childhood. Its definition is in its simplicity: Salmon baked in the oven, which becomes too dry.

– Fish in the oven and go for a run. This is how it is traditionally done in Finland, says Tuominen, the restaurateur and chef of the Michelin-starred restaurants Demon and Finnjävel Salon.

According to Tuominen, baked salmon was often available at home in his childhood and youth. Baked salmon was really trendy at the turn of the 80s and 90s and was eaten a lot.

– We put a layer of sour cream on it and forgot to put it in the oven.

In this way nothing but dry fish is born. Tuominen reminds us that completely overcooking salmon can spoil it effectively. The same goes for all fish.

Despite Finnish custom, salmon should be eaten when it is still pink inside.

– I have often wondered why we dry fish. Are we afraid of parasites, so the fish is fried so well?

Make baked salmon like this

Tuominen has also eaten good baked salmon, and often. However, it is quite easy to do, he reminds.

– The easiest way to bake salmon at home is to set the oven temperature to full. And when the oven is hot, put the salmon in the oven and let it be for a couple of minutes. After that, turn off the oven completely and leave the fish for another 10 minutes in the afterheat of the oven.

Of course, the post-heating time depends on the size of the fish. Rainbow salmon or smaller salmon takes several minutes less time than big jötkäle salmon.

You should check the doneness of the fish by looking. Tuominen advises to slide the tip of the knife into the fish and slightly open it to see if it’s juicy pink inside. So done.

Tuominen knows that home cooks may have a little doubt whether the fish is still raw after all.

– There is nothing dangerous about eating raw fish. It’s a bit surprising that sushi is eaten a lot, but if the cooked fish is even a little bit raw in the middle, you can’t eat it.

Recently, the restaurant’s customers have not sent fish dishes back to the kitchen.

Browned butter is perfect

When Tuominen himself cooks baked salmon at home, he likes to put some chopped vegetables, for example fennel, on top of the fish. It roasts nicely with fish.

– Sour cream isn’t bad either, but it could be seasoned with Dijon mustard, for example. And one excellent fish sauce is browned butter with a splash of soy sauce and horseradish. It’s really good with fish.

The darker the browned butter, the tastier. But of course you can’t get back. Tuominen leaves the whey in the butter, because according to him, it has the majority of the flavor. Then just mix in a splash of soy (1 tablespoon of soy per dai butter) and grate the horseradish.

The salmon is salted about 10-15 minutes before putting it in the oven and butter soy sauce is spread on the surface of the cooked fish.

Also a restaurateur and a cook With Sikke Sumari is a good tip for cooking fish.

Light fish, such as pike, is really easy to cook in a cream sauce, advises Sumari, who runs Sikke’s and Haukilahti’s pearl.

Thanks to the cream sauce, the fish will not accidentally become dry. A good and easy sauce is created when you saute an onion in a pan, add a splash of white wine, finally cream and salt. The fish fillets are cooked in the sauce.

Many people want to fry the fish until it is crispy on the surface, but at the same time it must be juicy on the inside.

– The fish is only fried on one side, and when a small drop of protein appears on the meat side, you have to take the fish out of the pan, says Sumari.