Broiled Salmon

Saumon grillé teaches one true thing about rich fish: color and doneness need different heats. A brisk fire bronzes the buttered surface; gentler heat carries that warmth to the center without drying it. The change of heat is not a convenience. It is the dish.

The original kitchen assumed a grillman tending brisk and moderate zones over the same fire, with thick salmon slices cut for a large service. Your overhead broiler and two rack positions are the honest home equivalent. Four center-cut steaks replace the brigade platter, and the prepared compound butter waits beside the stove rather than becoming another job while the fish cools. The grill station was scaffolding; thick slices and two-stage heat must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

When it is right, the salmon arrives bronzed at the edges, moist and coral within, with Butter à la Maître d’Hôtel or anchovy butter slipping into every warm seam. Before you touch the broiler pan, remember the step that decides everything: as soon as the surface has real color, moderate the heat.