Man Cooking, the Salmon Edition

When I was a young man, of about as many years as an octopus has legs, my parents passed on a few lessons that would stick with me for the rest of my life. Some, I would find to be very important and consciously applicable to situations. Others were just guidelines for daily life.

Treat your friends like someone you care about, shut your mouth and listen, don't give in to popular belief.

Of course I paid a bit more attention to the lessons that involved girls. “Stand up straight. Girls like boys with good posture, not limp noodles,” my mother would say. Today, I stand my full 6'4″ height. She also told me, “Girls love a guy that knows how to cook.”

And so, I learned to cook.

One thing I learned along the way was that it doesn't always have to be complicated. Two movies I like with Mathew Mchonihay (screw the spelling, I'm not even gonna try) happen to be “chick flicks.” Failure to Launch and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. I just realized typing this that both have a plot line involving the subversion of the man. Interesting. But another thing they have in common is a distinct cooking scene, followed by either some type of fight or meltdown. In both scenes, Mchonahay is seen slaving over the stove for the perfect “Home Cooking” magazine presentation.

In the movie, this amount of effort and pressure is presented as something required for the desired reward. I, however, have no interest in doing this all the time. Maybe once in while, but if i want to be considered a cook and show a girl I can do it regularly, I sure as heck don't want to end the night on 20 dishes to wash.

So I learned to keep it simple.

One such simple dish and presentation with a big value is salmon. I don't know where this idea came from that I hear from my friends that fish is hard. IT'S EASY!!!

In this case, select a nice piece of salmon. Make sure it's fresh and has an even pink color. When opened, it should not smell like fish in a trash can. In fact, the odor should be mild.

Take a frying pan and dash in approximately 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Turn the heat up to medium and place the salmon filet in the pan (swirl the oil around a bit first to make clean-up easier). Sprinkle a dash of garlic salt and cayenne or other desired pepper on top evenly. Give it about 8 minutes on each side while sizzling. Then pull it off and plate. It should be noted that garlic salt is a strong flavor, so give it a taste first and don't over do it.

Throw a microwavable vegetable with it and you've got yourself a fancy meal.

If you like to have a sauce to add extra tang, I have a quick throw-together solution. 1/4 cup of mayonnaise in a small bowl with about 1/8 cup of Sriracha. You can also add capers if you have them, or some fresh cilantro. Mix until smooth and BAM. Use a dab of this spice mix and you are set.

Go get em, tiger.