— Gina Windisch

Let's talk about the topic of baking salmon for your kids. Um, you know, in terms of a flavor ring, you know, one thing that comes to mind that you might give a try, uh, is miso paste. You know, to smear just a thin layer of miso paste over the top of that, uh, can add some very nice flavor. Uh, miso comes in, uh, a number of different styles, and any one can work very nicely. So if you want to go down this path, choose a, a style light dark. You can mix 'em, you can try other varieties. Uh, try any style that appeals to you and give it a try. And you might also consider marinating the salmon, and you can, uh, you know, try a, a soy sauce based marinade, uh, if you like that sort of, um, uh, an Asian or East, east Asian flavor profile. And, um, you know, you can also, um, uh, look at any other sort of favorite regional cuisine and, uh, pick up a, a marinade, uh, real, just a basic marinade. You know, two or three, four ingredients would be plenty, uh, to infuse some flavor into that salmon before you bake it. Okay? Uh, the other thing that I wanna mention here is your baking time of 30 minutes. And it, it all depends on the size of the salmon and, and how you're, you're fabricating it or cutting it down, uh, for cooking. But in general, 30 minutes sounds like an excessively long time, uh, which probably results in a little bit of unnecessary drying of the fish. So, you know, I would recommend trying to cut back as much as you can on the baking time so that you can hit it, uh, uh, you know, in other words, pull it outta the oven when it's just done. And this will, uh, you know, optimize or maximize the moisture. And that'll make the, the mouth feel and, and the flavor that you sense on the palate, um, even better than salmon. That's too dry. Okay? And then the next part is you mentioned that your kids won't eat it. So I am gonna encourage you to bring your kids into the kitchen to help make dinner. Uh, it's very common that when children, uh, have some skin in the game, hopefully, not literally, okay, but they have some effort, um, some engagement in their meal preparation, that they're more apt to eat it. And part of that has to do with the trust, uh, because they're, you know, their own hands, uh, or in on the preparation. Um, and of course, it was just the interactivity, the, the, the, uh, excitement, the fun that comes along with being involved in a project. Um, they're a stakeholder, uh, at that point. So try to get them in the kitchen to rub on some of that miso paste in a very thin layer, or to mix the, uh, ingredients that go into the marinade and to put that, um, salmon, you know, into that, uh, that container with the marinade. And then, um, you know, have them go all the way through to the, you know, putting the, the, um, product into the oven, you know, after they set the temperature, letting it warm up, of course. Um, and then learning to test for doneness. And this is gonna be important for the salmon project in front of you, Gina, but also for any cooking that any of us do. A, a very important benchmark throughout the process is the last one. And that is, um, to detect, um, proper doneness or to gauge proper doneness. So for your salmon, uh, you're gonna look for a couple of things. You know, one will be, uh, you, you'll start to see some of the white spots, uh, which, uh, is albumin coming out, uh, from the muscle tissue. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's completely edible. Some people might say that visually it's a little unappealing. Um, but, um, this, it's, it's a natural process, okay? But as some of that albumin comes to the surface, uh, you're, you're at or pretty close to doneness. Uh, another thing that you can do is, um, uh, you can start to poke at the meat, and you'll start to see the, the flesh, uh, sort of loosen up, uh, and, and flake. Okay? And, uh, that's also gonna be a sign of doneness. And then ultimately, uh, you wanna check, uh, the doneness at the thickest part, uh, of the fish or any other meat, um, or anything else, right? That you might be cooking. The, the thinner edges as the meat tapers, of course, will cook faster, but it's ultimately the center thickest portion that you want to ensure, uh, is thoroughly cooked. Okay? And again, we don't need to overcook it. We just want to, uh, see that, um, um, the, the, the proteins are coagulated. All right? And so at this point, if you're practicing this process of gauging doneness, don't hesitate to bring out a knife and just slice into it and draw, open the meat and look at the center to see where it is. And you're going to start to, uh, to understand the timing versus the oven temperature versus other visual or tactile cues that inform proper dentists in the center as well. Okay? So put all this stuff together, bring the kids in the, in the kitchen, and have some fun.