Unilateral Cooking (Salmon Cooked on One Side)

Unilateral cooking means applying heat to only one side of a fish fillet. The fillet is laid skin-side down in a gently heated pan and never flipped, so it cooks slowly from the bottom up while the top stays barely warm. This yields a silken, almost confit-like interior rather than the firm, layered flake of a hard-seared piece. Keep the heat low, watch the line of opaque flesh rise up the side, and pull the fish while the top is still just-set — the carry-over heat finishes it. Patience, not high heat, is the whole point, and it is the method behind Eric Ripert's signature salmon.