…in a cast iron pan. Might not end up being salmon, but that’s the lead contender for dinner this weekend or early next week.
Any suggestions for this? Do this dont do that pull up luke evasive action run away its a trap? Never cooked fish before, let alone in cast iron.
Right now I think bok choy is going to be the primary veggie with the fish.
I’ve cooked fish, including salmon, in cast iron with no problem.
(Various ways, here’s one: in a bit of olive oil, on medium heat, sauté briefly onions, garlic, fully ripe sweet peppers of various colors; add the fish; salt and pepper to taste; cook on one side, then the other, possibly with a lid on part of the time, just until it’s done enough to flake.)
If you’ve never used cast iron before: it takes longer to heat up and to cool down than most pans. Don’t burn yourself on the still-hot pan shortly after you turned the heat off!
What kind of salmon? What cut?
I am familiar with quite fatty fillets, which don’t need added fat to saute. Wild salmon, you might need it.
Generally, I place the fillet in a cold to warm pan, skin side down, and have the heat at low-medium. Pepper the top. Cover. Let the fillet warm. Eventually, the skin will crisp, and the fillet will more or less release. (Crunchy bits left behind are great on the side or over the finished fillet.) Cook the other side until the top is nice and browned. You might notice the bottom of the fillet is dark meat and/or squiggly with the layer of fat & stuff between the meat and skin. Flip the fillet again, and make sure the squiggly layer gets cooked too. The salmon should be done then, and not overcooked. The Scottish or Norwegian aquaculture fish I use is quite fatty, and hard to overcook. Yukon/Copper River Sockeye or Coho fillets might not be so forgiving.
Serve with whatever. I serve them for breakfast with eggs, as a topping for luncheon salad, or as a protein with bok choy or asparagus.
The cast iron I’m getting a grip on. Been using it pretty exclusively the past couple weeks since making the best damn steaks I’ve ever made in it. Never really considered it anything really special but everything I’ve made so far has come out cooking show perfect(well close to it anyway)
But, not really being a fish cooking guy, thought I better ask first
Not sure yet Gray Ghost. This is still in the planning stages and haven’t bought the fish yet. What would you recommend with bok choy?
Now that I think of it, the problem with cooking fish in cast iron is that the smell and bits tend to linger, IME, if you don’t have enameled cast iron. IE, you’ll want to use soap to get the fish out of your pan, and that’s going to play hell with your seasoning. Although, the fish I cook, again, is pretty fatty, and maybe a less fatty fish won’t be as persistently pervasive? Oh, also watch your heat. You want it browned, but you definitely don’t want it to burn or smoke. (Though I have very lightly smoked this salmon in its own fat, in a covered pan, over very controlled heat. Turned out great.)
All I’m saying is, you don’t have to use cast iron for this. Contrast with, e.g., ‘black and blue’ beef steak.
I cook really simply. Various medical reasons and such.
Usually, I just steam the bok choy in a steamer. Whole mini florets (I like the Shanghai style bok choy—obviously adjust for different kinds of veggies. The idea is the stems can take longer to cook than the leaves, so do those first. If steaming though, I hadn’t noticed a big difference in just cutting it up and throwing it into the steamer.). Anyway, florets halved or quartered. Or leave them whole. Into the steamer for 6-7 minutes in the microwave. Plate. As I wrote, really simple.
I have done, in a separate pan, chopped sauteed bok choy (stems first, leaves last) with things like ginger, garlic, and chilis. Maybe some salmon stock at the end to deglaze, and get those yummy bits eventually onto my food. Maybe half a white onion chopped with the stems of bok choy? She seems to like what i do. If you’re not watching your salt, the making a finishing glaze with good soy sauce and cornstarch is usually a winner.
There are much better chefs at the SDMB than me; I just cook a lot of salmon, so this is an area i thought I could help.
Any reason you’re determined to use cast iron?
I swear by the method outlined below, but I just realized it specifies a stainless steel pan, and I think cast iron may take too long to heat up. (You lay the fish in a cold pan, then start the heat.) However, stainless has the advantage of being scrubbable and soapable, so no lingering odor.
For cast iron, I’d use thinner fillets, start them in a hot pan, then don’t flip them. By the time the cooked side sears enough to release, the salmon should be cooked enough. (I like my salmon translucent.) The downside is you either have zero sear on the flesh, or not-crispy skin.
Since I’m a whore for crispy skin, I’d sear them skin side down, and serve skin side up with the cooked but not seared meat facing down into the sauce.
I guess it doesn’t have to be cooked in cast iron. I’m open to any suggestions on how to cook fish.
I specified the cast iron because I’m new to using it consistently and properly and everything I’ve made for the past couple weeks in it has come out looking like something you’d see on a cooking show. So I’m sorta in this honeymoon phase and want to cook everything in it.
But again, I’m open to any suggestions regarding fish cooking
Not cast iron, but thought I’d offer this ridiculously simple foolproof recipe.
Heat the grill to VERY hot (my gas grill maxes out somewhere over 500F)
Rinse salmon
Tear off piece of aluminum foil slightly larger than the piece of fish
Fold edges of foil up (to contain oil)
Place fish on foil, skin side down - if skinless, spray non-stick coating. If skin-on, do not coat.
If you have lemon juice/lemon, rub some on the fish. If not, no big deal.
Generously sprinkle parsley on fish - fresh if you have it, dried is fine
Cover with thin layer of bread crumbs (from a can)
Cover with generous layer of parmesan - the stuff in a can is fine
Place foil on grill - reduce heat right under fish to medium - to prevent burning. Overall grill temp remains above 500F.
Close grill cover and let cook - 20-ish minutes for small/thin slices, 25-ish minutes for large/thick. No need to flip, turn, watch, etc. Just note the time on your watch, and go get it when it is done.
I usually pull the foil onto a plate (using my fingers - the corner doesn’t seem too hot, but I play bass/banjo so I have callouses…), and bring it inside to the kitchen counter, but I suppose you could plate directly from the grill
Remove fish from foil with metal spatula. If fish has skin, slide spatula between skin and fish - skin sticks to the pan.
Throw out foil - NO pans to clean up! 
That’s it. Enjoy. That looks like a lot of steps, but I was being ridiculously thorough. This is so easy, and so good. We regularly serve this to guests, who consistently rave about it. We’ve eaten a lot of salmon in restaurants. Have had much that is very good, but not sure any (other than fresh caught that day in Alaska) was any better!
This probably won’t work for the OP, but I’ll throw in my favorite way of cooking salmon on the grill for those who see the thread title and come in search of recipes:
EDIT: I just noticed in the previous post Dinsdale’s technique, if not his recipe, is very similar to mine. Bit of a ninja’ing? 
Anyway, Dinsdale’s recipe sounds good too, I may try it next time I pick up some salmon!
Interesting. I don’t use soap on my cast iron, and I’ve never had that problem after cooking fish. I just scrub the pan out well with plain water and a nylon scrubbie, and dry it on the stove.
A different super-simple way to cook salmon:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Cut skin-on salmon into individual single serving pieces ~4-6 oz each. If you buy a whole frozen side it may already be scored that way and all you need to do is finish separating the individual pieces. In any case, ensure the fish is fully defrosted.
Get a glass baking dish big enough to lay the salmon out flat with at least 1/4" air space around each piece.
Coat entire dish interior lightly with olive oil or cooking spray. Lay the salmon out in the pan skin side down. Crack a LOT of black pepper over the top, plus maybe some dill if you like. Of course any other spicing you like can work too.
Put the pan in the hot oven for 25 minutes.
Remove pan from oven and use a wide spatula to gently pry fish out of pan, trying to keep the skin on the fish. Some skin may stick to the pan, but most won’t. Be patient & gentle and you’ll lift out the whole fillet as one piece. If the skin sticks, coat the pan a little more heavily with oil next time.
Eat the yummy fish. Some folks eat the skin; other’s don’t. Either way is fine. Depending on how well-cooked you like your fish, 25 minutes may be a little too long. If so, shorten to 20 minutes next time.
Depending on how much skin sticks to the pan, cleanup will look scary. Just soak it with hot soapy water for a couple hours and it’ll almost wipe clean with a paper towel. Easy peasy.
Yeah - however you want to season it, and whether you use charcoal or gas, you should at least TRY cooking salmon using foil on the grill.
NOTE: - I USED to make a point of buying heavy duty foil, and when I stopped that, I USED to double the foil. But then - being cheap and lazy - I decided to try just a single sheet of regular foil. Works just fine - just requires that you pay a tad more attention to how you put it on and off the grill, and may tear when separating the skin - but easily removable.
Regardless of how you cook the salmon, be careful not to overcook it. I usually grill salmon skin down, without turning, until is is just barely rare. I then remove it to a warmed platter and cover it with foil. Allow to stand five minutes then serve.
You must be less clumsy than me-- whenever I use only one layer of foil when liquid and grilling is involved, I will inevitably pierce or tear it somehow and spring a leak 
Cajun Salmon Rub
1 tsp cumin seed
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried thyme
2 TBSP chilli powder
Big pinch pepper
Big pinch salt
Should be enough for 1 lb salmon
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. You can use salmon filets, or you can cut the filets into 2-inch squares for appetisers. Press the flesh side and the skin side of the salmon into the rub. Heat olive oil in a cast-iron pan to just below the smoke point. Cook the fish for… Oh, I don’t know. Maybe four minutes, maximum. Depends on the thickness of the fish. Turn the fish, and cook for two minutes. Put into the hot oven and cook for a couple/few minutes. The trick is to not over-cook, which dries the fish out.
Serve with mac’n’cheese, and steamed broccoli.
I usually do salmon in the broiler.
Rinse & dry the salmon and place skin-down in a foil lined pan (I use a Pyrex baking dish) that’s been lightly coated in olive oil.
Take a lemon and use a vegetable peeler to peel ribbons of peel off.
Pinch the ribbons yellow side down to spray the lemon oil over the fish.
Cut the lemon in half and slice about 3 or 4 very thin rounds.
Squeeze the juice from the remaining lemon halves over the fish.
Season with salt, pepper, maybe some thyme, whatever you like.
Cover the majority of the fish with the pinched peels and rounds, especially thinner parts that will cook more quickly.
Move the rack to the top position (broiler’s at the top of my oven) and broil on high.
I’m not sure timing but start taking temperatures when the peels blacken.
About 120-130 F is good.
I’ve never cooked salmon in cast iron as I don’t like salmon, but I’ve cooked big fatty mackerel in a cast iron pan. To remove the smell I just boiled it out with water for a while, changing the water a few times. It’s been fine after that and it kept the seasoning. I’ve also heard you can rub the pan with salt and cook it, then scrub it and redo the process above if just boiling it out fails.
If you like salmon, try steelhead trout. 