How to Bake Salmon in the Oven (Lemon Garlic Butter)

Take the salmon out of the fridge about 15 minutes before you plan to cook it. Cold fish straight from the fridge cooks unevenly, the same way a cold steak does - the outside runs ahead of the middle.

Leave the skin on. It peels away easily once the fish is cooked, and it protects the bottom of the fillet in the oven. Lisa uses thick King salmon here, but coho or sockeye work the same way, so buy whatever is in season or in budget.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Lay the fillets skin-side down in a baking dish or on a rimmed baking sheet, spaced slightly apart so hot air can move between them.

Parchment paper underneath makes lifting them out easier, though at this temperature the salmon rarely sticks either way. A ceramic or enamel dish holds heat evenly and goes straight to the table.

Melt two tablespoons of butter in the microwave, 10 to 20 seconds. You want it liquid but not hot, and definitely not spitting up the sides of the bowl.

Squeeze in about half a tablespoon of lemon juice, roughly a quarter of a lemon. Catch the seeds in your hand as you squeeze. Stir the two together.

Brush the lemon butter generously across the top of each fillet, right to the edges. This is what keeps the surface from drying out and gives the finished salmon its glossy look.

No pastry brush? Spoon it over the top instead and nudge it around with the back of the spoon. It works the same.

Mince three cloves of garlic and scatter them over the salmon. Sprinkling the garlic on top rather than stirring it into the butter spreads it more evenly across the fillets.

Season with salt and cracked black pepper, then tuck a few lemon slices around the fish. Those slices go soft and juicy in the oven and are worth squeezing over the salmon at the table.

Slide the dish onto the middle rack. Twelve to fifteen minutes is the range, and where you land inside it depends on how thick your fillets are.

Set a timer. Salmon goes from moist to chalky in a couple of minutes, and it is the easiest thing in the world to forget about while you are doing something else.

Chop about a teaspoon each of fresh parsley and dill. The herbs go on after the salmon comes out, never before.

Dill singes quickly in a hot oven and you end up with burnt black specks across the top. Parsley holds up a little better, but both taste fresher added at the end.

Scatter the chopped parsley and dill over the hot salmon and lift the fillets onto plates with a wide spatula. The skin usually stays behind in the dish, which saves you a job.

Garlic, butter, lemon and herbs go with almost anything. Mashed potatoes and green beans are the pairing here. Squeeze one of those baked lemon slices over the top before you eat.