Spread 1/4 cup sesame seeds in a pie plate. Rub fillets with 2 tsp canola or vegetable oil, sprinkling with salt and ground black pepper, then pressing flesh sides of fillets in sesame seeds to coat.

Heat a 12-inch heavy-bottomed skillet for 3 minutes over high heat. Sprinkle salmon with salt and ground black pepper.

Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. When oil shimmers (but does not smoke) add fillets skin side down and cook, without moving fillets, until pan regains lost heat, about 30 seconds. Reduce heat to medium-high; continue to cook until skin side is well browned and bottom half of fillets turns opaque, 4-1/2 minutes. Turn fillets and cook, without moving them, until they are no longer translucent on the exterior and are firm, but not hard, when gently squeezed: 3 minutes for medium-rare and 3-1/2 minutes for medium. Remove fillets from pan; let stand 1 minute. Pat with paper towel to absorb excess fat on surface, if desired. Serve immediately.

Be careful not to break sesame crust when removing fillets from pan.

For heightened sesame flavor, rub the fish fillets with Asian sesame oil instead of canola or vegetable. If you pair this variation with butterflied fillets, double the quantity of sesame seeds and coat both sides of each fillet.