Japanese Salmon

The key to Jess's heart.

If I ask Jess what he wants for dinner, this is what he requests. It's his favorite birthday dinner, anniversary dinner, weekend dinner, weekday dinner, and on the rare occasion that there's been leftovers, it's his favorite breakfast or lunch the next day. 

Our host mother in Japan prepared super-salty salmon with breakfast every day. I think it was probably belly salmon (our mediocre communication skills did not let us learn what part of the salmon it was), and she either broiled it or cooked it in a very hot pan on the stove. When we got back home, I set out to make something similar. I ended up working from this recipe, which I've modified only slightly over time.

This recipe is definitely salty, which we like, and it also overcooks the salmon a bit. It's like 1/50th the way toward salmon jerky. If you like your salmon moist and and subtly seasoned, this is not your dish. 

There should be a visible amount of salt.

The first, important step, is to draw some moisture out of the salmon by salting both sides and letting it sit out for 10 minutes. Then, you pat both sides very dry with a paper towel before cooking it at extremely high heat. That way, you can get a really good sear.

Very hot pan and oil. Don't wear your fancy clothes.

During college (and for some years afterward), my favorite restaurant was Pho Grand in St. Louis. I always got the Cari Tom, despite how good their pho was, and this was 90% because of these mysterious delicious sweet crunchy things that they put on top of the shrimp. Over different visits, I think I asked 4 different servers what the garnish was. Three said they didn't know and one thought it was some kind of fried seafood. Were they protecting their secret? Years later, I had fried shallots and instantly knew that I had discovered the mystery garnish. It makes everything better. But if you don't have a shallot handy, green onions are really good in this recipe too.

My favorite topping for all things remotely Asian.

The Recipe:

2 salmon filets

1 tb sesame oil

1 tb vegetable oil

2 tb rice vinegar

2 tb sake (I've also used red wine in a pinch, and it works)

1 tb soy sauce

1 shallot or 2 green onions, sliced

• Generously salt both sides of the salmon filets. Leave the salted salmon out at room temperature for 10 minutes.
• Thoroughly dry both sides of the salmon with a paper towel.
• Combine the two oils in a pan and bring to high heat.
• Place the salmon skin side down in the pan and cook for about 4 minutes.
• Turn the salmon over. If you do not want to eat the skin, it is easy to peel off at this point. Cook on the second side for about 3 minutes.
• If you peeled off the salmon skin, flip again and cook for about a minute to brown the side where the skin used to be.
• Move the salmon to a plate. Pour the sake, vinegar, and soy sauce into the pan and scrape any salmon bits off the bottom of the pan.
• Add the shallot or green onions to the pan and cook for 1 minute. (Alternatively, if you want the shallot very crispy, fry it separately in vegetable oil.)
• Return the salmon to the pan with the sauce and turn the heat down to medium-low. Spoon some of the sauce over the salmon and let it warm through for about 3 minutes.
• Serve over rice.

The Verdict:

Overall grade: A+

Overall reason: Addictively delicious and reminiscent of things we ate in Japan

Time to prepare: 20 minutes

Husband quote: "If you could only make one meal, it should be this."