Grilled Salted Salmon (Shiozake)
A great protein staple for a Japanese set meal. Prep several portions in advance and store in the freezer until ready to thaw and cook.
Equipment
- 1 cooking pan preferrably nonstick
Ingredients
- 4 1-in width piece of salmon cut perpendicular to the fillet
- 1 TBSP rice vinegar
- 3 TBSP sake
- 1/2-1 tsp salt
- water as needed
Instructions
Prep the Salmon
- Cut and clean the salmon into 1 inch width strips and place into a tight glass container. You want to have minimal space between the fillets so that the fish can get fully covered by the salt marinade. Alternatively, you can use airtight plastic bags.
- Mix rice vinegar, salt, and sake into a bowl in order to dissolve the salt
- pour mixture into glass container over the sake.
- Top off with water as necessary.
- Store in the fridge overnight (or for 1 hr min) or store in the freezer and remove to defrost when ready.
Grill the Salmon
- Take out the salmon pieces, 1 per person. Pat dry with paper towel
- In a medium heat pan, add a drizzle of oil, then place salmon skin-side down first (if the salmon has skin. If it doesn't than any side is fine) and let grill for 2 minutes
- Flip to each size and let grill for 1-2 minutes until there's no more pink. In total, the salmon pieces should cook 8-10 minutes in the pan
- Serve with rice and a vegetable side dish.
Notes
This recipe soaks the salmon in sake and vinegar in addition to salt. This helps remove the "fishiness" smell and taste and leave a salty, savory fish dish.
I highly recommend using King salmon or Atlantic salmon for this dish. The fat content of these two types of salmon is higher than the others and makes for a more flavorful and tender dish.