How To Cook Salmon | Japanese Salted Salmon (Shiojake/Shiozake) 塩鮭
DECEMBER 2, 2012
It’s been almost a week since we came back from Taiwan and my family is finally back to our regular routine. After a long vacation, my family and I always miss eating simple Japanese food, like Hot Tofu (Yudofu) and this Salted Salmon (shiojake 塩鮭).
If you have been to Japan, you probably had tried or seen traditional Japanese breakfast similar to the picture below with Salted Salmon (Shiojake), rice, miso soup (I made Tonjiru), a vegetable side dish, and some egg (I made Tamagoyaki).
I used to buy prepared salted salmon from a Japanese supermarket for convenience, just pop them in the toaster oven for 25 min and they’re ready. However, the supermarket ones can be a bit salty.
Since my children loves salted salmon and its crispy skin, one day I decided to start making my own. Fresh good quality salmon and right amount of salt – that’s all you need to make salted salmon. It was ridiculously easy. And you can make a lot at once too and keep them frozen to enjoy at a later time. Since started making my own, I had never gone back to the prepared salted salmon from supermarket.
Before my trip to Taiwan, I made some again knowing that I’d miss simple food. I hope you will give it a try. Make sure to have good Japanese premium short grain rice to go with this. Hmm… nice to be home!
Ingredients:
- 1.1 lb (500 g) salmon with skin
- 1 Tbsp. sake
- 5 tsp. (25 g) sea salt (5% of salmon weight)
- lemon wedges (optional)
Instructions:
- Rinse the salmon under cold water and pat dry with paper towel. Slice the salmon diagonally if it’s not pre-cut.
- Pour and spread the sake on the salmon.
- After 10 minutes, pat dry the salmon with paper towel.
- Start applying sea salt on the skin first. We put more salt on the skin than the flesh area. The salty crispy skin is the best after it’s grilled!
- Sprinkle salt on both sides.
- Line the bottom of an air-tight container with paper towel. This will absorb extra moisture/water coming out from the salmon.
- Put the salmon and lay another sheet of paper towel on top.
- Then put the 2nd layer of salmon, and lay another sheet of paper towel on top.
- Keep in the refrigerator for at least 2 days. And this is after 2 days…
- Gently pat dry the salmon to get rid of any moisture. It’s now ready to cook.
- Place the salmon on foil-lined baking sheet (I usually don’t spray oil on foil as its a fatty fish and produce enough oil during the baking process). Make sure the skin side is up so it’ll become nice and crispy. Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes (depends on the thickness of your salmon). Ready to serve with a wedge of lemon.
- If you don’t cook right away, then after patting dry with paper towel (Step 10), pack the individual salmon nicely with plastic wrap and put it in Ziploc bag to freeze. You can store the salmon in freezer for up to 1 month. Remember to defrost before cooking.
Itadakimasu!
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