Teriyaki Salmon

Teriyaki Salmon

Teriyaki Salmon

When you go to an American grocery store, you will see countless varieties of pretty horrible tasting bottled teriyaki sauces on the shelves. Honestly, because of this, teriyaki has always been a huge turnoff for me. They all have too much salt and extra ingredients that you don’t need. Puke. In a Japanese grocery store, you won’t find any. Why? Because every household in Japan makes their own. The best part is, real Japanese teriyaki only has 4 ingredients: mirin, sake, soy sauce, and sugar. It’s simple with a proper balance of sweet and salty.
Japanese-style teriyaki Salmon is so much more complex than putting a sauce on salmon. The Japanese fillet their salmon at a 30 degree angle 1/2”-1” thick with the skin on instead of cutting a straight on 90 degrees portion out of the fillet. Cutting the salmon this way will do several things. It gives the salmon a wider spread of the flesh, allowing it to absorb the teriyaki. That also means that the fillets won’t require marination. Since the fillets are thinner, the salmon fillets will cook a lot faster and more evenly.
It is highly important to leave the skin on the salmon while cooking. I feel that I have to repeat this again because of all the recipes I see out there removing the skin before cooking salmon. IT IS HIGHLY IMPORTANT TO LEAVE THE SKIN ON THE SALMON WHILE COOKING. For several reasons…The skin holds the fillets together. If I were to remove the skin before cooking this salmon, you’d have flaked salmon in teriyaki sauce…Between the flesh and the skin is a nice layer of fat where you get your omega 3 fatty acids. You are throwing away essential nutrients by removing the skin…It also keeps your salmon moist…Nobody said you have to eat the skin. LEAVE IT ON! I bet the same people that remove the salmon skin eat boneless skinless chicken breasts with their snotty children, Cooper and Emily.
End of angry rant.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time8 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: East Asian, fish, Japanese, main course
Author: Alex Gorgos

Ingredients

  • 1 lb salmon fillet head end of fillet
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • cracked black pepper
  • 3 tbsp flour
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp sake or rice wine

Teriyaki Sauce

  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp mirin
  • 1 tbsp sake
  • 1 tbsp sugar

Instructions

How to fillet salmon Japanese-style

  • Instead of straight on cutting smaller portioned fillets out of the whole one, the Japanese will cut the fillets 1” thick at a 30 degree angle.
    Japanese, main course, fish
  • Thinly cutting the salmon this way gives a wider spread of the flesh, allowing to absorb more of the teriyaki.
    Japanese, main course, fish
  • Cut the entire fillet.
    Japanese, main course, fish

Teriyaki Salmon

  • Season each fillet with salt and pepper. Dust the fillets in flour. Shake off any excess.
    Japanese, main course, fish
  • Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add in the salmon fillets skin side down. Sear for 3 minutes.
    Japanese, main course, fish
  • Flip over. Add the saki and cover, cooking for another 3 minutes. Remove from the pan.
    Japanese, main course, fish
  • Mix together all of the teriyaki ingredients.
    Japanese, main course, fish
  • Pour in the pan.
    Japanese, main course, fish
  • Once it starts to boil, add the salmon fillets back in.
    Japanese, main course, fish
  • Toss and coat each side in the teriyaki sauce.
    Japanese, main course, fish
Japanese, main course, fish