Simply marinating salmon with mirin (味醂), soy sauce and sugar will transform the salmon to a different level. All you need is time to marinate it. Salmon mirin-zuke (味醂漬け) is delicious even when it’s cold.
As you know, Japanese people eat quite a lot of fish which, according to recent studies, contributes to the secret behind their long life expectancy. I love fish very much. I think that I became fonder of fish as I got older. Perhaps, the body demands it? So I frequently go to the fish shop near my home in search of good fish.
When fresh fish is sold at a good price, I buy 2 or 3 times more than I need so that I can preserve the extra fish in marinade or by drying them. In fact, at this very moment, while I am writing this post, I have 6 fish fillets in two different marinades.
Unlike in Japan, you find very little variety of marinated fish or dried fish sold in Sydney. They are sold frozen at Japanese grocery stores and very expensive. So making marinated fish at home works well for me and it is so easy. I sometimes dry fish as well. I am hoping that I can introduce ‘how to dry fish the Japanese way’ some time in future.
There are quite a few different kinds of marinades used for fish but typical marinades are based on miso (味噌), saikyo miso (西京味噌, sweet miso originated in Kyoto), sake kasu (酒粕, sake lees), and mirin. You will need to marinate the fish at least over night, and sometimes 2-3 days. Making the marinade is very simple. The only down side of the marinated fish is the time factor as you have to plan ahead of time to be ready for dinner.
Making Japanese Style Salmon Fillets
It might be hard to recognize from the photos but I used salmon cutlet (steak), not salmon fillet, because it will make the fish look closest to what you get in Japan which makes the dish more authentic. Also, the salmon cutlets marinate better than salmon fillets.
The cutlet is the cut where the fish is chopped perpendicular to the spine. See salmon cutlet picture below. It comes with bones in the middle unlike fillet.
I make two fillets from the cutlet by removing the bone in the middle (see the photo below). Starting from the top (the dorsal side), cut the flesh along the spinal bone, towards the belly.
You then need to remove the tiny bones embedded in the flesh. These bones are where the red circle is on the photo below. You can see the white dots on the orange surface which are the end of the bones. Use tweezers to remove them one by one. These bones are embedded in the flesh diagonally. Pull the bone in the same diagonal direction so the removal is easier and the flesh does not get damaged.
Japanese people are used to eating fish with bones in it (as they can remove even a tiny bone with chopsticks, I guess). It is not considered to be poor cooking etiquette like in Western culture, so I sometimes do not bother removing the bones. However, if you are serving the fish in fillet form, it is better to remove the bones so that your guest does not have to remove them when eating.
If you choose to use salmon fillets, you could slice the fillets into about a 1.5cm thickness but you might find that each fillet is rather small.
Marinating Salmon Fillets
Marinating is pretty simple, just mix the marinade ingredients together and put the mixture in a zip lock bag together with the salmon. You could marinate the salmon in a container, in which case, you may need to turn the fish over occasionally so that both sides of the fish fillet are well marinated. Today’s salmon mirin-zuke needs to be marinated at least overnight, though 2 nights is preferable.
Grilling Salmon Fillets
Because the fish is marinated with sweet mirin, it gets burnt easily if you cook the fish over a strong heat. In the case of oven grilling (heater at the top), place the fish on the second closest shelf to the heat. I use the oven grill but you can grill the fish on a BBQ or a cooktop. In the case of the BBQ or cooktop, use a medium heat.
I have a little Japanese fish griller (see the photo below) which I always use when grilling small whole fish or fillets. It comes with a metal tray with slits and a holder to secure the fish which goes over the tray. The grill holder can lock onto the tray so that you can lift the grill holder with or without the tray.
The fish griller is meant to be used over a cooktop so that the heat from the cooktop gets filtered through the slits of the tray and the fish gets cooked with gentle heat without burning it too quickly. But I hardly use it this way as the oil and juice from the fish drops onto the cook top and the cooktop becomes dirty and smells fishy.
Instead, I place two layers of foil on the tray, place the holder with fish on it and stick it under the oven grill (broiler). When the fish is cooked half way, you unlock the holder and turn it over to cook the other side. Most times I don’t need to wash the tray after use as the foil catches the oil and juice dropped from the fish!
You might be able to buy this kind of fish griller at a Japanese grocery store.
About Garnish
I find that salmon in Sydney contains a lot of fat compare to that of Japan. So I thought adding a vinegar based garnish would match with this grilled salmon. This simple garnish is called kohaku-namasu (紅白なます, red and white salad).
In Japanese culture, red and white are good luck colours. You will find these two colours used in weddings and births. Kohaku-namasu is one of the ‘must have’ dishes in Osechi-ryori (おせち料理, special dishes prepared for the New Year) for the obvious reason.
You can simply marinate julienned daikon (大根, white reddish) and carrots in sweet vinegar called amazu (甘酢). Please visit the recipe for amazu here. I presented the garnish separating red and white. This is not the traditional presentation of kohaku-namasu. Julienned daikon and carrots are usually mixed and marinated.
Yumiko
Salmon mirin-zuke is easy to make and delicious even when it’s cold. Simply marinating salmon with mirin, soy sauce and sugar will transform the salmon to a new level. All you need is time to marinate. The preparation time does not include the time to marinate which is 1-2 nights.
- 1 large salmon cutlet / steak , about 300-350g (0.8lb) (Note 1)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp of amazu (refer to my post, Japanese Dressings to make amazu)
- ¼ cup daikon (white radish), julienned
- ¼ cup carrots , julienned
-
Remove the bone from the cutlet to make two fillets. Starting from the top (the dorsal side), cut the flesh along the spinal bone, towards the belly. Using tweezers, remove the small bones embedded in the flesh which are on the both sides of the spinal bone (Note 2).
-
Salt the fish fillets on both sides and leave them for 10-15 minutes. This will extract moisture from the fish to reduce the fishy smell as well as to allow the marinade to penetrate better.
-
Mix the marinade ingredients well in a zip lock plastic back which is large enough to place the salmon fillets.
-
With a kitchen paper, wipe the moisture from the fillets and place the fillets into a zip lock bag with the marinade. Shake the bag to ensure that the marinade coats all sides of the fillets. Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible. Leave it in the fridge at least overnight, and up to 2 nights.
-
Remove the fillets from the bag (discard the marinade) and place them under the oven grill (broiler). Remember to place the fillets on the shelf 2nd closest to the heat. Alternatively, place the fillets on the BBQ or in a grill pan over medium heat. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the surface starts burning (Note 3).
-
Turn the fillets over and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Remove the fillets from the grill and place them on the serving plate.
-
While the fillets are cooking, mix the garnish ingredients together in a bowl and leave until required.
-
Place the garnish next to the fillets on the plate (if using) and serve immediately.
1. By removing the back bone, you make two salmon fillets from one cutlet. You could use salmon fillets and slice it into 1.5cm (⅝") thickness, but you might find each fillet a bit small and you may need to serve two fillets per person. If you use a salmon fillet without thinly slicing it, the marinade flavour may not penetrate into the thickest part of the flesh very much.
2. Tiny bones are embedded in the upper body of the salmon, and on both sides of the spinal bone. Run your finger over the flesh to feel the pointy end of each bone to locate them. The bones are embedded diagonally so remove them in the same diagonal direction. Removing them against the direction will make it harder to remove the bones, and it will also damage the flesh.
3. The marinade contains a lot of sugar so the fillets have a tendency to burn quickly. Therefore, do not place the fillets too close to direct heat as it will burn before the fillets have cooked through.
4. Salmon Mirin-zuke goes well with rice. It is suitable for lunchboxes as it is great even when served cold.
Hello!
Thank you so much for sharing all this recipes with us!
I have a couple of doubts…Which mirin do you use in your cooking?
I read just a couple of days ago that there’s hon mirin, aji mirin, mirin that probably is not mirin at all!
And can the hon mirin replace sake on a recipe that needs mirin and sake?
I live in Portugal and it’s not that easy to get specific ingredients like cooking sake for instance.
Thank you in advance!
Hi Nélia, hon mirin is what I use. It is the traditional real mirin. Others contain much less or zero alcohol but you can still use it. Apart from the difference in the amount of alcohol, hon mirin contains less sugar.
If you replace sake with the same quantity of mirin, you will make the dish too sweet. If mirin is used with sake and the amount of sake is small, I would replace sake with water. If the recipe uses sugar in addition to sake and mirin, you can replace sugar & sake with mirin (+water depending on the quantity of sake required). 1 tablespoon of sugar is equivalent to 1.5 tablespoon of mirin to get the similar sweetness.
Hi Yumiko,
Made this for dinner tonight. I was a little nervous about marinating so long, but this was delicious as are all the other recipes of yours I’ve tried. Sadly, that was the last of my mirin. Beautiful tutorial on making the steaks and deboning… thank you.
Hi Carmen, I am glad you enjoyed Salmon Mirin-zuke.
I love all your notes and recipes! Especially the fact that for some of the recipes, you have an accompanied meal plan. Very useful for me, since I often am not sure what sides or mains to pair the food with. Have also been interested in getting the Japanese grill that you showed. May I know whether if I grill it with the tray attached over the stove top, will the oil from the fish still spill to the cooktop?
Thanks!
Hi Lucbebe, thanks for your great feedback. Re grilling, do you mean the round metal tray that goes around the flame area? If so, the tray area is OK but the flame area gets oil drips, causing smokes.
I tried this recipe and it’s sooooo good! (Simple enough for amateurs like me too to boot!)
Thank you 🙂
By the way, will this work for other types of fishes? Or just salmon?
Hi Ana, I am glad you liked it! Mirinzuke can ben made with other kind of fish, e.g. tuna, kingfish, cod, snapper, etc.
Hello yumiko, since I have just started marinating the fish, I suppose I will make this recipe in about two days, however I have some questions: my fillets were less than 1.5 cm thick, that means the cooking time is shorter than the one indicated in the recipe? Also, the recipe states that you have to put the fish on the second shelf closest to the heat, but does this mean that I should use heat only on the top? Finally, I have never cooked a baked fish before, so I do not know how many degrees I should cook the fish.
As soon as I make the recipe, I will be commenting how it was!
Hi Ruth, correct. If the fish is thinner, it will be cooked faster. Cooking method is broiling, not baking so that the surface of the fish gets cooked. The heat should be max. I notice that the recipe is a bit confusing because I used the word ‘grill’. I should change it to broil. Thanks for asking!
Hello! May I know what would be the temperature if I want to grill it in the oven?
Oh and for how long, too.
You asked me at the right time. I am on holiday with several friends and just cooked marinated fish in the oven. I used 180C (356F) for about 15 minutes (pre-heated). Good luck.
Thank you!!
Sorry, I gave you a wrong information.
The temperature is correct but duration should be 8-10 minutes.
When I cooked it a couple of days ago, the fillet was very large as I marinated a half length of side of salmon, instead of sliced into individual portion.
This looks delicious! I’ve seen those grillers in Japanese grocery stores before but thought they were only for the BBQ! I didn’t realise you could use them in an oven griller as well!
PS I have just sat down and read your entire blog from start to finish – it’s so enjoyable to read! I studied Japanese at high school and uni, and even travelled to Japan with school. Your posts are making me natsukashii~! I haven’t cooked Japanese food at home for a long time, and reading your blog makes me want to get back in the kitchen!
Thank you very much, Sarah.
Yes, you can use grillers in the oven. Usually the handles come with plastic cover so that you can hold it while it is hot. But the covers should be able to remove. Just make sure that you don’t place the griller with plastic covers on!
Konnichiwa Yumiko-san! This salmon looks and sounds absolutely delicious! Salmon is one of my favorites. Here is the US this cut would be a salmon steak which is harder for me to find that a side of salmon (we live in VERY rural Tennessee). However one store in town which I refer to as our “upscale” grocery will order specific cuts for you. I need to have them place an order for me! So happy that you have a blog, a little competition for Nagi is a good thing! 🙂
Konnichiwa Dorothy-san.
Yes, of course, it is called “steak”. When I was still living in Japan, I cooked a salmon steak and it was this cut. So until I came to Australia, I thought it was called “steak cut”. I’ve lived here so long that I forgot about how I used call it back in Japan! I now remember thinking what on earth is a cutlet when I first saw it in Sydney fish market. You see in Japan, “katsuretsu” whose sound came from the word “cutlet” is a fried breaded sliced meat which is nothing to do with fish.
Yumiko san – you are a born teacher. I have learned more today from four parts of your post than from all the rest I have visited! [Absolutely no offence meant: case of horses for courses!]. Yes, I too began to eat more fish as the years passed. Love, love, love salmon to bits but it is becoming hard to get fresh line caught salmon and the Atlantic type [farmed, in our case around Tasmania mostly] may do more harm than good! Still love the taste and your way of preparing. Big lesson for me: that it is alright to marinate the fillets for such a long time, even preferable to do so. Will follow next time around: I work on the computer from home so can pick my time and wait 🙂 !!
Thanks for your kind words. I am glad that you learnt few things about the way Japanese cook.
I will one day post another marinated fish and this one must marinate 2-3 days!
Yumiko san This is great way to eat more fish! I love fish too and ate a lot when I was living in Japan as my father was a fisherman in small town in Wakayama. This will be in my weekly dinner 😀 Thank you for sharing this great recipe.
This is actually my sister’s recipe. Quite a while ago, we stayed in Tokyo at my sister’s place and she served us with mirin-zuke in the morning. It was yummy.
I like marinated fish or semi-dried fish. I can keep them longer and cooking is so simple, ie. just grilling!