Miso Marinated Salmon (Salmon Misozuke) is not very sweet, unlike Saikyo Yaki Fish. The prominent miso flavour of the fish makes this dish somewhat simple and humble compared to Saikyo Yaki dishes. It is also a more economical way of making miso marinated fish since the normal miso is much cheaper than Saikyo miso.
Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- 6 salmon fillets (about 100g/3.5oz each, note 1)
- ½ tbsp salt
- 4 tbsp brown miso (note 2)
- 3 tbsp cooking sake
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 1 tbsp sugar
- Thinly sliced cucumber in amazu (note 3)
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Sprinkle salt over the salmon fillets and leave for 30 minutes. This is to remove excess moisture and the fishy smell from the fillets.
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Pat dry and remove the moisture from the fillets.
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Put all the Miso Marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix well until the sugar is dissolved.
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Spread ⅓ of the miso marinade in a tray or a shallow container with a flat bottom so you can place the fillets without overlapping (note 4).
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Place the salmon fillets on the miso in a tray/container.
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Spread the remaining marinade over the salmon, ensuring that the surface of the salmon fillets is completely covered with the marinade.
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Seal the surface of the salmon fillets with a piece of cling wrap with no air bubbles underneath the cling wrap.
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If you are cooking the Salmon Misozuke in the next day or two, cover the tray with cling wrap and leave it in the fridge overnight or for two nights. If you are intending to stock up and cook it sometime later, follow the instructions for Freezing Salmon Misozuke below.
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Preheat the grill or a broiler.
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Scrape/wipe the miso off the fish fillets as much as possible. Do not rinse it off.
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Place the fillets on the grill/broiler, about 10cm/4” below the heat. If the heat is too close to the fish, the fish will burn before it is cooked.
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Cook for 2.5-3 minutes until the edge of the fillet starts burning. Turn them over and cook 1-1.5 minutes (note 5).
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Place each grilled fillet on a serving plate with sliced cucumber in amazu as garnish.
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Put the covered tray in a zip lock bag and place it in the freezer straight away.
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When the fish is completely frozen, remove each fillet with miso around it and wrap it in cling wrap. This will allow you to defrost a small number of fillets at any one time.
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Place the wrapped fillets in the zip lock bag and put the bag in the freezer.
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To defrost, leave the frozen fillet in the fridge overnight, during which the marinade penetrates the flesh.
1. I made salmon fillets by diagonally slicing a side of salmon, which is the Japanese way of slicing fish fillets for marinating. But you don’t have to slice your fillets diagonally, as long as the thickness of the fillets is about 1.5-2cm/⅝-/¾”.
You can make thin fillets from a salmon cutlet/steak as shown in the post Saikyo Yaki Fish.
2. Instead of brown miso, you can use white miso if the miso is not labelled as ‘sweet miso’.
3. Slice the cucumber thinly, then wilt the cucumber slices with a small amount of salt for 10-15 minutes. Squeeze excess water out of the cucumber, then marinate it in amazu. You can refer to any of my recipes that use amazu (sweet & sour flavour), i.e., Crab and Cucumber Salad with Sweet Vinegar Dressing (Amazu), Pickled Chrysanthemum Radish, and Homemade Pickled Sushi Ginger (Gari).
Alternatively, you may want to use blanched green vegetables such as beans, broccoli, asparagus, and okra.
4. If your tray is larger than the area needed to place the salmon fillets, spread the marinade enough to place the fillets on.
5. If your fillet is thicker, you will need to cook it slightly longer.
6. Instead of freezing the large tray with marinated fillets laid down, you could wrap each fillet coated with the marinade individually, then freeze them. But I find that wrapping individually after freezing them is easier and less messy.
7. Nutrition per serving. It is assumed that 50% of the miso marinade is consumed, which is higher than actual amount consumed.
serving: 112g calories: 231kcal fat: 14g (18%) saturated fat: 3.1g (16%) trans fat: 0.0g polyunsaturated fat: 4g monounsaturated fat: 3.8g cholesterol: 55mg (18%) sodium: 561mg (24%) carbohydrates: 3.2g (1%) dietary fibre: 0.3g (1%) sugar: 1.9g protein: 21g vitamin D: 11mcg (55%) calcium: 13mg (1%) iron: 0.5mg (3%) potassium: 376mg (8%)