salted salmon and other fish questions

[skylarking]

I have noticed salted salmon in the supermarket. I can buy it by the piece for around 90 yen these days. (You select the piece(s) you want and bag it up yourself). It looks like a great bargain. But how do you prepare it? It seems quite hard. Do you soak it before cooking it? If so, for how long? And is grilling the way to cook it? How long does it need in the fish grill? What is a good accompaniment for it? Grated daikon?

Another question about preparing fish: Do you wash or rinse fish before you cook it? Do you always salt it? I remember reading in a Japanese cook book that fish should be salted to freshen it up, to remove odor. Do you always rinse the salt off after the salting?

On more question: I love umeboshi paste. Which fish would go well with a bit of ume paste rubbed on it?

I really appreciate any help you could send this way. One of my resolutions this year is to eat more fish.

Thanks!

[torakris]

For me the preparation will depend on how the fish has been salted, take a look at the label.

in stores you will find the shiosake often labeled according to how much salt they contain:

甘口　amakuchi 甘塩 amajio

are lightly salted, up to about 2.8%

中辛　chuukara 中塩 chuushio

these are in the medium range somewhere between 2.8% and 4.8% salt

辛口　karakuchi 辛塩 karashio

these are the saltiest with about 4.8% salt or higher

生鮭

namasake, namazake, namashake (however you care to pronounce it )

fresh salmon

and also

振り塩鮭

furishiosake (again use the pronunciation you are comfortable with)

This is salmon that is sprinkled with salt, usually after being cut into slices to be sold. It can also be referred to as dry salting. This is different from shiozake which is usually salted whole in a salt water solution　or salted inside and out for longer periods of time.

I usually avoid the heavily salted ones as they are usually too salty to eat straight, they do make great onigiri though.

In season I like to get the pieces of fresh salmon and salt them myself before grilling.

Though cheap pieces that you are referring to look hard because they are still frozen, they soften up once you defrost them. These pieces are usually lightly salted and are usually imported and farmed fish, they have very little salmon taste and the only thing I use them for is more making a salmon cream stew/chowder. I always rinse these as they tend to get scales all over by rubbing against the other pieces in the big boxes.

For straight eating I would stick with the slightly pricier packaged pieces preferably with as little salt as possible. They are best cooked in the fish grill for just a couple minutes. I use the highest heat and turn them once (maybe 2 to 3 minutes a side?). I prefer salmon without any garnishes/seasonings but for oily fish I like a squeeze of citrus.

I salt any fish that hasn't been already salted. Normally I salt it a little heavier than I would season it, let it sit for a couple minutes than rinse it off and lightly salt it again. More salt for whole fish and less on filets.

As to the umeboshi paste, it is of course personal preference but it goes nicely with oilier fish that have been deep fried or simmered. I would also add a touch to any raw white fleshed fish.

[Kuma]

You're making me hungry !!

[Hiroyuki]

Warning: Different people will give you different answers. The following is my personal opinion.

I have noticed salted salmon in the supermarket. I can buy it by the piece for around 90 yen these days. (You select the piece(s) you want and bag it up yourself). It looks like a great bargain. But how do you prepare it? It seems quite hard. Do you soak it before cooking it? If so, for how long? And is grilling the way to cook it? How long does it need in the fish grill? What is a good accompaniment for it? Grated daikon?

I sometimes buy the type of salmon you described. I simply "grill" it in my toaster oven. A fish grill is OK (I have one), and I think 99% of the Japanese use a fish grill to grill fish, but as for me, grilling fish in a fish grill is rather cumbersome, prone to mistakes (over-grilling, scorching, etc.), and it's really tough keeping the fish grill clean. There is a thread on toaster ovens somewhere in the Japan Forum, started by me. No soaking required. It may be only me, but I find heavily salted salmon hard to find these days. Forty years ago, when I was small, salted salmon was really salty, like other food items such as umeboshi, tsukudani, and pickles. I couldn't possibly eat it now. The last time I happened to buy salty salmon inadvertently, I had to soak it in hot water for tens of minutes after grilling.

Grilling is probably the best way to bring out the flavor of the fish, especially, salt-grilling (shio-yaki in Japanense). I like salt-grilled kanpachi collars very much, as I mentioned here in my blog.

Grated daikon is a good tsuma (accompaniment), so are lemon slices and hajikami (pickled ginger shoots).

Images of hajikami

If you decide to use a fish grill, grilling for 6 to 10 minutes should be enough for most fish, but if your fish grill has a heat source at the top only, you need to flip the fish once in the course of grilling. If yours have a heat source at the top and bottom, flipping is not necessary.

Another question about preparing fish: Do you wash or rinse fish before you cook it? Do you always salt it? I remember reading in a Japanese cook book that fish should be salted to freshen it up, to remove odor. Do you always rinse the salt off after the salting?

If you buy a whole fish, you need to wash it throughly only once after you scale and gut it. Otherwise, don't. When we salt fish, it's usually when we salt-grill it. For what we call "ao zakana" (blue fish) such as sanma, saba, and aji, salt them and let them stand for some time (tens of minutes to several hours, depending on the fish) to remove odor. Don't rinse but wipe the salt and water off with paper towels. You can then grill the fish, or you may want to sprinkle additional salt before grilling. For shiromi zakana (white-fleshed fish), salt them immediately before grilling.

On more question: I love umeboshi paste. Which fish would go well with a bit of ume paste rubbed on it?

Maybe white-fleshed fish like cod, but why do you need to rub umeboshi paste on it? You don't want to use umeboshi paste simply as a kind of condiment?

I really appreciate any help you could send this way. One of my resolutions this year is to eat more fish.

Salt-grilling is probably the easiest way to cook fish, but I hope you try other dishes like nizakana (simmered fish), teriyaki, and tempura.

ETA: Teriyaki should be easier than shio-yaki.

Try teriyaki with buri and similar fish, like I did with kanpachi.

Edited January 23, 2009 by Hiroyuki (log)

[skylarking]

Thanks for your responses. I had no idea there were different levels of salt in salted fish. Thanks, Torakris, for providing the kanji. Hiroyuki, I also agree that the fish grill is a bit of a pain to deal with. When I use it, it makes everything I have on the burners start boiling. And I find it hard to easily turn things over in the grill. Making sure the fish cooks evenly also seems to be a problem....and clean-up is no fun. I don't have a toaster oven--just a microwave with a grill function. But heating that up just for a couple piece of fish seems like a waste of energy.

Anyone have any tricks for using the fish grill? Tricks to making it less of a pain?

Thanks!

[Hiroyuki]

I don't have any tricks, but I would suggest that you can always buy a toaster oven for 2,000 to 3,000 yen. And, how about a grid (yaki ami 焼き網), which you can always buy for 100 yen at your nearest 100-yen shop? Pan-frying fish is also a good idea. Place "cooking sheet" (proper English?) on a pan, and then place fish fillets on the sheet. Cover the pan with a lid.

[smallworld]

Thanks for your responses. I had no idea there were different levels of salt in salted fish. Thanks, Torakris, for providing the kanji. Hiroyuki, I also agree that the fish grill is a bit of a pain to deal with. When I use it, it makes everything I have on the burners start boiling. And I find it hard to easily turn things over in the grill. Making sure the fish cooks evenly also seems to be a problem....and clean-up is no fun. I don't have a toaster oven--just a microwave with a grill function. But heating that up just for a couple piece of fish seems like a waste of energy.

Anyone have any tricks for using the fish grill? Tricks to making it less of a pain?

Thanks!

←

Yup, it's difficult to turn fish over on the grill without damaging it. I don't have any fool-proof method, but one thing that helps prevent the fish from sticking is pre-greasing the grill.

As for cleanup, I learned a neat tip on TV several years ago. Eat a clementine (or other citrus fruit), then tear up the peel into little pieces and put them into the pan under the grill. Pour water into the pan (enough to cover the peels but not enough to reach the grill). Then grill and eat your fish as usual. When it comes time to clean up just pour the water and peels out of the pan and give it a rinse: the citrus oil will have kept any grease from the fish from adhering to the pan.

You'll still have to clean the grill, and the trick only works if the pan is clean to begin with. But it really does work. Used tea leaves can also be used this way, but I find that citrus peels work better.

[gingeralenz]

If you were going to make salted salmon from fresh salmon how long would you salt it for? In my country we have only fresh salmon or smoked.

[Hiroyuki]

If you were going to make salted salmon from fresh salmon how long would you salt it for? In my country we have only fresh salmon or smoked.

←

Just like other white-fleshed fish. (Salmon is considered a white-fleshed fish.) Sprinkle about 2% salt by weight and grill immediately.

[Blether]

It's an old thread, but I'll add two comments.

There is a tradition in the UK of using gooseberries or another sharp fruit accompaniment/sauce/dressing with mackerel (and to some extent with herring too). Ume will work well with mackerel, aji, sanma and so on (adjusting of course for overall salt).

For the fish grill, I tear a short length of foil (just short of the length of the grill's grid, a piece shorter than it is wide) and fold the sides over the sides of he grid. The foil sags into the space between the cross-bars and forms a well for most or all of the fish oil that melts out: sometimes I get away with a clean grill pan, others it needs a normal washing.

Hiroyuki, I've always liked that idea of seeing salmon as a white-fleshed, non-oily fish (especially the farmed kind which sometimes seems like just a matrix for delivering fish oil ).

Edited November 9, 2009 by Blether (log)

[Hiroyuki]

Hiroyuki, I've always liked that idea of seeing salmon as a white-fleshed, non-oily fish (especially the farmed kind which sometimes seems like just a matrix for delivering fish oil ).

It is a fact, not MY idea! Salmon are white-fleshed!

Your comments remind me of the fact that salmon is not a traditional neta (topping) for Edomae zushi (Edo-style sushi). The chef at the sushi shop I used to frequent still refuses to use salmon because it's too oily. (But what about maguro toro then??!!)

[Blether]

Ha ha ! Maybe (one of the things) he means is that the all-too-common farmed salmon is too oily in comparison with wild salmon ? One of the things I love about Japan is the inexpensive wild salmon we have in the autumn. Wild salmon in the UK is very much a premium product, particularly when it's smoked.

It is a fact, not MY idea!

Don't worry, I'm not holding you responsible. In the western tradition, salmon is firmly in the blue/oily fish category. For example, it has the same (shorter) keeping properties in the freezer as other oily fish, compared with what's called white fish, i.e. fish with flesh that's genuinely white in colour as opposed to salmon pink, and not oily - haddock, cod, whiting, sole, plaice and so on.

Trout are naturally pink in the UK (and in the same freezing category), but if you farm them with food that doesn't contain pink dye, they grow up with white flesh. The explanation we were given as fish farmers was that the natural pink comes from freshwater shrimp in the diet. Of course Japanese trout - all the ones I've come across in Kanto - are white-fleshed... as is Inada/Wakashi/Buri. Are the Yellowtail 'white fish' to you ?!

[Hiroyuki]

Ha ha ! Maybe (one of the things) he means is that the all-too-common farmed salmon is too oily in comparison with wild salmon ? One of the things I love about Japan is the inexpensive wild salmon we have in the autumn. Wild salmon in the UK is very much a premium product, particularly when it's smoked.

but if you farm them with food that doesn't contain pink dye, they grow up with white flesh. The explanation we were given as fish farmers was that the natural pink comes from freshwater shrimp in the diet.

Are the Yellowtail 'white fish' to you ?!

The chef simply says that salmon does not go well with vinegared rice. Well, I don't blame him. As I said, salmon is not a traditional neta for Edomae zushi. (But toro and uni are not, either, for that matter.)

He does use trout because it's less fatty.

Yes, I know that the pink color comes from the diet. Yamame (freshwater fish) remain as yamame if they continue to live in the river, but they change into sakura masu (cherry trout) if they go out into the sea and come back, as I mentioned in the Local Sushi Shop in Niigata thread.

They are red-fleshed fish, but believe it or not, in many traditional sushi shops in Japan, buri, kanpachi, and hiramasa are considered white-fleshed fish.

[Blether]

They are red-fleshed fish, but believe it or not, in many traditional sushi shops in Japan, buri, kanpachi, and hiramasa are considered white-fleshed fish.

To be clear, are we talking about the expression 'shiro-zakana' ? And if I may ask, other than the name, do you think this has any practical implications ? Maguro isn't a 'white fish', but the preparation for it and all of these is the same - served over shari with wasabi & soy - even if fish like aji, katsuo and sanma are often topped with negi (green onion) and/or shouga (ginger).

[Hiroyuki]

They are red-fleshed fish, but believe it or not, in many traditional sushi shops in Japan, buri, kanpachi, and hiramasa are considered white-fleshed fish.

To be clear, are we talking about the expression 'shiro-zakana' ? And if I may ask, other than the name, do you think this has any practical implications ? Maguro isn't a 'white fish', but the preparation for it and all of these is the same - served over shari with wasabi & soy - even if fish like aji, katsuo and sanma are often topped with negi (green onion) and/or shouga (ginger).

Yes, shiromi zakana or 白身魚, to be more precise, as opposed to akami zakana or 赤味魚.

I found this site, which lists buri, kanpachi, and hiramasa under Shiromi (白身).

This site lists more, but in Japanese only.

Practical Implications!? That should be a good question, but I can't answer that for now!

[Blether]

Hmm. In Sakamoto Kazuo's list, I don't want to agree with the fish listed between buri and shima-aji, as white fish (as opposed to oily fish, western-style).

But since, as you say, the split is white fish & 'red fish' rather than white fish & oily fish, it makes sense. On the other hand, it's funny that 'red fish' include only tuna & bonito (in the western tradition, katsuo is Skipjack tuna, i.e. also a kind of tuna).

[Hiroyuki]

Hmm. In Sakamoto Kazuo's list, I don't want to agree with the fish listed between buri and shima-aji, as white fish (as opposed to oily fish, western-style).

But since, as you say, the split is white fish & 'red fish' rather than white fish & oily fish, it makes sense. On the other hand, it's funny that 'red fish' include only tuna & bonito (in the western tradition, katsuo is Skipjack tuna, i.e. also a kind of tuna).

Interesting point. The Japanese usually perceive white fish as non-oily fish, except some. Do you know a fish called akamutsu, or better known as nodoguro (lit. blackthroat) here in Niigata, which is often referred to as "shiromi zakana no toro" (白身魚のトロ).

[Blether]

... a fish called akamutsu, or better known as nodoguro...

Yes, I've come across it by both names. Nodoguro is one of the rewarding specialties of a fish restaurant in Yurakucho I sometimes go to called Shin-hinomoto. It is very good.