Salmon Teriyaki

When I go to a restaurant, I usually like to order stuff at restaurants that I can’t make at home.. because I know I can make it better.  Salmon teriyaki is one of those dishes, especially when you go to the cheaper Japanese restos. It can be anywhere from charred, blackened, dry and ooky sweet. But it is really easy to make at home, so now I don’t even bother with it when I go out.

First of all, I combined recipes from numerous sources, including many of Kimiko Barber’s cookbooks (The Japanese Kitchen, Yo Sushi, Japanese Pure and Simple), where each had different ratios for her teriyaki sauce. I like this ratio of soy sauce, sake, mirin and sugar (3:3:3:1), although each portion can be changed depending on tastes. I found this recipe to create a light, flaky, tender salmon with a sweet glaze. There is enough teriyaki sauce for more than the salmon (the recipe can be halved, as long as you keep the same ratios). We drizzled it over spinach as a side salad and it was incredible.  The sauce can keep for up to 2 months in the fridge.

While there are only 5 ingredients, and simple to make, it can be daunting as the ingredients are not pantry staples (unless you cook Japanese regularly). I highly encourage you to try this simple dish, so for those in Toronto, this is where I shop:

Soy sauce – I like Japanese soy sauce, which tends to run a bit sweeter, but also best for Japanese dishes.  Furthermore, there are different kinds of Japanese soy sauce – regular dark, light, reduced-sodium and tamari.  Light is only light in colour if you don’t want to discolor a dish. I typically buy regular dark or reduced-sodium and prefer Yamasa and Kikkoman, which aren’t that expensive. They can be found at any Asian market, including T&T, BestWin and J-Town. Shops in Chinatown should have it too.

Mirin – Mirin is a sweet rice wine, used as a sweetener and to add a glossy shine to foods. There are a few types of mirin, including aji-mirin (“mirin taste”) and mirin-fu chomiryo (“a kind of mirin”) as well as hon-mirin (“true mirin”). Hon-mirin has simpler ingredients; true hon-mirin has alcohol and no salt, and shio-mirin has alcohol with 1.5% salt. The difference is the alcoholic content. Shin-mirin (“new mirin”) has less than 1% alcohol, but still has the same flavour. Whereas the aji-mirin or mirin style sweet cooking seasoning has an ingredient list that starts with corn syrup and 8 other ingredients. I was only able to find aji-mirin at T&T and even J-Town, but found shin-mirin (basically look at the ingredient list- water, rice, koji (aspergillus oryzae) and sea salt) at Whole Foods and Noah’s. I think P.A.T. might also carry shin-mirin, and it looks like hon-mirin is impossible to find in Toronto. I’d love to know if anyone has found it elsewhere, and cheaper. I store my mirin in the refrigerator once opened.

Sake – Sake is a Japanese rice wine. I mistakenly bought a cooking sake from T&T, but I think it was just a mislabeled chinese cooking wine. Now I go to the LCBO to get sake. There is a bigger bottle, cheaper on the per mL basis which is what I get (Gekkeikan, 750mL). I store it in the refrigerator and it lasts pretty long.

Salmon – There are different kinds of salmon, but from a sustainability point-of-view wild Pacific salmon is the best way to go as per SeaChoice.  I don’t know what T&T carries, likely Atlantic farmed, as the price is always reasonable ($6-7/lb).

Salmon Teriyaki

Teriyaki Sauce

150 mL soy sauce
150 mL mirin
150 mL sake
50 mL sugar (or agave)

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to ensure the sugar is dissolving.

2. Reduce the heat to low and let the sauce simmer 15-20 minutes, until the syrup reduces by a quarter to a third and is glossy.

Sauce can be used immediately or stored for 4 weeks in the refrigerator. This recipes makes plenty of sauce and could be scaled down if you just want it for the salmon.

Salmon Teriyaki

4 salmon fillets, each weighing 4 oz
teriyaki sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

2. Place the fillets, skin side down on the aluminum paper (you could also elevate it with a grill/rack, which I don’t have).

3. Brush salmon with teriyaki sauce and cook for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, brush with more sauce. Continue to add more sauce every 5 minutes until salmon is cooked. The length of time will depend on the thickness of your salmon. Mine took 20-25 minutes but I also cooked the entire fish, and separated into servings afterward.

4. Drizzle with a bit more teriyaki sauce once plated and serve.

Serves 4.