Grilled Salmon (Yaki Sake)

Grilled Fish

For Japanese people, seafood has played essential role in its culinary culture. Sashimi and sushi are famous and popular Japanese seafood dishes in the world, and seafood is eaten raw in those dishes.

Yakizakana is grilled fish, another Japanese way to eat fish: Yaki is grilled and zakana (sakana) is fish in Japanese. Just like a cooktop and oven are combined in majority of kitchens in the US, a cooktop and fish grill are combined in majority of kitchens in Japan to cook grilled fish.

What Fish are Grilled

Japanese people cook many kinds of fish; for example, aji (jack mackerel), sanma (pacific saury), buri (yellowtail), and sake (salmon).

Usually, aji is salted and sun-dried. You just grill it and pour little bit of soy sauce when the fish is cooked. Sanma is in season during fall in Japan. You grill fresh sanma and serve it with daikon oroshi (grated radish) and soy sauce. Buri is large fish, so usually it is sold in fillet at stores. You marinade it with soy sauce and mirin and grill it. Salted sake fillets are sold for grill in Japan. You just grill it and pour little bit of soy sauce when the fish is cooked.

Let’s Make Shio Zake (Salted Salmon)

You can find salmon at almost any grocery stores in the US. In my opinion, salmon in the US are fatty, flaky, and tasty. So, let’s make shio zake (salted salmon) and cook yaki sake (grilled salmon)

<Ingredients>

• 1 fillet of salmon (cut it in half or 1/3)
• A pinch of salmon

<Preparation>

1. Sprinkle a pinch of salt on salmon fillet.
2. Put it on a pan or grill.
3. If you use a pan, low heat with a lid.
4. When you eat it, put a little say sauce for taste.

Sake Flakes

If you have leftover of yaki sake, you can make sake flakes. You can just pull apart grilled salmon. This is good to sprinkle on steamed rice, mix it with steamed rice and make onigiri (rice ball), and make maze sushi (mixed sushi).