Salmon!!! (Teriyaki Salmon, stock, and Gravlax)

I...since I have little to do right now decided to write an entire blog dedicated to Salmon! Especially since I bought a huge side of a salmon at Walmart and didn't know what to do with it....it...was...huge...! So I first thawed it and cut it into sections.  Then from there I made some gravlax.  I also put aside a fillet for myself for dinner which I would make into teriyaki Salmon.  And lastly I didn't want to waste anything so I made some yummy salmon stock!

First I'll show you how to make gravlax.  Gravlax is Swedish for grave salmon and was originally made by fermenting salmon underground when it was freshly caught.  Now they make it by preparing it with more cleanliness.

It's commonly made one of two ways.  The normal way is to mix together salt, sugar, and black pepper and put it on a fresh fillet of salmon.  Then you place that on a bed of dill and wrap it up to sit for a week in the fridge.

I do it differently...which is probably why mine is saltier.

Gravlax

1 small salmon fillet cut into nigiri shaped strips

½ Tbsp sugar

½ Tbsp salt

½-1 tsp fresh packed and chopped dill

¼ tsp black pepper

First thing you have to do is dry off the salmon with a paper towel if you want.  Then you cut it into small 1in x 2.5in x 0.25in pieces.  

Now mix together the salt, sugar, dill (yummy...the more the better), and black pepper and mix it in with the salmon pieces in a bowl.  

Now that it is all mixed and coated evenly...let it sit a bit and drain some of the water.  After that move all the pieces by placing them individually into a can or bag to sit in the fridge.

Now just set it in the fridge for about 2 days to a week or so.  Wash off as much salt by soaking them and squeeze them before you use the pieces...trust me...it'll be too salty. I love to eat it on rye crackers with a mustard sauce as a yummy appetizer. But you can mix mustard and mayonnaise and put it on a toasted little piece of french bread with the gravlax on top.

Another great thing you can do with salmon is make it teriyaki style.  Since I worked at Choochoo Korean and Japanese fast food I know how to both cook salmon and make teriyaki.  Teriyaki is basically soy sauce, sugar, mirin (Mirin Wiki), and sugar (A surprising amount).

Teriyaki Salmon

1 Salmon filet

1 Tbsp oil

1 tsp Mirin

1 Tbsp Soy Sauce

½ Tbsp Sugar

½ tsp ginger

½ tsp garlic

1 tsp sake

½ tsp vinegar

First and most important is to wash off the salmon fillet really well and dry it with a paper towel really well too to leech any super-fishy salmon taste from the salmon.  If it's fresh caught it probably isn't as important.  You´ll want a nice orange fillet sliced into pieces about ½"-¼" thick and the normal shape of a salmon fillet.  It's not necessary, but the salmon cooks faster and has a better flavor if it's thinner.

Now you'll want to mix everything together in a bag and put the salmon in it for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.  This marinating time helps impart the delicious teriyaki flavor.  Once it has marinated, make a small aluminum boat to put the fillet on to grill it. (If you're gonna an fry it just put some oil and some of the sauce in a NON-STICK pan and cook it until the salmon is cooked through and the sauce has caramelized and turned into a sauce).

Grill the salmon until it has cooked all the way through. I often add oil or some of-all the sauce from the marinade in the boat to help it cook better and make a sauce.

 

Once it's cooked it's great on lightly salted white rice with the sauce from the marinade poured over it.  I like it with peanut butter fried rice (which is rice basically fried with peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic, coriander, ginger, salt, and coconut).

It's yummytastic....I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!  It actually reminds me a lot of what eel tastes like in japan...especially the kind I have on sushi! ^_^

Lastly, when you buy a giant salmon side, you are left with the fatty skin from the side.  Most people simply throw this away because it's "useless", BUT I hate waste and use every part of something. So what I do is I boil down the skin in water to produce a nice salmon stock to use in soups (Baltic, Slavic or European, etc.).

Salmon Stock

1 salmon skin (salmon side)

Pinch of salt

Pinch of dill weed

Pinch of garlic powder

2-4 cups of water

Basically the recipe is easy. Boil the skin in water for about 2 hours and refill the pot with necessary amounts of water as it cooks down.

After it has cooked down, remove the skin and use a fine, mesh strainer or hand sieve to strain out the gunk and herbs.

Salmon stock is so pretty and clean looking.  If you can use fish heads and bones too when you makes stock; it's know to make better stocks (but always remove the gills because they're known to contain toxins).

If you want to make a fish stock it often helps to use the best fish for making stocks like rock fish, or if you're making a bouillabaisse, it helps to use French seasonings (Orange Peel, Garlic, Saffron, Bay laurel) instead of Baltic ones (Dill, Black Pepper, Garlic).

Bon Appetite!
Kyle S.