Miso Salmon

• 2 skin-on salmon fillets (1 lb, 454 g; cut it in half if it's one big piece)

For the Marinade

• ▢2 Tbsp miso (you can use any type of miso; I use Hikari Miso Organic White Miso for this recipe)
• ▢1 Tbsp sake
• ▢1 Tbsp mirin
• ▢1 Tbsp soy sauce
• ▢¼ tsp roasted sesame oil

For the Garnish (Optional)

• ▢½ tsp toasted white and black sesame seeds
• ▢1 green onion/scallion (chopped)

• Gather all the ingredients.
  
• Make sure that your salmon fillets don't have scales and tiny bones. Run your fingers back and forth across the skin to see if any scales are left. To remove them, use the flat side of a knife and scrape against the scales. To check if there are any bones, run your fingers along the flesh surface and the sides. You will feel the hard tips of the bones poke your skin. Use fish boning tweezers to pull them out. I recommend slicing the salmon fillet in half so it marinates and cooks faster.
• Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a large bowl or flat tray.
• Place the salmon in the bowl, skin side up. Spoon the marinade on top and coat the salmon skin. Cover and keep it in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours (a thicker cut needs more time). This is a lightly seasoned miso fish (not miso-marinated fish like Black Cod), so I don’t recommend marinating the salmon overnight since miso is quite salty.
• Preheat the oven to 425°F (218ºC) with a rack placed in the center position. For a convection oven, reduce the cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC). As miso burns easily, remove any excess marinade completely from the salmon.
• Place the salmon pieces skin side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. If you're using an oven probe, insert it into the thickest part of the salmon flesh.

To Bake the Salmon

• Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and attach the probe to the oven. Bake the salmon (no need to flip it) until an internal temperature of 125-130°F* (52-54ºC) is registered at the thickest part of the fillet, for roughly 18-20 minutes. If you don't have a probe, I highly recommend getting a Thermapen instant-read thermometer. If you don't use a thermometer, our recommended baking time is 5 minutes per ½-inch (1.3 cm) thickness of salmon (measured at the thickest). *If you prefer medium rare, you can stop cooking at 120ºF (49ºC). *The USDA recommends cooking fish to an internal temperature of 145°F (63ºC); however, the remaining heat will continue to cook the salmon, resulting in well-overcooked fish.
• This step is optional. To give a nice char on the salmon, we will broil the salmon. Remove the probe from the salmon and oven. Change the oven setting to broil high (550ºF/288ºC), but keep the oven rack placed in the center position, 9 inches* (23 cm) away from the top heating element. Broil the salmon on high for 3 minutes or until the surface is blistered and browned a bit. *When broiling, you don't control the temperature in the oven; instead, you control the distance between the heating element and the surface of the food. It's similar to using hotter and cooler zones on your grill.
• I always discard the marinade (that's why I try to use the least amount of condiments), but if you don't want to waste it or made too much, you can dilute the marinade with water and cook it for a few minutes. Serve it with the salmon or use it for other dishes.

To Serve

• I served the salmon with the Ginger Rice. Top the salmon with sesame seeds and thinly sliced scallions. Enjoy!

NUTRITION