Saba Shioyaki (Salt baked Mackerel)
Part 1: Annie’s Simple Saba Shioyaki
Prep time: 5 min + 20 minutes waiting time
Cook time: 25 minutes
Serves: 2 servings
Ingredients:
1 boston mackerel, cleaned
1 tsp of salt
2 tbsp of rice wine / sake
Directions :
Pour the sake on both the outside and inside of the mackerel then pat the mackerel dry with a paper towel.
Rub the both the outside and inside of the mackerel evenly with salt. Let it sit in room temperature for 20 minutes, while you preheat the oven to 350 F.
Dry any excess water from the mackerel with a paper towel, cover with foil, and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
Uncover and bake for another 5 minutes to give it some color.
Serve with rice, a wedge of lemon, and some grated ginger and turnip/radish.
Cooking Tip:
Make a big batch of these at once and have it ready in the freezer for a quick meal.
Make sure you try to salt the fresh mackerel on the same day it’s purchased as this fatty fish spoils quickly.
If your fishmonger can process these into fillets, you can shave 5-10 minutes off of the baking time. (and reduce the amount of salt used by 1/4 tsp).
Stay healthy with Annie:
Traditional Japanese recipes tends to grill or broil this beautifully flavored fatty fish.
I admit I absolutely love it grilled. However, I chose to bake it at a lower temperature to reduce the amount of heterocyclic amines (HCAs) that could form from high temperature cooking (e.g. charring, burning or grilling), which can increase risk for stomach and colorectal cancers. It’s just something I’m more mindful of as a celiac, but good practice for everyone else as well.
Nutritious and Delicious:
Mackerel is very high in omega 3, and its price makes it a very affordable (I’ve seen it as low as $2.99/lb) and delicious meal.
One fillet of this fish will provide you more than a days worth of Vitamin D, B12, and plenty of other B vitamins to boost your brain and memory.
Just make sure what you buy is the Atlantic/Boston/Norwegian mackerel (those are the different names given to the same fish), and not the fancier Spanish or King mackerel which contain more mercury.