Baked Mirin Salmon

Asked by Carol49. Answered on 28th August 2018

Full question

I’ve made the Mirin Salmon dish many times. It’s a family favourite. I’ve served it with cucumber and spring onions on the side. When I haven’t had any rice vinegar I substituted white wine vinegar. What I wonder is, is it possible to bake the salmon in the oven?

Mirin Glazed Salmon

By Nigella

Our answer

Nigella's Mirin Glazed Salmon (from NIGELLA EXPRESS) is a pan-fried dish with a sweet and sticky mirin glaze. The fish is marinated in the sauce, then cooked in a dry pan brielfy before the sauce is added and reduced. Our preference would be to cook it this way and as there is no extra fat added to the frying pan then the salmon should not taste greasy.

Our concern with baking the salmon is that the sugars in the glaze will burn too easily in a hot oven. It is also not as quick as pan frying. If you must bake the salmon then we would omit the marinating stage. You will need to put the marinade ingredients into a wide, shallow saucepan and boil for 2 minutes then lower the heat, add the vinegar and let the sauce warm through a little more. To bake the salmon heat the oven to 220c/200 fan/425F and roast the salmon for 8-10 minutes. This should give you salmon that is coral pink in the centre, or you can roast the salmon according to your preferred recipe. Spoon the sauce over the salmon before serving. The sauce is slightly salty so you should not season the salmon before baking. However, as the salmon is not marinated in advance the flavour of the dish will not be the same.