I’m naming this recipe just salmon, because it’s so simple that it seems silly to give it a complicated title. Although if we wanted to be all complicated, we could call it Fresh-catch Atlantic salmon glazed with Shaoxing rice wine, soy sauce, and sesame oil, garnished with free-range scallions. If you ever need to impress anyone with a wordy title, you can use that one.

Baked salmon with a glaze made from Shaoxing rice wine, soy sauce, and sesame oil

There are really only three steps. First, make a marinade. Second, place the fish in the marinade with the skin up and let it sit for a short while.

Raw salmon, marinating upside down

Then turn the fish skin side down and marinate for a little bit longer.

Salmon, marinating right side up.

Then just bake, grill, or steam until done. That’s all there is to it. The fish will be tender and flaky and you’ll be able to pick up tasty pieces with your chopsticks without any problem.

INGREDIENTS and PREP:

1. 1/4 cup Shaoxing rice wine, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, stirred together
2. 1/4 lb salmon per person, in one big fillet or small individual fillets as desired

DIRECTIONS:

• Put the marinade (#1) in an oven-proof baking dish
• Place the salmon (#2) in the dish, skin facing up, for about 5 minutes. Then turn the salmon over and marinade for another 25 minutes or so, brushing the marinade over the salmon from time to time. Don’t let the fish dry out.
• Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes, brushing with the sauce/glaze a few times along the way.

VARIATIONS: First, vary the cooking technique; you can steam this, bake it, or grill it with equally excellent results. (I’d probably be grilling this, but it’s the middle of winter now and it’s too cold to stand outside grilling.) The sauce can also be varied. One that comes to mind right away is a lighter one, made with just soy sauce and yuzu.