Gochugaru Salmon With Crispy Rice
Published Sept. 25, 2022
- Total Time
- 20 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 4skin-on salmon fillets (6 ounces each)
- Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) and black pepper
- 1tablespoon olive oil
- 4cups cooked white rice, preferably leftovers
- 4teaspoons gochugaru (see Tip)
- 2tablespoons maple syrup
- 2tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, kept whole
- Sliced cucumbers or pickles, for serving (optional)
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Preparation
- Step 1
Season the salmon on all sides with salt and pepper. Heat a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium-high. Add the olive oil and sear the salmon fillets skin side down until the skin is browned and crispy, 2 to 5 minutes. The salmon’s orange flesh will begin to turn pale coral as the heat slowly creeps up the sides of the fish; you want that coral color to come up about two-thirds of the way at this point for a nice medium-rare. Carefully flip the salmon and cook the second side until the flesh feels firm, another 1 to 2 minutes. When you press it, it should not feel wobbly. Transfer the salmon to a plate skin side down and keep the pan with the rendered fat over the heat.
- Step 2
Add the rice to the fat in the pan and spread in an even layer, packing it down as if making a rice pancake. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the bottom is lightly browned and toasted, about 5 minutes. You should hear it crackle. Flip the rice like a pancake, using a spatula if needed. You may not be able to flip it all in one piece, but that’s OK. Cook until lightly toasted on the second side, another 1 to 2 minutes. Go longer if you want crispier rice, but the trifecta of crispy-chewy-soft tastes wonderful.
- Step 3
While the rice is cooking, stir together the gochugaru, maple syrup, rice vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. When the rice is done, divide it evenly among the plates. In the now-empty pan, add the gochugaru mixture and cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat until it bubbles up and reduces significantly, 15 seconds to 1 minute. It should look pretty sticky. Turn off the heat and add the cold butter, stirring with a wooden spoon or tongs until fully melted and incorporated into the gochugaru mixture. Pour this glaze over the salmon and serve with cucumbers or pickles, if you’d like.
- You can find gochugaru, or red-pepper powder, at Korean or Asian supermarkets and at most grocery stores, as well as online. It sometimes comes in larger bags, which is not a problem because it freezes beautifully and tastes great dusted over just about anything.
Private Notes
Comments
I just purchased Gochujang concentrated chili paste for another NY Times recent recipe. Would it be possible to substitute the paste for the powder?
Gochujang contains salt and sugar along with red chile, so if you substitute one for the other, you'll want to dial back the sugar and salt. I'd probably omit the maple syrup altogether and replace both it and the gochucharu with 2 tbsp gochujang, and skip extra salt. You'll miss the maple flavor, but the glaze should form up nicely and I'd expect the dish to work well as a whole.
I subbed the Gochugara with Gochujang and reduced the maple syrup to 1 tbsp. Everything else I followed exactly and this was one of the best meals we've made in a long time. it was also easy to prep and clean up. We'll be adding this to the regular rotation!
Absolutely scrumptious
Experienced chefs....would it be ok to use halibut filets in place of salmon?
This was absolutely delicious. Relatively easy to put together for a quick weeknight meal. I would make some changes next time - I'd double the sauce as others have said, eliminate the extra teaspoon of salt in the sauce, I'd consider subbing honey for maple syrup, and I'd remove the skillet from the heat before adding the sauce and let the residual heat from the cast iron pan reduce the sauce and melt the butter. My sauce became very thick very quickly.
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