• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Umami Days

Umami Days

Meaty with a dash of veggies

  • Recipes
    • By meal
      • Breakfast
      • Lunch / dinner
      • Snacks
    • By main ingredient
      • Poultry
      • Meat
      • Seafood
      • Eggs
      • Mushrooms
      • Tofu
      • Vegetables
    • By carb
      • Rice
      • Noodles
      • Bread
  • Kitchen
    • Kitchen how-tos
    • Cooking ingredients
    • Kitchen tools
  • Food Tales
    • Edible Garden
    • Dining
  • Newsletter
  • Recipes
    • By meal
      • Breakfast
      • Lunch / dinner
      • Snacks
    • By main ingredient
      • Poultry
      • Meat
      • Seafood
      • Eggs
      • Mushrooms
      • Tofu
      • Vegetables
    • By carb
      • Rice
      • Noodles
      • Bread
  • Kitchen
    • Kitchen how-tos
    • Cooking ingredients
    • Kitchen tools
  • Food Tales
    • Edible Garden
    • Dining
  • Newsletter

Salmon trimmings with soy honey ginger sauce

04.02.2022 (Updated: 03.17.2025) in Favorites, Lunch / Dinner, Main Courses, Salmon

Salmon trimmings can be a bit tricky to cook. The small size means they can’t withstand too much tossing and stirring. Here’s a smart way to cook them without ruining their texture and without drowning out the salmon’s natural flavor.

Salmon trimmings with soy honey sauce served with scrambled egg over rice

Three houses down the road from ours live a young married couple who are in the smoked meat business. Aside from smoked beef and pork, they also sell smoked salmon. They order the fish whole but only use the fleshy portions. I think we’re the only ones in the neighborhood who have real love for the fish so they sell the trimmings to us for a song. Sometimes, we even get them for free.

So, this dish was cooked with salmon trimmings. I initially debated whether to stir small pieces of fish into eggs to make an omelette, add them to fried rice or drop them into Japanese miso soup. In the end, I decided to cook them in a mixture of soy sauce, honey and grated ginger, and just a tiny bit of lemon juice. To add dimension to the flavors, I served them topped with aonori and shichimi togarashi.

Topped with what?

Aonori is flaked seaweed called green laver in the English-speaking world. It’s briny, smoky and has bolder flavors than the darker-colored nori that’s used for making sushi.

Shichimi togarashi is a “spice blend that includes ground chili peppers and other spices such as sesame seeds, hemp seeds, yuzu zest, green nori, sansho, ume powder, shiso powder” and others.

Salmon trimmings with soy honey sauce
Salmon trimmings with soy honey ginger sauce
Connie Veneracion
It is essential that you press the salmon trimmings between stacks of paper towels to remove excess moisture. This step ensures that the small pieces of fish start soaking up the sauce as soon as they are spread in the pan rather than release water into the sauce.
Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Cook Time 5 minutes mins
Total Time 10 minutes mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Asian
Servings 6 people

Ingredients
  

  • 1 kilogram salmon trimmings excess water pressed out
  • 2 tablespoons rock salt or one tablespoon refined salt
  • ¼ cup Japanese soy sauce
  • ½ cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger
  • ¼ lemon

To serve and garnish

  • cooked rice
  • scrambled eggs
  • aonori seaweed flakes
  • shichimi togarashi Japanese chili blend

Instructions
 

  • Toss the salmon trimmings with the salt.
  • Into a large frying pan, pour the soy sauce and honey, then stir in the grated ginger.
  • Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a soft boil.
  • Spread the salted salmon in the hot sauce and leave to cook for two minutes.
  • Stir the salmon and continue cooking with occasional stirring for another two to three minutes or just until done.
  • Squeeze the lemon quarter over the salmon then give the fish a quick stir.
  • Ladle rice into bowls, arrange scrambled eggs and salmon on top.
  • Sprinkle with aonori and shichimi togarashi, and serve immediately.
Pin Send Print

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, the blog owner earns commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

In the spotlight

Korean fried chicken wings

Korean fried chicken wings

Filipino pork adobo with rice, egg, tomatoes and fried saba bananas

Slow cooker Filipino pork adobo

Ground pork adobo and egg rice bowl

Ground pork adobo and egg rice bowl

Steamed pompano with ginger sauce garnished with scallions, fried garlic and shallots

Steamed pompano with ginger sauce

Shrimp spring rolls

Hungry for more?

Subscribe to the newsletter to get the latest posts in your inbox.

No spam. Read the privacy policy.

More Fish, Seafood

Fish cake, sweet potato and kimchi soup

Fish cake, sweet potato and kimchi soup

Claypot rice with shimps and dumplings

Claypot rice with shimps and dumplings

Cheese-topped broiled salmon served with tomato sauce

Easy cheesy broiled salmon

Salmon curry rice bowl

Salmon curry rice bowl

Sidebar

Connie Veneracion, 2020

Hi, I’m Connie!

Home cook and writer by passion, photographer by necessity, and good food, coffee and wine lover forever. I write recipes, cooking tips and food stories. No AI is used in creating content for this blog.

More about me and Umami Days.

  • About
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • No AI
  • Contact

Created by a human for humans · Copyright © 2025 Connie Veneracion · All Rights Reserved