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Homemade Salmon Flakes
An easy batch (enough for about 6 bowls of rice) · About 25 min
Salted salmon boiled, flaked, and cooked with sake and mirin until dry. Use it on rice, in onigiri, or in bento.
① Boil the salmon→② Remove the skin and bones→③ Dry-fry in a frying pan→④ Mix in sesame and cool
What to buy
Fish
Seasonings & dry goods
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How to make it
1
Boil the salmon
- Put 500 ml water in a pot over heat and bring to a boil
- Add the salmon and boil over medium heat for 5–6 min
- Take it out with a slotted ladle or spatula and put on a plate
How to tell it's doneThe fish is whitish pink and not see-through all over. Break open the thickest part with chopsticks: it's the same color to the center, with no see-through dark orange left. If there is, put it back in the pot and boil 1–2 min.
Be carefulThe boiling water is very hot. Put the salmon on a ladle and lower it in gently.
2
Remove the skin and bones and flake
- Let it cool until you can touch it
- Peel off the skin and remove the thick bone in the middle
- Flake the fish finely with your fingers, feeling with your fingertips for small bones and removing them
How to tell it's doneThe bones and skin are gone, and the fish is finely flaked.
Be carefulSmall bones are thin and hard to see. Stroke with your fingertips and check for anything prickly.
3
Dry-fry in a frying pan
- Put the flaked salmon in a frying pan (no oil), and add 1 tbsp sake and 1 tsp mirin
- Hold 3–4 cooking chopsticks together and dry-fry, stirring round and round
- Taste. If it's bland, add salt a little at a time (with lightly salted salmon, you often don't need any)
How to tell it's doneNo liquid is left at the bottom of the pan, and the fish is loose and crumbly.
Be carefulHigh heat makes it stick and burn on the bottom. Use medium-low heat and keep stirring.
4
Mix in sesame and cool
- Turn off the heat and mix in 2 tsp white sesame seeds if you have them
- Spread out on a plate to cool
- Put in a container with a lid and keep in the fridge. Finish it within 3–4 days
ReadyIt's fully cool and doesn't feel warm. If you put the lid on while it's warm, water drops form, so put it in after it cools.
📚 Learn more about this dish
🥬 Ingredient guide
🔪 Cutting & cooking tips
If it didn't work out
It's too moist, and I'm worried about how long it will keepIt wasn't dry-fried enough in step 3. Dry-fry until no liquid is left at the bottom.
It burned on the bottomThe heat was too high, or you stopped stirring. Keep stirring over medium-low heat.
Too saltyYou used strongly salted salmon (karakuchi). Next time, choose amakuchi (lightly salted). This time, use less on your rice.
Small bones were left inYou didn't check enough with your fingertips in step 2. Stroke all of it to check as you flake.
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