Korean Soy Sauce Marinade for Salmon, Shrimp & Crab
Soy Sauce Marinade Recipe for
Salmon, Shrimp, and Crab (Restaurant Recipe)
Can Foreigners Enjoy Seafood Marinated Raw in Soy Sauce?
For Koreans, soy sauce marinated salmon, soy sauce marinated crab,
and soy sauce marinated shrimp are not unfamiliar foods,
even though some people may not be able to eat them because of allergies.
But what about people from other countries?
There was a time when I sold soy sauce marinated salmon, crab, and shrimp.
One day, a foreign customer who spoke English ordered rice for a meal.
I think he may have been American.
At the time, the only things I had left that could be served as a meal
were soy sauce marinated salmon and shrimp.
I knew that Westerners were generally familiar with salmon,
so I recommended the soy sauce marinated salmon and served it to him.
Just for fun, I also gave him a piece of soy sauce marinated shrimp on the side.
He looked at the soy sauce marinated salmon with interest and took a bite with some rice.
I watched him nod as if to say that it was pretty good.
Then he boldly moved on to the shrimp.
He took a bite.
And then, quite literally,
he made a “blegh!” face and spit it out.
I remember laughing when I saw that.
It was much later that I learned that jokes like this can be a very sensitive matter because of food allergies.
Even after spitting out the shrimp,
he ate the soy sauce marinated salmon without hesitation, finished the entire serving,
said it was delicious, and got up to leave.
That experience made me think that even if soy sauce marinated shrimp might not work,
soy sauce marinated salmon might actually have a chance of being sold overseas.
Restaurant-Style Soy Sauce Marinade (Basic Base)
This is the soy sauce marinade base I actually used in my restaurant.
There may be better-tasting recipes out there, but there is no doubt that this method was designed to
produce consistent results in large batches,
be quick to make,
and be convenient to store and use.
Liquid Ingredients
500 ml Korean dark soy sauce
250 ml mirin
250 g sugar
(Yes, 250 g is correct. It is not a typo for 25 g.)
(Use 230 g if you prefer it less sweet.)
250 ml apple juice
Seasonings
1 tablespoon Hondashi
1/2 tablespoon MSG (Miwon)
Do not add water at this stage.
This is intentional.
Some traditional recipes use fresh fruit, but I use apple juice
to keep the flavor consistent and get the same result every time.
When making a small batch, slicing up one apple and adding it may be fine.
But once you increase the amount to two or three apples,
a fruit with as much natural sugar as an apple can
have a noticeable effect on the sweetness.
Vegetables
250 g onion
100–125 g garlic
100–125 g green onion
How to Make the Soy Sauce Marinade
1. Blend the Vegetables
Blend the onion, garlic, and green onion until smooth.
This process is meant to extract the flavor and aroma from the vegetables
in a short amount of time.
If you simply boil the vegetables without blending them,
you would need to boil them for at least 20 minutes.
The downside of this method is that the soy sauce may become somewhat cloudy.
Well…
It’s soy sauce. It’s already black, isn’t it???
2. Add the Ingredients
Add the seasonings and sugar to a pot
and mix lightly.
There is a lot of sugar in there, so you will need to give it a good stir.
3. Boil
Bring the soy sauce mixture to a boil,
then add the finely blended vegetables.
The boiling soy sauce will cool down a little
once the blended vegetables are added.
Bring it back to a boil,
then boil it for exactly another 2–3 minutes.
If you’re in a hurry, you can simply turn off the heat
once you see it come back to a boil and cover the pot with a lid.
Foam forming at this stage is normal.
Then turn off the heat.
Cool and Strain
After turning off the heat,
leave it alone and let it cool naturally if possible.
The idea is to let the vegetable juices continue to come out
as the temperature gradually drops.
I prefer this method because I think it is better
than leaving the gas burner on for 30 minutes
while constantly checking on it.
If you prefer the latter method,
there is no need to blend the vegetables.
Just add the vegetables whole
and simmer everything for about 30 minutes.
Once the soy sauce has cooled completely,
strain it through a fine mesh strainer
and press the vegetables thoroughly to extract all the soy sauce they have absorbed.
And there you have it.
This is your soy sauce concentrate (basic marinade base).
This is a base.
Do not use it as-is.
Soy Sauce Concentrate — Important
If you use it as-is,
it will be far too salty and sweet.
You must dilute it with water before using it.
The recommended ratio is:
45% concentrate
55% water
You can adjust the strength and saltiness according to your preference.
Making the concentrate first and adjusting it with water later
makes it easy to control the seasoning.
It also means you can use a container that is less than half the size
for storage, since there is no water mixed into the concentrate.
Most importantly,
it allows you to maintain a consistent flavor.
How to Make Soy Sauce Marinated Salmon
Container Size
For 200 g of salmon,
use approximately 200 g of diluted marinade.
So basically, 100 parts marinade : 100 parts water, right?
A 500–800 ml airtight container is suitable.
Leave about 20% of the container empty.
Preparing the Salmon
Remove the skin from the salmon.
Cut the salmon into appropriately sized pieces.
I personally prefer cutting it a little thicker.
Place the salmon in the container.
Pour in enough diluted marinade to completely cover the salmon.
A Surprisingly Essential Ingredient
Thinly sliced onion
This is a surprisingly essential ingredient.
Whether you’re marinating salmon, shrimp, or crab,
the pieces sitting at the very top can easily stick out above the soy sauce
and come into contact with the air.
And exposure to oxygen can accelerate food spoilage.
So what do you do?
Thinly slice some onion and use it to cover the surface.
Like putting a blanket over it.
This helps keep the pieces floating at the top submerged in the soy sauce,
allowing the seasoning to reach everything evenly
and helping reduce the risk of spoilage.
Adding lemon slices is also a good option.
Marinating Time
Salmon: 24 hours
Shrimp / Crab: 3+ days
Food Safety Precautions
Never use freshwater shrimp or freshwater crab.
Use only marine seafood that is suitable for raw consumption.
Also, be careful not to contaminate the salmon marinade
with utensils or chopsticks that have already been used.
This is one of those things where you can accidentally contaminate it
without even realizing it.
You carefully take out the seafood,
taste a little of the soy sauce left on the tip of your chopsticks,
and then, without even thinking about it,
put those same chopsticks back into the marinade.
Be careful.
Because this dish contains raw seafood,
even a small amount of contamination can significantly shorten
the marinade’s shelf life.
Reusing and Restoring the Marinade
If the marinade becomes cloudy, lighter in color,
or seems to be becoming slightly thicker,
do not wait.
First, remove all the seafood and vegetables,
then boil the marinade again.
However, boiling the marinade from salmon is not particularly helpful.
You may end up seeing what looks like a layer of
salmon-oil slime.
So with salmon,
only marinate as much as you need, one day before eating it.
The seasoning penetrates quickly anyway,
so I think this is the better approach.
With shrimp or crab,
you can boil the soy sauce alone,
let it cool,
and then marinate the seafood again.
This can help you extend the storage period somewhat.
This process can help maintain the stability of the marinade
and preserve its quality.
Even if the marinade still tastes its best,
if you still have quite a lot of seafood left,
boiling the marinade again before it is too late
can help maintain its quality.
Final Thoughts
This soy sauce marinated salmon recipe is simple,
but it is quite a useful recipe.
It is a restaurant-style recipe designed to produce consistent flavor in large batches
and to be adaptable to various types of seafood.
The soy sauce itself also has many uses.
If you have finished eating the seafood from your shrimp or crab marinade,
don’t necessarily throw the soy sauce away.
Boil it once
and try using it with other dishes.
You can turn it into a very good seafood-flavored soy sauce.
It is quite sweet, though,
so you will probably want to reduce the amount of sugar
from the original recipe when using it for that purpose.
Which Soy Sauce Should You Use?
When I was running the restaurant,
I generally bought the cheapest Monggo dark soy sauce in bulk.
But if I were making this at home,
I personally prefer a different dark soy sauce.
To be honest, if you only use a tablespoon or two of either soy sauce in a dish,
there isn’t much difference between the two.
If you taste them straight,
Monggo soy sauce tends to have a slightly more pronounced flavor.
But how often are you going to eat soy sauce by the spoonful…?
However, when you use a large amount of soy sauce,
as you do for soy sauce marinated crab,
I personally find that the other dark soy sauce has a more balanced overall flavor.
So unless you’re running a restaurant and need to worry about the price per liter,
I recommend using a different Korean dark soy sauce.
I personally use Sempio Jin Soy Sauce.
Sempio Jin Soy Sauce
Hondashi
Hondashi is one of those seasonings that I always find myself wondering whether I should buy.
There’s no need to buy a large package for home use.
Its flavor is quite distinctive, and when used in Korean dishes, it can sometimes stand out a little too much.
That said, if you use a small amount and adjust it carefully,
it’s one of the best seasonings for taking a dish beyond ordinary.