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Saba no Shioyaki (Salt-Grilled Mackerel with Grated Daikon)
Saba no Shioyaki (Salt-Grilled Mackerel with Grated Daikon) reads umami 6.5, salinity 5.6 and richness 4.6 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Japanese main, about 46 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.
The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10
- Umami & Savory — 7.5 / 10
- Sweet & Fruity — 2.6 / 10
- Sour & Bright — 1.6 / 10
- Bitter & Earthy — 1.2 / 10
- Rich & Fat — 5.0 / 10
- Aromatic & Spice — 1.6 / 10
The measured notes (of 18)
Umami 6.5 · Salinity 5.6 · Richness 4.6 · Funk & Ferment 3.1 · Marine & Briny 2.4 · Sweetness 2.1 · Fruity 1.6 · Floral 1.5 · Sourness 1.4 · Herbaceous 1.4 · Nutty 1.2 · Earthy 1.0 · Bitterness 0.8 · Citrus 0.6
What's in it (8)
- mackerel — 150 g
- salt — 10 g
- sake — 15 g
- daikon radish — 200 g
- sudachi — 100 g
- soy sauce — 5 g
- shiso leaves — 2 g
- oil — 5 g
Time & effort: about 46 min (16 min active) · effort: easy
Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 15.4 kcal, 0.4 g protein, 1 g fat, 1.4 g carbs
Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.
How it's cooked (6 steps)
- Salt the fillets evenly on both sides, holding your hand high so the salt falls like snow rather than landing in drifts, and stand them skin-up on a rack for 30 minutes. Water will bead out and carry the strong smell of the fish with it. This is the entire technique of shioyaki, and skipping it gives you salted fish rather than seasoned fish.
- Blot the fillets dry and wipe them with the sake. Heat a grill, a grill pan or a broiler until it is genuinely hot and wipe the bars with the oil.
- Grill skin-side towards the heat first for 4 to 5 minutes, until the skin blisters and chars in patches and lifts away from the bars of its own accord. Turn once only and give the flesh side 3 to 4 minutes; a mackerel fillet of this thickness is done when the flesh at the thickest point has just turned opaque and separates in flakes under a light press.
- Squeeze the grated daikon gently, mound it beside the fish and lay the citrus wedges alongside on the shiso leaves. The diner pours the soy over the daikon, not over the fish.
- Serve at once, with rice, miso soup and a pickle, which is the ichiju-sansai arrangement of a Japanese breakfast or an ordinary weeknight supper. Grated daikon with an oily grilled fish is not decoration: its enzymes and its raw pepperiness cut the fat, which is why the pairing has stayed fixed for centuries.
- Substitutions: 1/2 lemon can stand in for the sudachi.
Dishes with a similar flavor shape
- Shrimp Tempura with Dipping Sauce — Japanese
- Muffuletta — Cajun/Creole
- Oven-Roasted Halibut with Black Olive Tapenade on Roasted Red Peppers (Rape Asado con Tapenada Negra Y Pimientos Morrones) — Spanish
- Bacalao a la Vizcaína — Basque · Hegoalde (Spain)
- Pad See Ew — Thai
Keep reading: what umami, salinity, richness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.
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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.