Korean Barbecue salmon

Pan-seared salmon with crispy skin, finished with Korean Barbecue. Cook the fish clean and simple, then let the blend do the heavy lifting at the end. Sweet-savory umami on rich, flaky salmon is the whole reason to make this.

Built on top of the Shred 4-step protocol. If you haven't read that yet, start there.

The numbers.

  • Prep: 5 min
  • Cook: 10 min
  • Serves: 2

Ingredients.

  • 2 wild-caught salmon fillets (6 oz each), skin on
  • 1 tbsp beef tallow
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • Shred Korean Barbecue, to finish
  • Sea salt, to taste

Optional side

  • White rice, steamed broccoli, or a simple cucumber salad

Instructions.

  1. Pat it dry. Dry the salmon completely, especially the skin, and season with sea salt. Dry skin is the only way you get crispy skin.
  2. Heat the pan. Stainless steel or cast iron over medium-high. Add the beef tallow and let it shimmer.
  3. Sear skin-side down. Lay the fillets in skin-side down and press flat for 10 seconds so they don't curl. Cook 4 to 5 minutes undisturbed until the skin is crisp and releases on its own.
  4. Flip and finish. Flip and cook 2 to 3 minutes more to 125 to 130 F internal for medium. Pull at 125 and let carryover heat finish it.
  5. Rest. 2 minutes off the heat.
  6. Finish with Shred. Squeeze the lemon over the fillets, then sprinkle Korean Barbecue generously. Always post cook, never before.

Eat it while the skin is still crisp. The sweet-savory blend on the rich salmon is the entire point.

Why this works.

  • Wild-caught salmon. Complete protein plus the highest omega-3 density of any common protein. The anti-inflammatory fats your body actually runs on. Wild beats farmed on fat profile and contaminant load.
  • Beef tallow. Stable saturated fat that takes a hard sear without oxidizing. No seed oils anywhere near the fish.
  • Lemon. Vitamin C and acid to cut the richness and make the blend pop.
  • Korean Barbecue. Turmeric, ginger, beetroot, Korean kelp, shiitake, and perilla seed. Sweet-savory umami with a functional layer that belongs on seafood. The kelp and perilla are oceanic by nature. 10 calories and zero added sugar per serving, unlike the bottled teriyaki and Korean BBQ glazes that are mostly sugar.

Notes.

Skip the seed oils and skip the bottled glaze. Store-bought teriyaki and Korean BBQ sauce are sugar bombs. Sear clean, finish with Shred.

If you're cutting, skip the tallow and dry-sear the salmon in a hot cast iron pan using only its own fat. If you're bulking, add a cup of rice and a drizzle of olive oil at the end.

Buy center-cut fillets of even thickness so they cook at the same rate. Frozen wild-caught is often fresher than the "fresh" farmed sitting at the counter.

This recipe uses Korean Barbecue. Bold sweet-savory blend built for salmon, beef, and rice bowls. Shop Korean Barbecue.

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