Maple-Soy Salmon Bowls
Our upstairs neighbors’ bedroom is right above our kitchen, and whenever we cook salmon — just salmon, for some reason — they can strongly smell it. “The scent is delicious,” they once texted. “But it’s hard to fall asleep to.” Fair enough! To be good housemates, we haven’t cooked salmon at home for the past eight years, but whenever we’re staying with my mom or my aunt, I pitch it as a possible dinner ingredient, fingers tightly crossed. Luckily for me, right before our summer trip, our beloved Jenny Rosenstrach from Dinner: A Love Story is sharing a flavor-packed non-recipe recipe for grilled maple-soy salmon bowls. Here are her simple steps…
Grilled Maple-Soy Salmon Bowls With Cukes, Green Beans, and Pickled Onions
In a small bowl, mix together maple syrup and soy sauce using a 1:1 ratio. (We used 2 tablespoons of each to glaze a one-pound salmon filet, which served two.) Grill salmon filets over medium-hot coals, flipping halfway, for about 10 minutes total, or until flesh feels slightly firm but not hard. As you cook, brush the surface with the maple-soy mixture. (If you’d rather skip the grill, bake salmon at 400 for 15 minutes, and brush with glaze halfway through; broil for the last minute to get good color, along with another brush of glaze.) Serve salmon with rice that’s been drizzled with rice wine vinegar, and top with sliced fresh cucumbers; cooked, trimmed green beans; and pickled red onions. As you can see from the photo, we didn’t have any fresh herbs on hand (it looks so naked!), but I’d suggest adding chopped chives or cilantro.
Quick-pickled red onions: In a medium heavy saucepan, bring 2 cups water, 1/4 cup vinegar (any kind, I usually use red wine), 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt to a boil over high heat. When the sugar has dissolved, add 1 medium red onion (sliced thin), reduce the heat to low, and simmer, uncovered, until they have wilted, about 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool to room temp. Do not rinse or drain. You can use immediately. Store leftovers in their pickling liquid.
Thank you, Jenny! How delicious does that sound? What have you been cooking lately?
P.S. More Jenny summer favorites: crispy fish sandwiches, lazy man’s ratatouille, shrimp rolls, corn and tomato with sausages, chilled gazpacho, dumpling salad, and the easiest fruit galettes.
(Photo by Jenny Rosenstrach.)
Comments
70 commentsI hope your neighbors tell you when they’re traveling so you can make salmon when they’re gone!
wheres everyone buying their salmon ? i have a walmart no thanks! meijer, and a kroger near me.
Fresh fillet at Costco if possible but options nearby are more limited. I’ll fill in with frozen salmon fillets or rarely, fresh at the non-Walmart chain grocer (also wild, we are picky lol).
I guess this doesn’t help much, but I usually buy it at Trader Joe’s. I’ve also enjoyed fish cakes made with canned. I would probably be inclined to try Meijer first.
We cook salmon in our air fryer – it cooks nicely and there’s no or negligible smell compared to eg. frying. Could be an option!
I can’t find it but I KNOW it was a COJ comments section discovery: boil water with some white vinegar in your kitchen after cooking fish. The vinegar-y steam whisks the smell away.
:O this might change my life. I will definitely try it out. Thank you so much!!
I’m a Pacific Nprthwesterner, so salmon is in regular rotation! I usually bake it with olive oil, butter salt and pepper..Easy peasy. As to what I’m making lately? I’m really into white beans…the cheesy ones Jo has shared here, with different variations…adding artichoke hearts, lemon pepper, kale and spinach. I was also inspired by all the cooking in 5Star Weekend, and have found recipes for Salted Caramel granola ( super easy!) , different variations of overnight oats ( way better when made with oat milk!) and the roasted onion dip…all delish. Been tending to a husband with a broken ankle, and have been cooking with the time on my hands!
So a few years ago I saw an IG post about poaching salmon in the microwave that went viral because the comments were so funny (“did a Microwave write this?”). All of the comments were about what a bad idea this was. I read and laughed at ALL the comments. But I had (and still have) a broken oven, so wouldn’t you know, I tried it. And it’s now my favorite low effort way to make salmon, and I think it smells less. Here’s the method: – put salmon filet skin side down in microwave safe dish with sides that isn’t much bigger than the salmon piece — I used a rectangular pyrex container that I usually use to store leftovers. (the size doesn’t actually matter, but you use less water in a smaller container). Add about 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of salt to a cup of water, stir to dissolve. Pour the water around the salmon so that it’s only partially covered (water covering the sides but not fully covering the middle of the piece). Sprinkle a little bit of salt on the part not in contact with the water. Depending on the wattage of your microwave and the size of the piece of salmon, you may need to microwave 3 minutes, or up to 5 minutes. For a 1 pound skin-on, farm-raised salmon filet, I usually went with 4 minutes in my microwave. sometimes I also add seasoning to the top of the salmon piece — a spice blend I have or some lemon slices.
My mom swears by microwaving salmon. I haven’t tried it yet. My whole thing is how do you get the salmon smell (for that matter, any strong smell you reheat) from the interior?
I promise this is a tip from a real person who is not in any way affiliated with this brand, but I’m a big fan of the Anyday dishes! They’re designed to be used in the microwave, and I swear you can (succesfully) cook just about anything in them.
My mom did this in the 90s/00s with white wine!! God it was so good. She had a whole book on cooking with the microwave. Another favorite was, bizarrely, microwaved butternut squash
To the other Anon in the comments- I may just not notice it, but I don’t think the salmon stinks up the microwave! I do leave the door sitting open a while just in case. Jules – my parents also had a microwave cookbook! It came with their Amana microwave, which was huge. It had a recipe for a whole turkey, and my mom tried it once! My dad was a huge fan of microwave cooking, because we were always trying to reduce energy use, and he refused to turn on the oven unless we were cooking multiple dishes.
To clear odours from the inside of a microwave, I fill a handled mug or glass measuring cup (so you can remove the hot cup safely) with about 2/3 cup water and 1/4 cup of white vinegar and place it in the centre of the microwave. Run the microwave on full power for 3-4 minutes so the water and vinegar steam up the microwave. Wipe out with a dry dishcloth.
Not sure if this will help but my Japanese mom always “washed” raw salmon in sake before cooking. She claimed it cut down on the sometimes unpleasant overpowering fishy taste (especially with frozen farmed fish) and the smell when cooking. Good apartment neighbors are like gold! I have one who is very sensitive to loud noises (not smells) but she is always checking in to make sure she’s also being a considerate neighbor and I really appreciate her.
Will try, leaving off the cukes and the pickled onions! So considerate of you to save your neighbors <3
its very considerate of you to not cook the salmon because of your neighbors! not a perfect solution but to get in your salmon fix: H-Mart, Sunrise Mart, Ten-Ichi, Hashi mart, et al. sell sashimi grade fish that is great for poke bowls, sushi, etc. !
I’m making poke bowls tonight! I’m also a big fan of baking fish in a parchment bag which greatly reduces smell and also is wonderful for quick cleanup (my fav).
Kudos to Joanna for being such a thoughtful neighbor! A random idea (that may or may not work!) Joanna, if you have an air fryer and an outside outlet – could you cook the salmon outside in your air fryer? We do a family trip every year and my husband likes to make omelettes for my family while we are there – this year he took our air fryer for the bacon but made it on the back deck to avoid making the house smell all morning!
Growing up, we had an electric skillet that was only used by my dad to cook fish on our back deck. My mother only allows OUTSIDE cooking for fish.
Another tip for bacon: if you can find “dry cured” bacon it smells nice while cooking but doesn’t leave that lingering smell! And it’s delicious. Funny to mention these both in the same comment, but if anyone has a trick for latke smell, I’m all ears! They are one of the most delicious foods ever (and one of the only Jewish foods I can eat as a recently diagnosed celiac) but omg does it makes your house smell like onions for literal days afterwards.
Are the green beans boiled a bit, then put in a cold bath to retain the green? It seems so, but I’d love to know! Thank you!
I’ll ask Jenny!
Yes! You simmer them for about 2-3 minutes and then plunge into an ice box to stop the cooking and retain the pretty green color. Lately I’ve been cooking them on the longer side, preferring them to be soft (not mushy) rather than have even the slightest al dente crunch.
Thank you so much Jo and Jenny! (Fangirling over here!)
I have a quick pickled life hack! Just slice them, throw them in a jar, and add rice wine vinegar. Done. Zingy, a little sweet – perfect.
Yes! The way I quick pickle onions (and cucumbers, honestly) is to put them in a jar that has been recently vacated by pickles and still contains the juice.
Whenever my upstairs neighbor would fry onions, the smell would somehow get piped directly into my clothes closet. I never figured out a successful solution.
I had a similar problem with a neighbor and general cooking smells in a coat closet. Lined the wall with HVAC filters (just taped them directly to the wall). Never had a problem again!
Wow Michelle that is brilliant. Amazing that it worked!
INCREDIBLE plant-based salmon alternative (and normally I don’t like “fake meat!”): https://oshi.com/products
Omg thanks for this rec! I am not vegan but have a ton of vegan friends and love to figure out ways to adapt my tried and true recipes for them. Can’t wait to try this out :)
Oooh thank you for sharing, Lucy! I am intrigued to try this.
Ditto — thank you!
Haha my first studio apartment was 300 sq ft and when it came time to go to sleep, my pillow would always smell like what I had cooked for dinner that night! An encore of sorts…
I wish my neighbour was as considerate. Instead he happily smokes one joint after the other on his balcony.
Maybe cook the salmon long before bedtime & keep it warm in a thermos until serving? You are good neighbors!
There’s a place in Astoria, OR called Josephson’s that makes an incredible maple smoked salmon. In case anyone is in the neighborhood :) I miss the days when my dad was retired and was healthy enough to go out on the boat. I guess it’s finally my turn!
Wait… who else in Astoria reads this blog?? (And love that you specified Oregon, not NY)
SLU—me! I do!
I have a solution for cooking smells that I have used for years, especially for cooking fish. Or other foods that can leave a lingering oder. One large pot of water. a cup or so of apple cider vinegar. Simmer as your cooking! R
lol imagine telling your neighbors what they should eat for dinner…
Right? Living in a shared building is its own experience.
Imagine actually listening to them and then not cooking salmon for eight years lol.
do you guys live in buildings with neighbors? genuinely asking because it’s so normal here to work together to understand the building (thin walls, food smells, whatever), so everyone can live well together. for example, our neighbors’ son used to play with a nerf basketball hoop and we could hear it so clearly. we didn’t usually mind the noise (we have kids, too, of course), but we would text if we ever needed quiet, like if Alex and I were doing our taxes or I was working from home on something important. and they would have him stop right away. that’s how long-term neighbors in close proximity usually are, just working together. I don’t mind it at all and just see it as part of communal city living.
I see your point Jo, but what if you were cooking something related to your cultural heritage – strong curries for example or spiced meats that cook for hours – and your neighbors asked you not to cook them-? How would you make sense of that? TLDR; I don’t think, even in a shared/communal space, that you get to have a say in what the folks around you are cooking or eating. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and light a candle! And yes, I lived in San Francisco with some shitty and some great neighbors for years :)
Agreed! In response to Joanna’s comment, I live in an apartment complex- our neighbours cook food that I can smell from the vents in my bathroom – and they can probably smell the food that we cook as well. I can’t imagine ever telling someone that they couldn’t cook something in their own home. For example, if I was vegetarian, I wouldn’t expect my neighbours to stop cooking meat. I think you are being too nice/gracious! Maybe there are ways to cook it that create less of a smell, like poaching or baking salmon in the oven?
I remember in my first solo apartment, I could hear my upstairs neighbor’s alarm clock. I’m sure our bedrooms were in the exact same spot in that building, and his alarm was part of my morning routine as much as mine was—thankfully we woke up around the same time so I didn’t need to say anything! For a lovely apartment-dwelling story, look up how Hilton Carter met his wife. He was playing loud music after just having moved in and she complained…the rest is history <3
I live in a rental apartment and I generally do my best to ignore the everyday annoyances; my neighbor plays loud music (and shouts “Alexa” a lot, to get some AI help in changing up the tunes). That’s pretty annoying, but it’s never late at night, so I figure it’s their right to do it. BUT, at some point it became legal to smoke pot in NYC and for a while I could smell it in my apartment often. I did politely let the people who stood near my window smoking, how strong it was in my apartment, and they were totally fine to go somewhere else. Most smells don’t bother me, but that one does!
Have spent most of my life in old apartment buildings with thin walls. Still do. Will absolutely ask neighbors to stop dragging furniture or shouting or making loud noises. And wouldn’t dream of making loud noises myself or drilling late at night etc. But what they eat? Lol takes the cake hahaha. To me it says they should go live in the countryside. I can smell all my neighbors meals. That’s what our human noses are trained to do – smell food. lol. Poor Joanna.
I’m imagining that this quirk of Joanna’s living situation says something about their IRL, specific relationship. It seems to be important enough to them both to make the concession. :)
I live so close to my neighbors that we might as well be in a house together, and none of us has AC so the windows are all always open. Instead of mutual accomodation we live in mutual tolerance. I think we all put up with things that annoy us to keep the peace.
Although I will say the smell after cooking salmon stands out as particularly pungent and foul
these comments are all so good — always love reading debates! over the past few decades in nyc, when we had crying babies or running toddlers (while living above a quiet single neighbor who worked from home, she was NOT psyched), we tried to do our best. and not cooking salmon because our neighbors can strongly smell it is definitely not a big deal to me. if we cooked a lot of fragrant food due to our culture/heritage, it would be a very different story. but I’m more than happy to make this concession for good neighbor relations! doesn’t feel like a sacrifice, and they do lots of things for us, too. just today i walked by and saw our upstairs neighbor on a ladder fixing a communal building light. (and I’m also VERY used to staying no to people, when I feel it’s necessary, don’t worry!)
I have no problem asking neighbors to keep the noise down but cannot fathom ever telling anyone not to cook something. I am pretty sensitive to smells and hate pot smoke, but even then tend to just light a candle and move on.
Agnes, your comments and perspective are always a treasure, truly.
I had really bad morning sickness with my first and I could smell garlic blowing in from downstairs and cigarette smoke, and I wished with all my heart that I knew my neighbors well enough to ask. I wish I had a neighbor like Joanna. I think being kind and reasonable to live in close proximity is undervalued. I have little kids and I know there’s a limit to how much I can reduce the noise, but I put in foam flooring in their room and I take their basketball away during quiet hours. My SIL lives three floors below us and she once heard when our place flooded at 4 am because she could hear us panicking.
Visiting my parents on the West Coast. [Recreational] Salmon fishing season starts right away. This is motivating me to get my dad & uncle to take us fishing. [Market as back up if we strike out] My dad’s garden can supply the beans, cukes and herbs. HEAVEN on a plate with fresh peaches for dessert. SIGH.
For the life of me I cannot cook salmon. It ends up being sashimi or dry and chalky. I slow cook it and it’s perfect out of the oven and on the plate it’s like a catcher’s mitt. I sauté it gently until it has a delightful crispy skin. On the plate it betrays me. I’m done. I’m crying uncle. I love salmon but we can no longer sustain this relationship.
Try poaching it.
Same, Clou. It’s not just me who can’t get it right but also my husband. I’m ready to give up and mostly just eat it at restaurants/others’ houses, but my husband insists on buying it weekly and brutalizing our mouths with it for dinner and (HORROR OF HORRORS) leftovers the next day.
The ONLY way I cook fish (because smell) is to wrap and seal in foil with some oil, salt maybe lemon or lime juice, 400f oven for 20 min. Never fails me and doesn’t smell, that I can tell!
Clou, try this just one more time: preheat your oven to 475F, drizzle your salmon with olive oil and dashes of salt and pepper (I put a bit underneath so the skin doesn’t stick), and put it in the oven but then drop the temperature to 275F immediately; let it cook for 15 mins. It literally never fails to be moist and delish. You can go from there to add toppings, sauces, etc.
Slow bake it at 250 with a small ramekin of water in the oven. Depending on thickness it might need 30 minutes or so? Keep checking until it’s just opaque. Learned this trick from a Scandanavian coworker and it’s never failed.
What about if you oven roast or broil the salmon? Would the scent be as pervasive if it was mostly contained in the oven? Just trying to find a way to let you have your salmon and eat it too!
I’ve been making maple soy salmon for years, super easy and delicious! Make sure to get Alaskan or PNW wild salmon if you can. I always cook down extra maple and soy sauce until it’s a little thick and syrupy and then use it as a sauce for the whole bowl, yum!
A salmon hack that has saved me: cooking from frozen. You put the filets frozen and covered with a sauce (if you want) in a 425 oven for 15 minutes, covering the dish tightly with foil. Take off the foil and cook 8-10 minutes more.
You’re a GREAT neighbor. Maybe they could let you know when they’re out of town so you could add it to the meal rotation that week? One good turn and all…..
Or do grilled salmon? I can’t remember if they have an outdoor area that would work for that, though!
My downstairs neighbour is too self-conscious to do karaoke when we’re home, so I faithfully let her know when we’ll be out of town so she can go to town, so to speak :)