Miso Butter Salmon (Chan Chan Yaki)

Today I'm going to show you an easy delicious way to use miso that's not miso soup. So stick around. Welcome back everyone. I'm Mark Matsumoto and I'm here to show you how to elevate your everyday meals. So tap that subscribe button and hit that bell so you don't miss out. Chan-chan yaki is a dish from the Ishikari region of Hokkaido which is known for delicious salmon. It's traditionally made on a steel griddle called a teppan and it involves a ton of veggies and salmon seasoned with miso and butter. When it's ready to serve the salmon and veggies are chopped up using metal spatulas that look kind of like this and the chan-chan-chan-chan sound that they make when it's getting mixed is where the dish gets its name. I've created an easy method to recreate this miso butter salmon at home that ensures you end up with perfectly cooked salmon and sweet tender veggies. My trick is to make a compound butter with miso that I spread onto the salmon before placing it on a bed of sauteed vegetables. Since the salmon never makes direct contact with the pan it gently steams and the miso bastes it while slowly melting onto the veggies down below. Served over a bowl of rice it's mind-bendingly delicious. Sounds pretty good right? Let's have a look at our ingredients. I've got about a pound of salmon here and as you can see it's got some nice creamy marbling but this still works with leaner salmon as well. For the miso butter I've got a quarter cup of yellow miso, two and a half tablespoons of room temperature unsalted butter, and one tablespoon of sugar. And I've also got some black pepper for garnish. For the vegetables I'm using about four cabbage leaves, a small bunch of enoki, a small carrot, a very small onion, and some scallions. If you want exact measurements check the video description down below. I've also got a tablespoon of vegetable oil and a quarter cup of sake. To make the miso butter add the softened butter to a bowl along with the miso and the sugar. Then you want to mix this until it's evenly combined. Miso butter can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for weeks so you can make a big batch and save it for later. Now you want to spread this evenly onto the surface of your salmon. It doesn't have to be perfect but you do want to get it onto as much of the top surface as possible. One thing to keep in mind is that the saltiness of miso varies a ton so you may not need all of the miso butter. Try tasting it before you spread it on the salmon. It has to season everything so it should be pretty salty but it shouldn't be overpowering. To prepare the cabbage I'm going to cut it in two inch wide strips and then I'm going to cut those strips into squares. The cabbage not only bulks up our meal with tons of fiber, it's also a rich source of glutamate which is going to give this dish a ton of umami. To prepare the enoki I've trimmed off the growing medium already so I'm just going to cut this bunch in half and separate the stems so they're not all in one clump. For the onion I'm just going to cut it in half and then go around the onion cutting it into thin wedges like this. For the carrot I'm going to trim the ends off and then cut it in half then I'm going to cut the pieces in half again lengthwise. Then you can lay the pieces flat and slice them up like this. Finally for the scallions I'm going to trim the roots off and cut them down to size like this. Then I'm just going to chop them up. These are going to be used as a garnish so put them in a separate bowl from the other veggies. Before we start cooking I'd like to take a quick moment to thank my 62 patrons on Patreon who helped fund this video. If you're learning something new from my recipes and want to pitch in hit the link in the description down below to join the crew. Okay I've got a large pan over medium heat and I'm gonna add the oil to the pan. Then I'm gonna add all of the veggies except for the scallions. Now I'm gonna stir fry the vegetables until they're good and wilted. I used a frying pan to make this easier to see what I'm doing but I recommend using something a little deeper like a chef's pan if you have one. Our cabbage is looking great so I'm gonna go ahead and flatten off the top to make a nice little bed for our salmon and then I'm gonna lay the salmon right on top. Then you want to pour the sake all over the vegetables and cover this with a lid. Now I'm gonna lower the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and I'm gonna go ahead and let the salmon steam for about 8 to 10 minutes. How long this takes will depend on how thick your salmon is so you may want to use an instant re-thermometer. I usually cook my salmon to around 130 degrees Fahrenheit but you can take this a little higher if you'd like. My salmon was on the thin side and it's been about 7 minutes so let's have a look. Oh wow this smells amazing and as you can see some of that miso butter has melted down onto the tender vegetables. Traditionally you'd use a pair of spatulas to chop everything together at this point but it makes it look pretty unappetizing and it'll also cause the salmon to get overcooked so I'm just gonna mix some of that miso butter into the vegetables. Okay let's get this over to the table and then I'm gonna hit this with some freshly cracked black pepper. I've also got some scallions to add a little more color and texture. Ready to see what this looks like on the inside? Wow that salmon falls apart like it was cooked sous vide and the vegetables are tender and creamy as well. I don't really like to scramble this up in the pan but I totally recommend mixing it up once you get it over the rice so you get a nice mix of miso, salmon, and veggies in every bite. Chan Chan Yaki is traditionally made with salmon but my miso butter and this method works with any protein including tofu and chicken so I hope you'll give this a try. If you enjoyed this video and you want to see more like it you can give this a vote by giving this the big thumbs up and by sharing it with all your friends that could use an easy salmon dish. Well I've got a lunch date with a bowl of Chan Chan Yaki and rice but I'll catch you in the next one.