细姑's salmon

February 12, 2025 9:41 PM

Okay, I don't have great photos (yet!), but what I do have is a recipe! I will show you one of my favorite ways to prepare salmon, which was originally introduced to me by my 细姑 (sort of pronounced "soy go"). She claims that she has since forgotten how she made this, which is why I need to make sure I've documented it!

Equipment you will need

• A baking pan or sheet (that the salmon fits in)
• A spoon or butter knife (for spreading mayo)
• Aluminum foil (optional, if you want to make clean up easier)
• An oven

Ingredients

• Salmon
• Mayonnaise
• 鸡精 (sort of pronounced "goy jeng")
  • This is the "Granulated Chicken Flavor Soup Base Mix", or as I like to call it "chicken flavored msg"
• Panko breadcrumbs
• Lemon pepper

I provide no amounts of anything because Soy Go never measures! So go and measure with your heart!

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Line your baking device with foil and place the salmon on it, skin side down.
3. Add one or two dollops of mayo to the salmon and spread all over.
4. Sprinkle some chicken granules on top.
5. Add a generous amount of panko breadcrumbs all over.
6. Finally, sprinkle lemon pepper on top. Make it as lemon-y as you want.
7. Cook it in the oven for 15 minutes or until it's cooked to your preferred level of done-ness.

Extra tips!

How to pick a good piece of salmon - Salmon is expensive and Soy Go likes to save money, so in the spirit of that I just wait until I see a 50% off sticker at Aldi!

For real though, I will usually buy about a 1 lb filet, with skin, and I look for one that has a pretty even thickness throughout, so it cooks evenly. I actually prefer thinner pieces.

Cook time - I gave an exact time in the directions, but really, the amount of time that this takes depends on how thick your salmon is. If you have a thinner piece, then it'll cook faster. Err on the side of undercooking because you can always just pop it back in the oven if you notice that it's not cooked enough. But if you're sticking to 1 lb filets, then I doubt it would ever need more than 20 minutes.

Like the skin? - I actually love the skin, but I typically won't eat it mostly because I'm lazy, and when you cook the salmon with the skin down, it just sticks, which makes it very easy to pick up a piece without skin.

However, if you do want the skin, you should de-scale the salmon first and also spray the pan or foil with something that will prevent it from sticking.

Substitutions - I'd say that everything in this recipe is pretty crucial except for the chicken msg. I get it, not everyone wants to buy a gigantic container of this stuff. Just use whatever salt or seasoning you have.