Norwegian Mackerel Teriyaki 冷凍ノルウエイ鯖の照り焼き

We used to get fresh whole mackerel from Whole Foods or Hmart (via the Instacart) but we have not gotten whole mackerel for some time. At one time, I got frozen filets of Norwegian mackerel at our Japanese grocery store. I figured the time had come to use this. I was not sure if the filets were already salted (many frozen filets of mackerel appear salted), but there was no indication on the package. I thought about making salt grilled 塩焼きor miso simmered 味噌煮 but decided to make “teriyaki 照り焼き”. We served this with Shiitake mushroom risotto. A bit of a cultural mixture but both went well together. Since I took some care to reduce the fishiness, it had a good teriyaki taste (I did not use sugar in the sauce just mirin). The only problem (especially for my wife) is that these filets had quite a few small bones.

Ingredients:
2 frozen filets of Norwegian mackerel, thawed
2-3 tbs sake
Salt
AP flour
1 tbs vegetable oil

For teriyaki sauce
2 tbs mirin
2 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce

Directions:
After thawing, I wrapped the filets with sake soaked paper towels and let them sit in the refrigerator for 1 hour or so.
I then patted the filets dry with paper towels and salted them on both sides and let them sit at room temperature for 20 minutes and again patted dry the surface.
I cut a shallow oblique cut on the skin and then cut one filet into 4 portions.
I then dredged in flour.
I placed the filet portions skin side down in the frying pan with the vegetable oil on medium low flame.
I let it cook mostly from the skin side. After 5-6 minutes when the edges got opaque in the thick portions and top became opaque in the thin portions, I flipped it over to finish cooking (you can slightly under cook at this point since it is further cooked in the teriyaki sauce). Remove the fish and set aside. Wipe the oil from the pan clean.
Add the mirin and noodle sauce on medium high flame and let it reduce in half.
Add back the fish and coat all sides with the sauce until the liquid is almost evaporated.

I made the teriyaki sauce not too sweet. This was quite good especially for frozen mackerel and it was good to taste mackerel again after such a long time. But the bones were quite a botheration. When I filet the fresh mackerel myself, I remove most of the bones. I could have done this. Maybe next time.