This glazed salmon recipe is based on a traditional Chinese red cooked fish (hóngshāo yú)—specifically, my grandpa’s incredibly flavorful hóngshāo yú.
While the dish is traditionally made with whole fish, like tilapia or snapper, I created this version for busy weeknights by using salmon fillets.
The robust, tangy, sweet, and savory sauce, with lots of cooked scallions, is delicious with fatty salmon. With some rice and a vegetable, it’s the perfect meal to enjoy at the end of a long day.
Coming Around to Fish
(Personal anecdotes ahead. Skip to the next section if you’re in a hurry. I’m a mom now. I get it.)
This is perhaps little known amongst The Woks of Life readership, but I never really liked fish growing up. Until I was about 15 years old, I would eschew my parents’ attempts at getting me to try any fish dish on the table, which (unfortunately for me) seemed to be at least once a week.
It’s part of our family lore that when my mom was pregnant with me, she couldn’t even look at a fish, or any seafood for that matter. After the long labor and eventual C-section that got me into this world, she requested that my dad bring a cooked whole fish to the hospital. Free of newborn me and my preternaturally ingrained fish aversion, she ate the whole thing. Such was the power of my dislike!
What finally got me to come around to fish was the delicious sauces my family cooked them in. There were two fish dishes that showed up time and time again on our table—Cantonese steamed fish (清蒸鱼) from my dad’s side, and Red Braised Fish (红烧鱼) from my mom’s side.
At first, it was just a taste of the sauce itself. The deliciously salty, flavorful ginger scallion soy sauce with a touch of sugar from the Cantonese contingent, and then the syrupy “red cooked” sauce from the Shanghainese side.
I would spoon just the sauce over my rice and savor each bite. Eventually, I gave into my parents’ cajoling, allowing them to put a few pieces of carefully carved fish fillet onto my plate.
(To those who think I sound spoiled here, you’re totally right. I think my dad just really wanted me to give fish a chance!)
Luckily, I eventually came around. I really enjoy fish now. I eat seaweed salad! Love a summer lobster roll! Linguine with clams is one of my all-time favorite pastas! Still not sure about oysters (oyster sauce is an important exception) and mussels, but I’m a work in progress.
A Granddaughter’s Take On Her Grandfather’s Recipe
I love my grandpa’s red braised fish. While we’ve talked extensively about my yeye (my dad’s stepfather and restaurant chef extraordinaire), I’m talking about gong gong (my mom’s dad).
Red cooking (红烧 – hóngshāo) refers to a braising technique involving soy sauce, rice wine, and sugar. The dish is not braised for very long—usually 15 minutes to 1 hour, but it results in a rich, dark amber sauce that tastes like it took much more time than it did to make.
Gong gong took a no holds barred approach to making the sauce. He put twice or triple the amount of black vinegar, soy sauce, wine, and sugar that my grandma or mom would use if they were making the same dish. Notably, he added no water, so as not to dilute the flavor of the sauce.
The result was a deliciously rich, almost syrupy glaze. It was such a family favorite that while my grandpa didn’t cook often, he would be called upon to cook this fish dish. No one else could make it like he did.
Luckily, we started The Woks of Life. In 2015, we had the wherewithal to watch him make the dish and record exactly what he did. You can see that recipe for Red Braised Fish here!
My grandpa passed away in 2016, so it’s a recipe that I treasure on the blog, and one that will always make me think of him.
Easy enough for a weeknight
This recipe takes my grandpa’s hongshao fish technique and turns it into a hongshao-style glazed salmon with all the flavor of that original sauce.
While I’m now appreciative of the fruits of the ocean, I’d be lying if I said I was up for cooking up a whole fish on an average weeknight.
Instead, I go for things like fillets of mahi mahi, salmon, or cod. Salmon probably makes the most regular appearances on my dinner table. I chose salmon for this recipe, but you could use a flaky white fish like snapper or sea bass as well.
There’s no whole fish to clean, scale, and de-bone at the table, and it can be done in 20 minutes.
It is at once incredibly nostalgic and novel for me, as I now find myself making it for my family—taking a bit of the old, and mixing it with the new.
Let’s make it!
Glazed Salmon Recipe Instructions
Dry the salmon fillets with a paper towel. Dust the fish in the cornstarch until you have an even coating.
Heat a stainless steel frying pan over medium-high until a splash of water beads and dances in the pan and quickly evaporates. Add the oil, and swirl it around the pan.
Add the ginger slices and salmon fillets skin side down.
Cook for 2 minutes, until lightly golden and crisp. Flip the fish, and cook for another 2 minutes on the other side. Remove the salmon from the pan to a plate.
Add the scallions, wine, sugar, black vinegar, dark soy sauce, and light soy sauce. Bring the liquid to a simmer.
Add the fish back to the pan skin side down.
Cook the fish, continuously spooning the cooking liquid over it.
Cook for about 3-4 minutes, until the fish is just cooked through and the sauce is syrupy. Serve the fish with the sauce and scallions drizzled over the top.
Enjoy!
If you liked this glazed salmon recipe, try some of our other salmon recipes:
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Recipe
Glazed Salmon, Hongshao-Style
Ingredients
- 2 salmon fillets (about 8 ounces/200g each, 1-1.5 inches/3cm thick)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil
- 3 slices ginger
- 2 scallions (cut into 2 inch/5cm lengths)
- 1/3 cup Shaoxing wine or dry cooking sherry
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar or brown sugar
- 4 teaspoons Chinese black vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
Instructions
- Dry the salmon fillets with a paper towel. Dust the fish in the cornstarch until you have an even coating.
- Heat a stainless steel frying pan over medium-high until a splash of water beads and dances in the pan and quickly evaporates. Add the oil, and swirl it around the pan.
- Add the ginger slices and salmon fillets skin side down. Cook for 2 minutes, until lightly golden and crisp. Flip the fish, and cook for another 2 minutes on the other side. Remove the salmon from the pan to a plate.
- Add the scallions, wine, sugar, black vinegar, dark soy sauce, and light soy sauce. Bring the liquid to a simmer.
- Add the fish back to the pan skin side down. Cook the fish, continuously spooning the cooking liquid over it. Cook for about 3-4 minutes, until the fish is just cooked through and the sauce is syrupy. Serve the fish with the sauce and scallions drizzled over the top.
