Salmon Skin Furikake

It’s easy to work with ingredients that are at their best such as fruit at the peak of ripeness, vegetables at the desired point of picking, or a prized cut of meat. But what about the stuff that’s not always wanted? I think it’s important to not waste food. Besides the cost to the environment and wasted money I’ve been trying to get better about wasting less food. I frequently pickle things, save vegetable scraps and bone for stock, or dehydrate things for other uses.

In the case of fish skin, I love crispy salmon skin. On the rare occasion that I go out for sushi, I usually ask if a salmon skin roll can be made because I know many sushi restaurants would typically throw out salmon skin since most people don't order this. Sometimes when I cook salmon for my friends, I set the skin aside for myself because I’ll enjoy it later.

I’m not sure what clicked in my mind, but I had an idea of trying to make my own furikake with crushed crispy salmon skin. My favorite kind has seasoned katsuobushi and dehydrated egg yolk and this version just uses seasoned crispy salmon skin instead. To make this from scratch, I just looked at the ingredient list of the furikake jars and other than the obvious ingredients, they’re pretty much seasoned with the Japanese trio of salt, sugar, and MSG.

Ingredients:
Salmon skin
Soy sauce
Canola oil
Nori
Sesame seeds (optional)
Cured egg yolk (optional)
Salt (to taste)
Sugar (to taste)
MSG (to taste)

Preheat oven to 325F.

Using a knife, scrape off all the extra fat and dark meat off the inside of salmon skin. Rinse and pat dry. Pictured below is the fat and extra meat scraped off to the left. The skin is tougher than you would expect so you don't have to be too gentle when scraping it.

On a baking sheet, set out a large piece of parchment paper folded in half so the skin will be sandwiched between the parchment paper. Lightly coat the salmon skin with canola oil along with a few drops of soy sauce on each piece of skin. Rub to evenly distribute the soy sauce. Place each piece of skin between the parchment paper and press out any air bubbles and place a second baking sheet on top to prevent any curling when baking.

Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.

Meanwhile, with scissors, cut nori into small pieces and set in a bowl. Toast sesame seeds and place in the same bowl. 

When the skin is crispy and cooled, cut with scissors and place in the bowl with cut nori and sesame seeds. Season with salt, sugar, and MSG to taste. I like to start with a very small amount and use the ratio of 2:2:1 (salt, sugar, MSG) to start with then adjust afterwards. If you have any cured egg yolk, you can shave some to mix it in as well. 

I'd eat this as soon as possible on rice while everything is still crispy.