What's up everyone?
Today, Chef Daddy Lau is going to teach us
How to make pan fried salmon
Along with one of his favorite dipping sauces
The salmon is a super easy weeknight recipe
That’s ready in under 25 minutes
And the sauce is something my parents always
Have a stash of in their fridge
Since it pairs well with a ton of different dishes
Teaching us how to make this will be my dad
Who’s been cooking Chinese food for over 50 years
And who also happens to be playing
The flute that you’re listening to right now
Be sure to stay tuned at the end to eat with my family
And to learn more about the dish
If you're looking for a written version of this recipe
Check out our blog post at madewithlau.com
Where you'll find an adjustable list of ingredients
And step-by-step videos to guide you
As you make the recipe at home.
Hope you guys enjoy!
I hope all of our friends are doing well
Today I’ll be explaining how to make pan fried salmon
Cooking salmon is really simple
You don’t need that many ingredients
The tomato and broccoli are just for garnish
But they’re optional
First, I'll cut our tomato
This is about 1.5 lbs of salmon
If you don’t want to eat this much, you can make less
Today, I’m making this for our family, so I’m making more
For this specific recipe, my parents bought Atlantic salmon
With regards to Atlantic vs Pacific,
Farmed or wild-caught,
There’s no right or wrong choice,
But my parents have a slight preference for Atlantic salmon,
Which nowadays are primarily farmed.
As one of the world’s most consumed species of fish,
Salmon is a massive industry,
With several million tons sold every single year,
And tons of complexity surrounding how we source it
In a sustainable, environmentally friendly way.
As consumers, an easy way to do our part is by
Making sure we vote with our wallets
Monterey Bay Aquarium in California runs a free website
And mobile app called “Seafood Watch”
Which has a ton of recommendations on
How to choose and purchase seafood in ways
That have the least environmental impact.
When we cut salmon, some people like to cut straight down
That’s fine, but I like to cut diagonally so that the fillets are wider
I’ll cut 8 pieces
The salmon is very beautiful!
We’ll cut them each with an even thickness, like this
The salmon is all cut up. Now let’s crack an egg.
Beat the egg for 15-20 seconds
Now we’ll spread out our salmon fillets
We’ll sprinkle some white pepper on both sides
The white pepper helps reduce some of the fishy taste
On a new plate, we’ll spread out 3 tbsp cornstarch.
Next, we’ll dip each salmon fillet in the egg, and then the cornstarch,
Making sure that each side of the fillet
Is evenly coated in both egg and cornstarch.
The purpose here is
When we cook it, this will help the salmon retain all of its juices
There’s a lot of juice inside right?
The salmon will be really tasty
If we don’t allow all of the juice to escape
See that?
What if we don’t use egg?
You don’t have to use egg
The egg helps more cornstarch stick to the egg
Okay, we’re done with this part
Let’s heat our wok
We’ll set our stove to medium high and let our wok heat up.
Unlike other Chinese recipes, with salmon,
It’s important that the wok gets hot enough but not too hot.
It’s difficult to give an exact amount of time,
Since it depends a lot on your stove and cookware.
My dad relies on his own intuition that
He’s developed over 50 years of cooking.
For the rest of us, he waited about 2-3 minutes on this current setup.
Then, we’ll add 2 tablespoons of corn oil, and swirl it around the wok.
The wok and the oil should be hot enough once the oil
Starts shimmering, or making ripples.
Once this happens, we’ll add our salmon to the wok.
The total cooking time for the salmon also varies
Depending on how hot your stove is, how thick each fillet is,
And what type of pan or wok you’re using.
On my dad’s current setup,
Which has less heat output than a gas stove,
He cooked each fillet for 3 to 4 minutes on each side,
Generally not flipping the salmon over more than once.
You should be able to tell if the salmon is done if it easily flakes.
If you wanted to get more precise, you can also insert an
Instant-read food thermometer into the thickest part of the salmon.
As long as it’s cooked enough, the rest is just
A lot of trial and error to find the texture of salmon that’s perfect for you.
My dad tends to prefer salmon that’s more medium or well-done,
So if you prefer something more rare, then adjust accordingly.
Kenji from the Food Lab has a great blog post and video
With a bunch of helpful tips on how to pan fry salmon.
Not all of these tips apply to this specific recipe, but it’s still a great resource,
And I’ve linked to it in our description.
The salmon just covers the bottom
8 fillets are perfect, since they’re bigger
Slowly the oil will start to boil
You don’t have to wait for the wok to heat up?
You can, but since this wok is non-stick,
We can add the salmon now
How do you know when we need to flip the salmon?
When you see that the salmon is starting to turn white or yellow
That side will almost be cooked enough
When it’s cooked enough, it will be golden yellow
Now the oil is getting hot. Gradually it will get hotter.
See that? It's turning more yellow
It's turning golden yellow now
While we wait for the salmon to cook,
I figured I’d shed some light on how salmon and fishing
Helped form some of the first Chinese communities in the West
During the Gold Rush, tens of thousands
of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Guangzhou
Flocked to California enticed by the promise
Of the Gām Sāan, or gold mountain in Cantonese
Although many were forced out of mining work due to discrimination
Undeterred, a group of experienced fishermen found their own gold
In abalone and other fish along the Monterey coast.
Known as China Point by locals, Chinese immigrants proudly sparked
The first large scale commercial fishing industry in California
Supplying fish and shellfish to countries all over the world
During and after the Gold Rush and
The Construction of the Transcontinental Railroad
Many Chinese immigrants relocated
to Seattle, Vancouver, and surrounding areas
To work for salmon canneries and on fishing boats,
Doing the difficult work of supplying
And processing most of the world’s salmon at the time.
Today, the once thriving Chinese enclave in Monterey no longer exists
But in spite of periods of intense discrimination and oppression,
Seattle and Vancouver are still homes to some
Of the largest Chinese communities abroad.
Mm, almost done
Great, now we're just about done cooking
We'll add about 1/2 tbsp garlic salt
Watch
That's enough
Now we'll add some rice cooking wine so the fish is more tasty
We’ll be adding 1/2 tablespoon rice cooking wine
We should have the lid for the wok within reach
Because we’ll be covering the wok
Immediately after we pour the cooking wine in
We’ll only be covering the wok for
about 20 to 30 seconds before we take the lid off
When we trap the cooking wine in the wok
It will make the fish very tasty
Great, it's just about ready now
After uncovering the lid, turn the heat off
We’ll plate the fish now
In a bit, I’ll show you how to make our dipping sauce
The fish is cooked now
Now we'll garnish our plate
It's more beautiful, right?
The broccoli is already cooked
Place it here. Great, now we’re done!
The fish is done now
Now I’ll teach us how to make the sauce
You can decide whether or not you want to add it
Our family always has this sauce
To make the sauce, mix together 1 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tbsp boiling water, and 1/4 tsp of chili sauce
Mix it all together for about 5-10 seconds
If you prefer more spiciness, feel free to add more chili sauce.
If you’re wondering why my dad specifically uses boiling water
It’s to help extend the shelf life of the sauce
Stay tuned for Meal Time in a bit to hear my parents elaborate on this.
This sauce is called "sour, sweet, spicy"
We always have this at our house. You understand, son?
Mmm, tasty
Great!
Friends - our salmon is ready!
We’re done! Let’s eat!
Let’s eat Hong Doy!
Ready baby?
Hong Doy, time to eat!
Grab it from the other side
Then you won’t have to rearrange them, son!
Okay thank you
I like crispy!
Hi Cam Cam, you want some salmon?
Okay cheers!
Cheers!
Oooh! I love this salmon!
Wow, look at that - that's perfect
There's sauce too
Okay, okay, okay, okay
I'll go for it, I'll go for it!
So how did you make it crispy?
How did you get the delicious crunch?
We coat it in egg and cornstarch
Seriously? I would have never known that
Baby!
Hi baby! This is a secret!
I didn't know that!
I was talking to my sister this morning
She says, "I've never done a good job"
"When I make the salmon, it's always very dry"
It loses a lot of juice
So she's a little disappointed
But Daddy says that because you fried the whole salmon
Without cutting, it’s more difficult
Because the whole salmon is thick
It takes longer for it to be well-cooked
When it’s cooked for longer, more juice comes out
It becomes hard to get it more juicy and crunchy
That kind of taste
So I said, “Oh, we should cut into pieces like Daddy”
So it's easier to get well-done and a crispy taste, right?
Game changer!
(Laughs)
How do you say crispy? Crunchy?
"cheui" - crispy, crunchy
Mmm that's so good!
So what's in this sauce again?
Water, soy sauce, chili oil, vinegar
Hot water
Boiling water - 2 tablespoons
Don't just use the water directly from the faucet
How come?
Because the water from the faucet -
If you eat immediately, if you don’t want have leftovers, it’s okay
But if you want to keep -
Most of the bacteria is already killed in the hot water
If you have leftovers, it will stay longer
So you guys already have leftovers in the fridge?
Is it in the cupboard? Or the fridge?
Dun dun dun dun daa!
What else do you put it on?
Everything!
Anything you like to put it on
Well!
Well then!
Yes, everything! Vegetables too!
How long does it keep?
About 2 months
Wow
But you remember, you have to use boiling water
With this one, I'm not using chili sauce
I used chili peppers
You can put some dried chilies
To keep it spicy, and also it will keep longer
Spice slows down the bacterial growth
Kat, more rice?
Uhhh, sure I'll take a little bit. Thank you!
There are a lot of ways to make salmon
Like steaming, pan frying
For me, so far, I like this way the most
It's so good
I like that it takes away the fish taste
In Cantonese, we call it "sēng", really fishy
"sēng" means fishy, very fishy
I don't like it very fishy
Like if you steam it, I feel the salmon tastes very fishy
So I like this way the most
Mmm looks amazing!
I feel like pan fried salmon is just like eating chicken nuggets
(Laughs) Yeah!
Delicious
Like a chicken nugget. That kind of taste - do you think so?
Yeah
Like I'm eating chicken nuggets, but it's fish
(Laughs) a healthy chicken nugget
Especially -
Uh oh, Cam you can't grab that
If you have a little kid at home
If you need to make some salmon for them
Definitely they will love it
Definitely, they will love this pan fried -
Cam Cam, you gonna love it?
Yeah! Cam Cam will love it!
When you’re a little older, grandpa will make it for you
Daddy and Mommy too
That’s why he was grabbing at the table
He said, “Give me my salmon!”
Give me the salmon!
Why do you use white pepper?
It removes the fishy taste
How do you make it more crispy?
Like this is less crispy, this one is more
Is it just more cornstarch?
Cook it for longer, heat the wok at higher heat
Your stove at home can get hot enough
High temperature
Our portable stove doesn’t get hot enough
Very very high temperature, a little longer cooking time
Because we use this for videos, right?
It’s not enough power
Add a little bit more oil
More oil, more power
Like our kitchen stove, that's much more power
More crispy
And this wok, the heat transfer isn't as good
Some woks are more beautiful, better quality
It depends on the components - the metallic components
When you caught fish in China, did you cook them with this technique
She asked, “When you caught fish in China, did you use this sauce?"
No (laughs)
Just steam it?
I used black bean sauce to steam it
Or black bean pan fried
It tastes so good, too!
(Laughs)
Very good!
I didn’t know this sauce in China, only in America
Oh, who taught you?
I learned it in Chinatown
When I first came here with your mom, we lived in Chinatown
I worked in a few big Chinatown restaurants
Tastes so good!
(Laughs)
Sometimes we eat potstickers, we use this sauce
Sour, sweet, spicy - that’s what this sauce is
If you’re talking about the highest quality
If you made it with all of the ingredients necessary
We'd make yuxiang sauce
What's in yuxiang sauce?
We add garlic, ginger, dried chili peppers
But at home I don't need to make it like that
Was there salmon in Guangzhou?
We never had salmon when we were in Guangzhou
In the past, they didn't have it. Now they do.
Now they import it from a lot of countries
America, Canada, Australia - China imports from a lot of countries
You might notice my mom and dad refer
To salmon as “sāam màhn yùh”,
Which basically sounds like how you’d say the word salmon in English.
This is what is people call a “loan word”,
Or according to the dictionary,
A word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification.
It makes sense that the Chinese refer to salmon
Using a loaned word from English,
Since salmon most likely wasn’t a part of
Their diet until the modern era.
The Chinese language has a ton of other loan words from English,
like cheese (jīsih), calorie (kālouhléih), and coffee (gafē), to name a few.
Especially with food, English has a ton of loan words as well,
Like chow mein, which is a loan word for “cháau mihn”, or stir fried noodles.
In the past, only rich people had access to salmon
Ahh
So it was at least possible back then
Yes, but we weren't able to eat it
So did you ever have salmon in China?
I had never tried salmon in China
What about in restaurants in America?
Chinese American restaurants didn’t really sell salmon
I’ve worked at so many, and they didn’t sell salmon
Daddy worked at so many restaurant, and also had his own restaurant
We don’t sell salmon fish
Mmm, interesting
In recent years, there’s more salmon in the market
Also, salmon is very healthy
The oil inside the salmon is a good oil. It’s a good fat.
And also they say it’s good for your brain
Good for your heart, good for your vessles
Good for a lot of nutrition
(Cam Cam screams)
Salmon chicken nuggets
Salmon nuggets
Next time instead of making them long, we’ll just make them into small nuggets
Small little nuggets
Ahhh! Oh my god Cam!
You want to eat too?
Hong Doy says, “Let me eat!”
You want to eat right? Hong Doy wants to eat!
Okay, when you get older
Daddy, we’re not filming yet - what are you doing over there?
Oh, we’re not done yet?
No!
(Laughs)
Of course we’re not done yet!
Didn’t we finish 10 minutes ago, Randy?
Let grandpa hold you!
Aiyah!
Hello dear friends!
Hopefully, all of our friends enjoyed this video
And learned from this video
And make this delicious meal at home