Fisherman's Miso Soup
Sustainable seafood advocate Chef Dai Fukasaku is always creating new ways to utilize each delicious part of the seafood he is working with. Using leftover bones, pieces of fish trim and shrimp shells, he creates an umami-rich fish stock to serve as the base of his Fisherman’s Miso. His ingredients are always changing according to the local fish and seasonal vegetables he has on hand. Using the same method, you can create your own unique Fisherman’s Miso soup from any leftover wild BC salmon or other seafood that you have on hand!
Ingredients
1 litre of water (to create the seafood stock)
The fish bones and trim from one whole fish (black cod, idiot fish, chinook salmon: the oiler the fish, the richer the stock will be)
½ cup of shrimp heads and tail shells. (Dai uses local spot prawns or sidestripe shrimp)
½ cup of salmon flesh pieces cut into ½ inch chunks (any of the five species will work)
¼ cup of daikon radish (half moon cut)
⅓ cup of chopped napa cabbage
¼ cup of carrot (half moon cut)
¼ cup of red or white miso
2 tbsp sake kasu
A few stalks of thinly sliced green onion for garnishing
Directions
Put any fish bones and trim (extra pieces of flesh, salmon heads, fins etc) into a large 2-4 litre pot. If the spine pieces are too long to be submerged in the pot, cut into halves or thirds. Run lukewarm water over the bones and shells for 3-5 minutes. This helps to reduce any overly “fishy” flavours.
Drain the water and remove the bloodline (found along the spine of the fish). You can use a spoon to scrape it away.
Fill the pot with 1 litre of water and add back in the fish bones, trim and shrimp shells. Set the burner to medium heat and simmer for 1.5 hours. Do not allow the liquid to come to a boil during this time.
From time to time, check for and remove any white bubbles that come up to the surface of the liquid while it’s simmering.
While the fish stock is simmering, cut the pieces of salmon flesh (or other types of fish you have) into ½ inch cubes.
Drain the fish stock through a colander into another container to remove the bones, shells and trim pieces.
Transfer the fish stock back into the pot and add your vegetables. Reheat to a medium high heat (not allowing the liquid to boil) for 30 minutes or until vegetables become soft enough.
After the vegetables are finished cooking, it’s time to add the salmon (or other fish) meat to the soup. Reduce to medium low-low heat. This is very important to let the meat take a bath in the soup. If the heat is too high, it could cause the meat to overcook and shrink.
Once the meat is cooked through (5 to 10 minutes) add miso and sake-kasu using a mesh strainer and a whisk, lower slightly into the broth to these evenly to your broth. Taste as you go, and add each in until you achieve your desired flavor.
Garnish with a sprinkle of thinly sliced green onion and serve.
Serves 4-6
Recipe by: Dai Fukasaku
Video and photos by Chelsey Ellis