Soy-Molasses Salmon

[ysabetwordsmith]

My partner Doug found a recipe for Soy-Molasses Salmon, so I tried making that tonight.  I used fresh ginger as well as fresh garlic, and substituted oyster sauce for the fish sauce that we don't have yet.  We cut the amount in half to make 2 salmon fillets and had sauce left over.

I did like the idea of mixing molasses with soy.  However, the high sugar content made the sauce burn almost instantly when it contacted the hot pan.  :P  It was also, as I suspected, an overwhelming flavor.

Since we have some sauce left, we're mulling over other things we might do with it.

I'm also thinking about how else I could combine molasses with soy sauce.  I'm afraid if I put it in a hot wok, it will just burn again.  But it might do better if diluted more.  Braising might work.  I want to try honey glaze too.

Comments

[jtthomas]

Reminds me -- I'm tempted to see if molasses would work in a recipe for ginger syrup (add regular sugar as needed, but that's where experimenting comes in). Extra flavor, with the bonus of having candied ginger around for however long it takes to eat it all.

Definitely sounds more like a glaze than a pan sauce, though.

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Ginger and molasses do go well together. They're both strong flavors, and the ginger adds a high bright note to the very dark middle and base of molasses.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Cut the molasses with a cane vinegar, and possibly change to poaching the salmon. Or steaming via the parchment bag method.

Pretty sure woks normally use either hard sugar (like palm cakes or rock candy) or are taking actual plums etc. Salmon I think really cooks through without needing full bore wok temps.

Soy and molasses is BBQ of another tradition.

Molasses is just (okay, so lots of blackstrap is 'reconstituted') cane sugar not completely processed; sometimes you might have sorghum mixed in but I think that's marked mostly) Might need larger pieces of ginger to syrup, just for ease of locating. [having some tech issues, so couldn't split answers easily]

[acelightning]

There is a product called "Chinese bead molasses", which might be sold in an Asian grocery store, or in the "Imported Foods" aisle of a supermarket. It is darker, thicker, and stronger in flavor than "Grandma's Old-Fahioned Molasses", and somehow it isn't as likely to scorch. You can replace it in recipes with "Dark Soy Sauce".