Salmon Head Soup
Photo by Holly A. Heyser
This is a soup with a more gruesome name than the dish actually is. Yes, you use salmon heads to made the broth, and yes, the meat in the soup is from the head, but there are no eyeballs or jaws floating around.
It is actually a refined, Japanese-style miso soup with somen noodles. It doesn’t even take very long to make, and this soup is so, so satisfying — you’ll never toss those fish heads again.
Salmon heads make this a luxurious broth, and while you can use the heads of other fish like striped bass or lingcod, it would be a more austere soup. Feel free to fool around with it.
salmon head soup
You will need some Japanese ingredients to make my version of salmon head soup, but they are not terribly hard to find. Easy, actually, if you have an Asian community near you.
Serves 6-8.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
- 4 salmon heads (gills removed)
- A 2-inch piece of dried kombu seaweed (optional)
- A 3-inch piece of peeled and slivered ginger
- Salt
- 1/4 cup mirin (sweet wine)
- Somen noodles
- 3 tablespoons white miso paste
- Wash the salmon heads well to remove any blood or gills. Gills will ruin the broth by making it bitter and cloudy. Cover the heads with water in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the kombu and ginger and bring to a bare simmer. Do not let this boil.
- Simmer gently for 20-30 minutes. Add a teaspoon of salt and taste. Add more if you want.
- Strain the broth and save the heads. Pick out all the meat from the heads, especially the cheek meat. Reserve in a bowl.
- Return the broth to a clean pot and add the mirin. Heat but do not let boil.
- Bring another pot of salted water to a boil: This is for the somen noodles. Add the somen noodles, which normally come in single-serving little packets. Boil fiercely for 2 minutes.
- Ladle out some broth into soup bowls. Add a heaping teaspoon of miso to each bowl and stir to combine. Portion out the noodles to each bowl. Add the salmon meat on top of the noodles. Each person should get at least one cheek. Cover with more broth and serve at once.
