Salmon Belly Skewers

The salmon belly is the pork belly of the sea. Most fish markets trim it away, sell it cheap to those who know, or grind it for salmon burgers. What a waste. This is the fattiest, most succulent part of the fish, streaked with omega-rich oils that baste the flesh as it cooks. Japanese yakitori masters have understood this for generations. Seattle's Japantown vendors knew it too, threading belly strips onto cedar sticks and grilling them over binchōtan long before the rest of America caught on.

I first encountered these skewers at a tiny izakaya tucked behind Pike Place Market in the early 1970s. The cook, a Nisei woman whose family had fished Puget Sound for decades, made her tare from a recipe her grandmother brought from Wakayama Prefecture. She explained that the belly was traditionally considered trash by American buyers. Her family bought it by the crate. What the dominant culture discarded, immigrant communities transformed into something extraordinary.

This recipe honors that lineage. The tare is simple: soy, mirin, sake, and a whisper of sugar reduced until it coats a spoon. The technique is simpler still. Thread the belly onto soaked bamboo skewers, grill over screaming hot coals, and brush with glaze until the surface turns glossy and dark. The fat renders, the edges char, and the flesh stays impossibly moist. Serve them straight off the grill while the fat still glistens and the char still crackles.

Seek out wild-caught king salmon when the summer runs begin. The belly from a properly handled king is marbled like wagyu, coral-pink with ribbons of white fat. Ask your fishmonger to save the belly trimmings. They'll likely be grateful someone finally asked.