I know why you’re here. You want an amazing root beer glazed salmon recipe that you can make for dinner sometime this week. But before I give you the recipe, let me tell you a story!
If you know anything about me, then you probably know that I have so many allergies! From horses to lentils to fish, I have it all. But when I got an allergy test all those years ago, the only fish I was positive for was perch. How could this be? What even is perch and who eats it?? Every time I ate fish, I got a tingly feeling in my mouth. After years and years of avoiding fish (yes, it took me that long to believe the allergy test), I realized that I’m not actually allergic to it. Here’s how I figured it out:
Pretty much the only fish I would eat was salmon. Even though it always made me itchy, I loved it! And I still do! Since I love it so much, I decided to take a bite of some that my mom had made for herself and my sister. I took a bite and…. nothing! Hmmm… no reaction whatsoever. Weird. I ate the rest of my piece and told everyone about how I was cured from my fish allergy.
I was so excited that I could eat salmon again, that a couple weeks later, I bought some from the supermarket and prepared it for myself. Let me tell you, it was DELICIOUS!! But it wasn’t exactly the happy ending that I had the last time I ate it. I had the absolute WORST reaction I’ve ever had to fish. I thought that I had somehow eaten a peanut because my mouth was itchy, my throat was getting tight, and I was breaking out into hives. How could this be? I had just had salmon a couple weeks ago and I was perfectly fine!?
Fast forward a year or two. My mom made some breaded white fish and she gave me a piece. Aside from it being super salty, it was good and no reaction! A couple months later, I get back from an early morning walk with my mom when she decides that she’s going to eat some sardines. Yuck! I hate when she does this because it stinks up the whole house. But this time, I decided to try a piece. It was actually pretty good and…. again! no reaction!
This got me thinking. I had 2 different types of fish and had no reaction to them whatsoever, but when I eat salmon, sometimes I have a slight reaction, sometimes I think I’m going to die, and sometimes I have no reaction at all. Being the science-focused person that I am ?, I inferred what really might be going on here. We all know that farm-raised salmon has additives, including synthetic color that the fish is fed to help produce its characteristic color. I think that the times that I did not have a reaction to salmon, I was probably eating wild-caught salmon without additives and the other times, I had farm-raised salmon and I had a reaction to the additives and not the fish itself.
But with all that said, when I made this recipe for you guys, I wasn’t careful about the type of salmon I was buying so I again had a reaction. (But I couldn’t stop eating it because it was so good!) Believe me, the next time I make this recipe, I am definitely using wild-caught salmon because it is still on the top of my list of favorite foods, right next to tacos and tiramisu.
I guess now I can take an allergy off my list and experiment with new fish recipes that I’ve been missing out on my whole life!
- 5 pounds fresh salmon, cut into 6 servings
- salt and pepper
- 1 1/2 cups root beer
- 1 1/4 cups ketchup I used half sriracha ketchup.
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger Use 2 tablespoons fresh ginger if you prefer.
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- Combine together the root beer, ketchup, lemon juice, Worcestershire, brown sugar, ginger, and garlic powder in a large bowl.
- Remove half of the sauce and place in a sauce pan.
- Place the salmon fillets in the sauce in the large bowl. Cover and place in the fridge to marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.
- While the salmon is marinating, bring the rest of the sauce to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to medium low and simmer about 20 minutes or until reduced to half.
- Set aside some of the reduced sauce so as to not cross contaminate it.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Place the marinated salmon on an oiled baking tray skin side down. Season with salt and pepper.
- Brush the salmon with the reduced sauce, then bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until it easily flakes with a fork.
- I served it with rice and green beans and topped it with the extra sauce.
