Do it: Salmon Skin

Seriously, wipe that look off your face, you need to get over yourself. You don't know what you're missing.

Apologies to my Pescetarian friends who love the stuff, but crispy salmon skin is the pork rind of the sea. If you like salmon, you owe it to yourself. And when you come to your senses, you'll kidney-punch yourself for throwing it out all these years. You. Jerk.

For the curious and uninitiated, your first stop should be your favorite sushi joint to have the textbook application: ask the knowing man behind the counter for a crispy salmon skin hand roll. Sticky rice, salmon skin and maybe some rice vinegar, wasabi or sriracha-mayo in a wrapped cone of nori seaweed. It's simple and humble, and you can't reconcile that with what's going on in your mouth.

The three main ingredients may be the single best trio of complementary textures and tastes. The nori acts like a taut sausage casing (again, sorry about the pork comparisons), and the soft vinegar-y rice is the ideal foil for the rich, crunchy, fishy rinds. Made spicy, it's perfect. Add julienned cucumber, carrots, ginger, or pickled anything and you've got worthwhile variations of perfect. Replicate this at home, even poorly, and it will still taste fantastic.

Consider the source of your flavor. The omega-3 fatty layer under salmon skin is thickest on a mild King/Chinook, but I almost prefer the affordable and intense flavor of Sockeye and Coho/Silver. Hell, cheap Keta and Pink will get you through. If possible, buy wild-caught, lest ye want more fat-soluble toxins in yer crispy skin.

Last night I baked off 1 lb. of skin from poached Sockeye filets, spread flat over an oiled cookie sheet. You can fry them up in a pan too (Deep fry? Overkill, but hell yes. Don't burn). I dusted them with cracked pepper and Nanami Togarashi, but 'naked' skin is always good too. When sufficiently crispy, I served it on sticky rice with some shrimp kimchi and a dash of rice vinegar. The kimchi was a nice surprise. Unfortunately, my greed made this hand-roll feel like a japanese burrito. Watch out, poor photo:

This is just the start of beautiful beginnings. Think of the Italian, French, Latin and Spanish applications for pork rinds of the sea chicharron del mar. Hello, salmon skin carbonara! When you're telling your grandkids about it, be sure to credit the source...