Salmon belly

The salmon belly — Japanese harasu, and "salmon toro" (sāmon toro) on the sushi counter — is the thin, oil-rich flap of flesh from the underside of the fish, cut from below the main fillet where the belly wall wraps the gut cavity. It is the fattiest cut on the salmon, so heavily marbled that it melts to a buttery, almost creamy richness, and it is the salmon's answer to the toro belly of tuna. Once a cheap trim squared off the fillet, it is now sought out in its own right — salt-grilled as harasu, quickly seared, or eaten as rich sashimi and nigiri.