Sawara can be enjoyed in many preparations including Teri-yaki, shio-yaki (salt grilled), saikyo-miso yaki and yuan-yaki. All are variations on grilling. “yaki” means grill. Here is my favorite yuan-yaki recipe: For yuan marinade mix mirin, sake, usukuchi shoyu (light colored soy sauce), koikuchi shoyu (all-purpose soy sauce) in 1.5 : 0.5: 0.8: 0.1 proportions in a bowl. Add 2 slices of yuzu citrus fruit or lemon if yuzu is unavailable. Marinate the sawara pieces for 15 to...
Read MoreAwesome Shiogama Blue Fish
The Shiogama , salt encrusted, technique is used for the remaining filleted blue fish described in my previous blog and it produced a gorgeous and delicious result. French do it. Chinese do it. And also Japanese do it. Legend has it that this particular cooking technique in Japan is said to have been developed during the civil war era of the 16th century. Before leaving for the battlefield, a prominent warrior sent his mother a whole gorgeous sea bream cooked in a solid...
Read MoreAwesome Local Blue Fish & Yuan-yaki
No to butter. No to olive oil or any other cooking oil. Blue fish enjoys a Japanese treatment. The fish shines in the traditional Yuan-yaki style of grilling producing a dish that is moist, juicy and flavorful. The ‘Yuan-yaki’ grilling method is timeless. See my Instagram Yuan-yaki grilling video. Here you see the photos in which fish was prepared in ‘Yuan-yaki’ grilling and takikomi gohan. Blue fish from the Atlantic waters was a bit of a disappointing “oily”...
Read MoreMackerel Time
Saba, mackerel, tastes best during cold months of October and November both in Japan and here in NY. I just had the very oily, flavorful one from NY water. When I lived in Japan during the mackerel season I did not miss cooking it at least once every week. My favorite way to cook it is in shioyaki preparation, salt-grilling. In this way I can taste the true, natural and best flavor of the fish – yes it is oily, robust and strong. That is the point of enjoying the...
Read More