How Japanese serve fish

Press, 14 November 1977, Page 14

How Japanese serve fish

Fish makes up about half of the Japanese protein intake in spite of a trend toward more meat eating. A rich variety of fish dishes, beautifully presented on separate dishes, are cooked by a Japanese housewife. These home-cooked dishes described in the current issue of “Pacific Friend,” a Japanese publication, are largely traditional. Cooking methods vary from region to region.

Sashimi is sliced, raw fish. (Although rhw fish sounds unpalatable to Westerners, in fact it often tastes delicately marinated.) Sashimi uses raw fish as well as shellfish, which are sliced and eaten with a touch of soy sauce seasoned with grated wasabi (Japanese horseradish). Su-no-mono (vinegared dish) is usually made from sliced octopus, raw fish, fresh seaweed and vegetables, seasoned with vinegar and soybean sauce. Tataki is finely chopped raw fish. Like sashimi, it is a popular way to eat raw fish. The meat is chopped fine and served in the shape of the fish, complete with tail and head.

Tempura, deep fat fried food, is a most popular Japanese dish made by deep frying such ingredients as fish, prawn, and vegetables dipped in wheat batter. Oden is translated as Japanese hotchpotch, a kind of Japanese mixed grill. This dish consists of various kinds of fish paste, konnyaku (devil’s tongue jelly) and vegetables cooked together. In Yakizakana the broiled fish may be sprinkled with salt before being cooked. Mackerel pike served whole, with a slice of lemon and grated radish is a delicacy. For Nizakana (boiled fish) a fillet of a big fish, or the entire, smaller-sized fish including its head, is boiled in a soyabean sauce or miso (fermented soyabean paste) soup.

Of the fish used for food in Japan, 38 per cent is frozen or eaten fresh, 35 per cent is used for processed foods, and 24 per cent is salted or

smoked. The remainder is canned.

The main processed fish food are kamaboko and chikuwa, two kinds of fish paste which have a long history in Japan. Whitefleshed fish, especially Alaska pollack, is the main ingredient. Fish paste products, or nerimono, are an important part of the Japanese diet. Oden shops, selling nerimono and vegetables boiled in soup seasoned with soya sauce, attract many customers Nerimono are made from almost the same ingredients, but by different methods. They come in a variety of shapes, from rolls to heart-shaped pieces. Typical items are kamaboko, a boiled fish paste, satsuma-age, fried fish paste, and chikuwa, a broiled paste. The squid, for which the waters surrounding New Zealand are a principal Japanese source, is used in sushi. This is probably the most representative of all the Japanese fish foods. It dates back to ancient times, but modern sushi was established during the Edo period (16031868). A bowl of boiled rice, seasoned with vinegar, is topped with a thin slice of raw fish meat. Shrimp,, either raw or boiled, raw squid, and slightly sweetened omelet, cut square, may also be used. It is one of the most popular foods amongst the Japanese.