Tai sea bream sashimi served at Hyotei, an elegant and time-honored restaurant in Kyoto, was a favorite dish of novelist Junichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965). As noted in this column last month, even the title characters in one of his novels, "The Makioka Sisters," enjoyed eating bream there. Readers who are somewhat familiar with Japanese food culture might have been puzzled by the mention of sashimi served in Kyoto.
That's because they may have wondered how it was possible, more than half a century ago, to procure fish fresh enough to eat raw in an inland city like Kyoto.
Historically, it was natural for Edo (now Tokyo) and Osaka to develop fish dishes, such as Edo-style nigiri sushi, as both cities face the ocean. The famous dishes of inland Kyoto, on the other hand, were mainly based on vegetables.
Meat dishes were more or less nonexistent in pre-modern Japan, because Buddhist precepts were strictly observed.
It is a commonly accepted idea that sushi and sashimi should be made only with fresh ingredients. No dining experience could be more enjoyable than eating freshly caught fish at a restaurant near a fishing port, or even aboard a boat.
Kyotoites did not give up eating fish because of this. That's because a technique was developed at fishing ports to kill fish in such a way that the meat remained fresh longer.
The technique is called ikejime. A spike is driven into the head of a sea bream or other fish, rendering it brain-dead. Its spine is then severed with a knife through the gills, and its blood is drained. A stiff length of wire is inserted along the spine to destroy the nerves there. Sea bream thus processed can be trucked to Kyoto while remaining highly fresh.
"If tai is killed by ikejime in the morning, its meat twitches even if it is filleted in the evening," said Eiichi Takahashi, a past proprietor of Hyotei. He went on to say that sea bream "has a crunchy texture immediately after ikejime, but its umami flavor only begins to appear over time."
A scholar of fisheries science explained, "Inosinic acid, which contributes to the umami flavor of fish meat, increases after a fish is rendered brain-dead and reaches its peak in 12 hours; on the other hand, its chewy texture will weaken over time."
Fish connoisseurs are split between those attaching importance to chewiness and those putting emphasis on taste.
But ikejime is not the only way Kyotoites are able to eat fresh fish.
Another option is river fish. Ayu sweetfish, nicknamed "the king of river fish," has been popular in Japan since olden times. Rosanjin Kitaoji (1883-1959), a versatile artist, noted gourmet and contemporary of Tanizaki, praised the ayu caught in the Wachi River near Kyoto as "No. 1 in Japan." Rosanjin, who hailed from Kyoto and lived in Tokyo, wrote, "You'd better give up the idea of savoring ayu in Tokyo."
Another way is to select fish with high viability and transport it from the sea alive. Hamo, or pike conger, is a prime example. It can remain alive for a few days without being cooled in the hot season.
Almost no hamo is traded in Tokyo, but it is often seen in Kyoto and Osaka.
An amusing story has it that "Kyoto hamo are caught in mountains." A long time ago, a peddler was carrying hamo in a basket on his back on his way to Kyoto when one of them wriggled out and fled down a mountain trail. A passerby who later found the escaped eel assumed it was a fish that lived in the mountains.
The drawback of hamo is that it has so many tiny bones they can't easily be removed. Preparing its flesh is therefore an art. A chef places a fillet on a cutting board, skin side down, and slices it with a special knife at intervals of barely more than 1 millimeter, obliterating the bones but leaving the skin intact to hold the finely sliced flesh together. This high-skill technique was created and handed down by cooks in Kyoto.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
