Welcome to FISH FOOD TIMES
Jan. 2016 issue No.145
Catfish usutsukuri sashimi
The fish that catfish were eating for the first time cooking on their own in December. Although I've been cooking a number of different types of fish in the past, it was the first experience is it to cook alive was catfish.
Let's eat once for catfish is to determine whether delicious, and not only tasting in their own tongue, the characteristics of the fish by cooking and I thought I want to touch with their own hands. The opportunity is because the information of the troubled media last year "Kinki University catfish" was worrisome.
Last November of Minato newspaper, following articles had listed.
Article points, Kinki University and Makihara eel farmers, and Kagoshima Bank is in partnership, a catfish that was farming so as to be suitable for cooking as a "catfish of Kabayaki" as eel Kabayaki, there is an attempt to industrialization in the franchise system.
Catalyst for Arimichi Associate Professor of Kinki University has been focusing on the catfish, because he consulted that were received from the acquaintance of eel farmers and eel food specialty store. It was stating "I want you to tell us whether there are fish to be instead of the eel, now we suffer in the future of the business infrastructure". And this initiative was launched in 2009.
Although not noted in this article, Arimichi Associate Professor of Kinki University in motion in a center of this idea is remarks as follows elsewhere. As benefits of the "eel taste catfish" was dissemination,
(1)Catfish has been successful in "complete aquaculture of adult fish from eggs" that is not put to practical use in the eel.
(2)Equipment with the eel farmers are ready-to-use in catfish farming.
(3) Catfish is fast growth, since it is cheap seed unit price, farming cost is a third compared to the eel, the market price can be to less than half.
(4) Way to eat farmed catfish, sashimi, slightly boiled, tempura, so can be colorfully cooking, etc., are also possible course menus of content that can not be imitated in the eel.
In other words, the catfish that are not generalized as food in Japan, to expand the the foot as a breakthrough by the cuisine of "Kabayaki", in the future it seems there is speculation and let us cultivate as big fish resources in Japan.
Originally in Japan, catfish that had been eaten from the time of the Jomon period, tooth bone piece of catfish has been speculated by excavated from Awazu shell mound bottom ruins of Otsu, Shiga Prefecture. The oldest description, in the Konjaku story of Heian era, has been written that he had eaten with boiled catfish.
Also in Japan, except for Hokkaido and Okinawa, it is known that there is a variety of local dishes made with catfish. Among them, "catfish soup" of miso soup are lore and output of breast milk is better, and has been eaten as a post-partum physical recovery cuisine throughout the country. In addition to this, boiled, teriyaki, tempura, sashimi, although he has been used in a variety of dishes such as, are also included Kabayaki is in it.
For Kabayaki dishes, the Hiroshige Utagawa that have been created around 1850 Ukiyo-e "Tokaido koenkai", there is that Yoshihara inn noted product "Fuji swamp Namazudonburi", together with Fuji swamp eel Kabayaki bowl, catfish Kabayaki bowl is noted productIt is drawn as.
In other words, because catfish Kabayaki is, as one of the catfish food, and have been eating normally for a long time, announced the contents of the Kinki University catfish is not had recently been proposed as a new cooking method of catfish.
For example, as shown in the image below, Kabayaki are provided from the old days in the river fish restaurant as one of the catfish cuisine.
This catfish Kabayaki has been served in restaurant Mikawaya, which boasts a history of 140 years in 1876 founded it is along the Chikugo River in Okawa City Fukuoka Prefecture.
In Mikawaya, Chikugo noted product Etsu food, natural eel cuisine, river angler (catfish) cuisine, has been with the three large signboard, because I've been eating the river angler Kaiseki for the study of this January issue, Mikawaya Let's introduce the river angler cuisine.
After a meal of impressions, great elegant taste! , This is Japanese cuisine .... Whether this is a taste of catfish ...? , And I was excitement the taste.
Because in this course kaiseki was contained the saute, to be exact but it can not be said to be a complete Japanese, also with respect to cuisine that has been described's the saute, it seems through the once was immersed put the process, this is the author it was seemed almost like a kind of Japanese cuisine tatutaage to similar dishes also.
All dishes have been finished in elegant taste, not only the goodness of the chef's arm was able to imagine, it was supposed to feel the height of the ability as a material with a fish called catfish. Taste of soy sauce in these elegant light taste food is not the most clearly, was the dark of seasoning is a catfish Kabayaki, the quality of the fish meat without soft as eel, was not many fat . It was made in today aquaculture eel, it was clearly different from that of the grilled soft fat plenty passing through the "steaming".
In this way, when the tasting of the professional full-fledged catfish cuisine of seasoned, Kinki University is under the theme of "eel taste of catfish Kabayaki", as a replacement for eel that has been driven into resource depletion situation, full of from egg high production efficiency that aquaculture technology has been established catfish, that you are going of offering in Kabayaki, I thought the increased consumption of catfish that there is no need to emphasize the benefits in such a way that Kabayaki.
However, long and is an author who has been involved with the industry to retail the fish, so far fish called catfish is of and photos in the magazine, but is that saw the illustrations that have been deformed in one frame of the comic, once even once, not that we were dealing with catfish with my hands, how can it get the catfish doing, and it is how to do I did not know quite what should be cooked.
So, when stocking the author is a little quirky fish and put an order for a catfish to work parties that ask always special. Then, the next day I was asked to purchase live catfish luck well 500 grams about the size has received the author contact with the stock. After I had alive for three days in a water bath at the convenience of work, and the he had purchased a catfish that remain alive after four days in stock to in the fourth day of the catfish is still healthy itself, out of the water when transferring from water tank and jump out to the bounce around on, and because the fish surface covered in mucous membranes are slimy, it was felt that it hard to jump up and down energetically than catch eel.
From polystyrene box that was used to transport, when transferring the catfish to cutting board, such as when dealing with live carp, it was placed quietly the box next to the cutting board, then placed on a cutting board while had gently gently catfish, and instantly striking a strong head in the peak of the knife in, it became immediately quiet in just one shot.
In the case of carp that is alive, even if hit by peak of the knife in the same way as this time, it is less of carp is quietly in one shot, you can catch a carp that was supposed to bounce around in surprise by being beaten, many additional While it is often so that the tapping also time, in the case of catfish had the feeling of disarmingly to the surprising feeling that you've done in one shot. Considering whether he completed just this is tapped why one shot, catfish of the head unlike the carp because the flat shape as the bottom of the image, it is determined whether not the knife of shock was easy to reach up in.
Catfish who purchased the above image, long mouth beard as familiar sensory organs in the comic is only one from the first to the left, was a little distortion as the appearance of catfish.
The following image is an overall image of catfish.
Image viewed from above
Image viewed from below
Well now, it is necessary to cook the stunned catfish, anyway because I handled the first time in my life the catfish, still in the front of the catfish that are moving jerks, form in or inside out or try to touch by hand was confirmed, it was for a while was considered are a wide variety to what may be handled how this.
As the shape of the catfish was crushed head is flat, there is no sense of stability because the torso part have a narrow shape to the vertical. In addition to the fish body surface without scales, it is difficult to grasp the slimy. I thought that it is not a fish can be easily dismantled just by looking at its shape.
20 years ago, when the author that has been dismantling the live eel, because there is a memory that had cut the tip of left hand middle finger, risk of injury by sliding the knife when dealing with fish no such sense of stability I know as an experience. The author is determined to be the best to use the "awl (meuchi)" to use when you open the eel that was slimy the same way about this catfish.
Image that I have used in the FISH FOOD TIMES far, basically almost 90% or more have been shot while stopping the hands of a knife in my own. But this time themselves without any margin of feelings in the fact that for the first time to deal with catfish, for the purpose to focus on kitchen knife work, and laid the digital camera by placing the tripod beside the cutting board, it was decided to shoot the author of a hand in the movie.
Large capacity of the video, which is also 1.9GB in Full HD that has finished editing, because it is to insert this as it is on the home page will be the work is complicated, and exposes this video on youtube, Readers who are interested in video it was decided to get access to it.
The video is this.
"Catfish (river angler) dismantling" <catfish sashimi and nigiri sushi> https://youtu.be/3Z5xB3vodSM
What about the impressions of the video. Because after all I was dismantled while trial and error for the first time dealing catfish, something clumsy is the author of the motion I would like you to pardon.
And it was finished as the final cooking is the Intro image of this page and the next page.
Of course, this dish went into my mouth after this, impressions tasted in the raw without passing through the fire the fish that catfish is was the word of again "delicious!".
As mentioned above, I was impressed with the taste and taste the catfish cuisine made with the hands of the professional chef in the restaurant Mikawaya, which boasts a history of 140 years in 1876 founded already. This thought was strong that he made such a taste, since cooks make with feeling full use of technology. However sashimi and sushi that I now have made is in doing the first time in treatment of After all catfish, yet it is because he not made at all, such as seasoning in raw, material of taste may be considered to be directly transmitted.
The thing you have to worry a little dismantling of this catfish, because the first one is the site of "yellow muscles under fin" seems to be the part that hits the body is divided in tuna was bad feeling, is that this was nervously removed , and the next second as catfish prior information because I had heard that the smell of mud, it is that it was the previous fish to make sashimi in hot water wash.
It is unclear whether the two treatment how to have had a positive impact on taste, catfish though is a white, rather than a thin white meat of the bland taste, it is appropriate to those who said that white meat with a little more taste of the above I thought.
Also when the sashimi usutsukuri, rarely so also did not feel to be the cutting edge of the knife presence of Chiai bone, only to remove a small bone that remains is shaved yamataka bone, of half the body without dividing only the back of the body and the abdominalIt was able to use for sashimi and sushi in the state.
In this way the fish called catfish with the taste to overturn the author's prior forecast, the missing is quite presence as a food fish in the current Japan, it was supposed to think that something is not a strange phenomenon.
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An opinion and the communication are to iinfo@fish food times
Date of updating Jan.1, 2016
