Sunday, Oct. 20, 2002

THE WAY OF WASHOKU

By RICK LaPOINTE

An expertly grilled fish stands out as one of the simplest to prepare — and most satisfying — dishes to complement crisp tsukemono pickles, a comforting bowl of miso soup and the staple of steaming hot rice. There are many incarnations of grilled fish in Japan. Almost every home is equipped with a gas-fired sliding drawer under the range top to execute these many variations of grilled fish.

Sanma tastes best salted and grilled.

Some homemakers, however inclined they might be to serve hot grilled fish, don't like the burned drippings of a home grill smelling up the house. Options include buying pregrilled fish from the supermarket or local fishmonger. While the rice and soup are always served hot, the main courses — the o-kazu (food to complement rice) part of the meal — are very often served at room temperature in Japan.

When cooking for just a few at home, it is not necessary to pre-cook simple grilled items, especially if the household members don't object to the smell of good food being prepared.

There are many ways to grill a fish, such as marinating it overnight, giving it a simple brushing while cooking or coating it with dry seasoning or spice. The simplest is perhaps the most delicious: simply salting very fresh fish and grilling it whole.

In Japanese, shio-yaki (salt-grilling) is as old as prepared food itself. There are several ways to salt a fish. After scaling and cleaning it, the fish may be soaked in salt water overnight and possibly air-dried before grilling. Curing fish with a direct application of salt and letting it sit for several hours is also an option. The most direct way to deal with freshly caught fish, however, is to salt it just before grilling under a gas flame or over hot coals on a traditional brazier.

The most common home grill in Japan actually broils a fish rather than grilling it. The difference is the position of the flame: above or below the fish. When the flame is above — tenbi in Japanese — this qualifies as what we refer to a broiling in the West.

The advantages of broiling are clear: grilled drippings fall into a tray of water thus reducing the smell and smoke. In restaurants these broilers are large and adjustable. With home grills, however, there is the disadvantage of not being able to see the item while cooking, and reduced control of the temperature.

A solution to this problem is cooking over real wood charcoal. Rather than using briquettes, Japanese usually employ real hard-wood charcoal that burns hot and evenly.

In a small kitchen, a portable brazier may be set on top of the range and the exhaust fans employed to vent any smoke. Charcoal fired directly on the gas stove-top and transferred to the brazier may then be fanned until white-hot. Some fish — air-dried salted fishes and marinated items — may be cooked quickly over this hottest of flames. When the flames die down somewhat, then fresh, sparsely salted fish may be grilled efficiently and effectively.

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One of the most popular and common salt-grilled fish is the humble sanma. Usually translated as Pacific saury, the sanma ranges from Japan to North America, in the cold waters of the North Pacific. While fresh raw sanma may be served as the o-tsukiri course, grilled sanma is so abundant and inexpensive that it is considered a fish that is only served at home or in a neighborhood cafeteria — but never in fine restaurants.

Sanma is often called the fish of the salaryman, and when it is in season many wives will serve it several times a week for dinner. With a generous portion of grated daikon, sanma can be delicious on a hot summer day, or on the cool evenings of early fall.

Sanma is a dark-fleshed, silver-skinned, oily fish. Different from fatty fish, such as tuna, that hold their fat in specific parts of the body, the sanma has fat (good saturated fat, by the way) throughout the flesh.

To complement the fish, generous amounts of grated daikon are always served as an accompaniment. It adds flavor and, more importantly, aids digestion. A few drops of dark soy sauce are often added to accent the grated daikon — this is called some-oroshi, or dyed grated daikon.

In the market, sanma for grilling is sold in basically three forms: nama sanma (raw); shio sanma (salted); and hiraki sanma (cut open, air-dried and salted). Of these only raw fresh sanma need be salted before grilling. Raw sanma also must be lightly cleaned — there are no scales and the bitter innards, including the stomach, are eaten.

A wedge of lemon, or a halved sudachi citron also complements the grilled sanma nicely. Serve one sanma per person with pickles, soup and hot rice.

raw sanma
salt
grated daikon
soy sauce
lemon or sudachi wedge

1) Clean any obvious scales and wipe the sanma down. Don't wash it in water, as you will degrade the fish.

2) Salt the whole fish, and put a bit of extra salt on the fins to prevent burning.

3) Grill the backside of the fish — in Japan fish is always presented with the stomach facing the eater and the head facing left — under or over a medium flame until the skin is browned and the flesh cooked.

4) Flip over and grill the presentation side until done.

5) Serve while hot with a good portion of soy sauce-seasoned grated daikon and a citrus wedge.

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