Seafood ── Fish
Koi
carp — a freshwater fish long simmered for hearty winter meals
An inland river fish long simmered for winter meals, whether as sweet-savory umani or miso-based koikoku soup. Know-how for purging its muddy notes is passed down, and spring-fed ponds raise fish with less of that flavor to begin with.
- Freshwater fish
Lineage
What it's made of
An inland river and pond fish, long eaten in winter as sweet-savory umani or in the miso-based soup koikoku. The flesh is mild with a faint sweetness, and a collagen-like richness lingers just under the skin. A carefully raised fish is said to carry less of a muddy edge and taste more refined. Simmered until the bones soften, the whole fish is eaten with almost nothing left over.
How it's made
Know-how for purging its muddy notes is passed down, holding the fish in clean water for days or weeks before cooking. Raised in spring-fed ponds, it's said to develop less of that flavor to begin with, and it's served either simmered sweet-savory or in the miso soup koikoku. Sliced into rounds and simmered slowly, even the bones are said to soften enough to break apart with chopsticks.
Why it took this shape
Ponds fed by the Asaka Canal, built here in the Meiji era, spread across this inland region, or so it's said. Far from the sea, protein sources were limited inland, so pond-raised carp became a valued food, and accumulated farming know-how eventually made this one of Japan's leading producers. The web of irrigation channels crossing the land is said to be the very foundation the farming was built on.
Before You Go
- How to shop at a supermarketHow to choose prepared foods, sashimi, and packaged sushi, when discount stickers tend to appear, region-only specialties, buying by weight, the checkout and bagging flow, and sampling etiquette at a local supermarket.
- Roadside stations, direct-sale stands, and marketsHow to enjoy buying food near where it's produced, visiting and shopping at morning markets and fish markets, what to expect at farm stands, and finding local food at roadside stations (michi-no-eki).
- Foods to look for in springA guide to foods often seen in Japan around spring — early bonito, bamboo shoots, sakura mochi, hanami bento, new-season tea, and butterbur sprouts — with rough pointers for finding them.
Dishes in the same style
- AyuA river fish that grazes algae off clean streambed stones, giving it a distinct watermelon-like scent. Salt-grilled and famously caught by tomo-zuri decoy fishing — the clearer the river, the more that scent is said to stand out.
- DojoA slender fish of paddy mud and streams, simmered whole in yanagawa-nabe hot pot or skewered plain and glazed sweet-savory. Hardy enough to survive poor water quality, it has long been an everyday fish even from canals near cities.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Known for it here
- Known for it here: Fukushima, Koriyama
Carp farming grew out of ponds fed by the Asaka Canal built in the Meiji era, making this city one of Japan's leading producers.
Uses
- Koi no AraiCarp full of small bones, usually bought already prepared from a fishmonger, is eaten raw as is — a dish of Koriyama. Served with a hot-mustard vinegared miso, it is said that only carp as fresh as Koriyama's, raised on Lake Inawashiro's mineral-rich water, can be eaten this way.
- Koi no UmaniCarp cut into rounds is simmered sweet and salty in soy sauce, sake, and sugar — a celebratory dish of the Okitama area. Farming is said to have begun on the urging of lord Uesugi Yozan, who sought a stand-in for the seafood this inland region lacked, and the dish is said to appear at New Year and weddings.
- KoikokuCarp fillets are simmered with wood ear mushroom, tofu, and scallion and finished with miso — a hearty soup of Koriyama. The broth takes on a deep carp flavor, and it is said to be made especially for new mothers, in the hope it helps milk come in after childbirth.
- Koi no AmaniCarp, bled and cut into rounds, is slow-simmered sweet-savory in sake, sugar, and soy sauce — a feast dish from Akita's inland areas, where carp raised in clear spring water is said to carry little of the usual muddiness, and served at weddings for a pun on 'koi', to come.
- Koi no KanroniCarp cut into chunks is simmered a long while in sugar, starch syrup, soy sauce, and sake, then left overnight to soak up the sauce — a dish of Koriyama. It uses carp farmed with little of the fish's usual muddiness in ponds fed by Lake Inawashiro, and is said to have started as festival-day food.