Seafood ── Fish
Sake
chum salmon — the fish that returns to its home river
A migratory fish that returns to spawn in its home river, fattening the longer it feeds in northern seas. Salted, dried as aramaki, or taken for ikura roe — river-mouth ports landing it just before the spawning run prize both its fat and firm flesh.
- Red-fleshed fish
Lineage
What it's made of
A migratory fish said to sense and return to the river of its birth, fattening more the longer it feeds at sea — and losing that fat fast once it starts the spawning run, as reserves shift into eggs and milt. Fish taken near river mouths just before that run keep both firmness and fat, and even salted plain and grilled, the flesh flakes easily enough to eat well in leaner seasons too.
How it's made
Salted as shiozake, twice-salted and slow-dried as aramaki-zake, or its roe worked loose into ikura — little of the fish goes unused. Set nets and river-mouth nets timed to the pre-spawning run let both flesh and roe be taken in good condition, so timing the catch is what determines processing quality. Even the cartilage and backbone are simmered or pickled in some regions.
Why it took this shape
Waters near the Shiretoko Peninsula, like those off Shibetsu, draw river-returning salmon before they head upstream, giving rise to a fishery built around catching them still fat. In Niigata's Murakami, salmon fishing on the Miomote River is said to date to the Heian era, with an Edo-period system of side channels later built to help the run along. The town's more than a hundred local dishes, using every part of the fish, grew out of that river.
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
- KatsuoA migratory fish riding the Kuroshio current north each spring, lean in early summer and richer once it turns south in autumn. Seared with straw as tataki or served raw, with flavor prized most near the ports the current runs closest to.
- AinameA white-fleshed fish of rocky shores, served raw or simmered in old Edomae style. Sedentary by nature, it varies by region, and in some Tohoku ports its liver is eaten too — a fish long prized as a local catch.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Known for it here
- Known for it here: Niigata, Murakami
Salmon fishing on the Miomote River is said to date to the Heian era, supporting over a hundred local dishes that use every part of the fish.
- Known for it here: Hokkaido, Shibetsu
A port town at the base of the Shiretoko Peninsula, among Japan's top landing sites for river-returning salmon.
Uses
- SujikoSalmon roe salted with the membrane still holding the eggs together, unlike ikura's loose beads. The stronger salt and the bound texture are said to be what tells it apart from ikura.
- Sake FlakeGrilled salmon flesh flaked apart and kept jarred or pouched on the shelf. With the bones and skin already removed, it's an easy way to top or mix into rice.
- Salmon NigiriRaw salmon laid over pressed rice — a relatively recent addition to nigiri. Wild salmon was long avoided raw over parasite risk; imported farmed salmon, raised parasite-free, is what made this topping possible.
- Mayo-zushiSalmon, corn, or tuna dressed in mayonnaise and piled on nigiri or gunkan-maki. Easier going for children or anyone put off by fishy notes or vinegared rice's acidity — a relatively recent family of toppings spread by kaiten-zushi chains.
- Ikura-donSoy-cured salmon roe piled generously over rice. The word ikura is said to have entered Japanese from Russian in the Meiji era, and the dish is said to have spread widely from the Taisho era, centered on Hokkaido.
- Sake no Chanchan-yakiSalmon and seasonal vegetables are pan-steamed with miso and butter — said to trace back to fishing towns along the Ishikari coast, where it was cooked quickly on deck or shore right after the catch.
- Ishikari NabeChunks of salmon and its trimmings simmer with cabbage, daikon, and kelp dashi, finished with miso — said to have begun among fishermen at the mouth of the Ishikari River, celebrating a good catch.
- KonbumakiSalmon or herring is rolled in soft Hidaka kelp, tied with dried gourd strips, and simmered sweet. Kelp's name echoes the Japanese word for "joy," making this a fixture of New Year's osechi.
- RuibeSalmon or trout is sliced thin while still frozen and eaten raw — said to descend from an Ainu method of burying fish in snow to preserve it and guard against parasites, prized for how it melts slowly in the mouth.
- Shiobiki-zushiThin slices of salt-cured salmon are pressed with sushi rice in a wooden mold — a celebratory dish of Yonezawa. The salmon's red against the rice's white reads as an auspicious red-and-white pairing, and it is said to have taken root in this inland city where fresh fish was hard to come by.
- Harako MeshiRice is cooked in the broth used to simmer salmon, then topped with flaked salmon and roe dipped back into that same broth — said to have started as a fisherman's meal along the Abukuma River before being served to feudal lord Date Masamune.
- Harako MeshiSalmon roe, its thin membrane carefully removed, is marinated in sake and soy sauce and piled thick over freshly cooked rice — a dish of the Hamadori coast. It is said to have grown up alongside the salmon fishery of the Ukedo River, where Fukushima's first salmon hatchery is said to have been built.
- Sasa ZushiA Joetsu-area sushi of vinegared rice set on bamboo grass leaves and topped colorfully with mountain vegetables, salmon and nozawana pickles. Legend ties it to Uesugi Kenshin's military campaigns, and it is said to have been served on festival and Obon occasions.
- Sake no YakizukeA Murakami dish of plain-grilled salmon steeped in a soy-based sauce. Said to have begun as a preservation method before refrigeration existed, it stays soft and tender even after cooling.
- IzushiA fermented nare-zushi from Murakami, salmon, herring roe and vegetables packed in rice and koji to ferment slowly at low temperature. Made with the region's signature salt-cured salmon, it is said to have long been treasured as a New Year delicacy.