Seafood ── Fish
Shirauo
icefish — a translucent, needle-thin fish of brackish lakes
A translucent, needle-thin fish, sometimes eaten live or folded into egg. It schools each spring in brackish lakes and rivers, and lakeside towns there have long served it as one of their prized local 'seven delicacies'.
- White fish
What it's made of
A translucent, needle-thin fish whose look is its most striking feature. Eaten live, it slips smoothly across the tongue; folded into egg, the clear flesh turns into a soft, airy mass. Mild in flavor, it's a fish enjoyed for its own delicacy more than for seasoning. Cooked, the flesh whitens slightly, its transparency fading before your eyes.
How it's made
It schools into brackish lakes and rivers each spring, or so it's said. Eaten live, it's dipped briefly in vinegar-soy sauce; folded into egg, it's barely cooked through to keep its softness. Because the body is so transparent, not overcooking it is the whole trick. It's also fried as tempura, prized there for a light, crisp bite.
Why it took this shape
The brackish Lake Shinji is rich in the plankton shirauo feed on, letting it school densely, or so it's said. In Matsue, this fish is one of the 'seven delicacies of Lake Shinji', a set of lake foods long eaten as local specialties, sustaining the food culture of the towns along its shore. The very mixing of fresh and salt water there is what gives this fish its home.
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
- 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.
- AmadaiA pink-skinned fish with a subtle sweetness, known in Kyoto as 'guji'. Fish caught in Wakasa Bay were lightly salted and carried inland along the old Saba Kaido route, a history that made lightly-salted Wakasa amadai prized in Kyoto cuisine.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Known for it here
- Known for it here: Shimane, Matsue
The brackish Lake Shinji is rich in plankton feed, and icefish are one of the 'seven Shinji delicacies' woven into the city's food culture.
Contrast
- ShirasuThe tiny, translucent juveniles of sardine and related fish. Kettle-boiled or sun-dried, served over rice or with grated daikon — bays where seabed topography drives upwelling currents draw the densest shoals and anchor the main fisheries.
- WakasagiA small lake fish famous as the target of winter ice-hole fishing. It schools densely in brackish lakes rich in plankton feed, and is eaten whole as tempura or in sweet vinegar nanban-zuke, bones and all.