Fried ── Fried dishes
Jako-ten
fried whole-fish paste cake
Whole small-fish paste, bones included, fried into an oval cake, an Ehime specialty. Said to trace to Uwajima's first domain lord bringing a kamaboko craftsman from Sendai, its name reflecting a habit of using odd, mixed catch fish without waste.
- Origin: Ehime Uwajima
- About 710 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Small fish paste is shaped into an oval and fried slowly, bones and all. The surface turns crisp and fragrant while the inside stays springy, releasing the fish's savor and salt with every bite. Using the bones as well works a broth-like depth into the paste, and the flavor is said to sharpen further whether eaten as is or reheated over a flame.
How it's made
Skin and flesh from small trawl-net fish like lizardfish and horse mackerel are pounded fine, bones included, then kneaded firm with salt, flour, and egg. Shaped into ovals, it's fried slowly to a crisp finish. Using the bones is said to pack in calcium and minerals, and it's eaten as is or as a snack alongside a drink.
Why it took this shape
One account holds that in 1615, Munemune Date, the first lord of the Uwajima domain, brought a kamaboko craftsman from his native Sendai to make it. The idea of grinding whole small trawl-net fish — jako, in local dialect — bones and all, is said to have given rise to the dish, its name shifting from zako-ten to jako-ten over time.
Before you go
Dishes in the same style
- Agemaki Yuba no NimonoFresh yuba sheets are layered, rolled into a log, sliced into rounds, and deep-fried before a slow simmer in a light broth — a Nikko dish built on the region's rippled yuba-making craft, served at New Year's and celebrations.
- Aji FryFilleted horse mackerel breaded in panko and fried. Chiba prefecture holds some of the richest mackerel fishing grounds in Japan, and frying is thought to have taken root as a quick way to eat regional brands like the oily 'golden aji' fresh.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Contrast
- EbitenSmall shrimp are ground shell and all, worked with white fish and tofu, and fried into a cake — a fish-paste product from eastern Ehime. The salt is kept light to let the tofu's sweetness and the shrimp's aroma come through, with the ground shell left in for a gritty bite.
- Tachiuo MakiHairtail fish is wound in a spiral around a bamboo skewer and grilled over charcoal, basted with a secret sauce — a specialty of Uwajima. Devised, it's said, by a long-established fishmonger using a mild, fatty fish, it's now a favorite with visitors to the town.
Also from Ehime
- Bote ChaRoasted tea is whisked to a froth with a salted bamboo whisk and poured over black-bean rice with toppings like bamboo shoot — a dish from Matsuyama. Said to have been devised by a domain lord's household during a period of enforced frugality, it's still served at a temple's springtime Buddha festival.
- Igisu DofuIgisu seaweed and raw soybean flour are simmered into stock and chilled firm like agar, a dish from Imabari. Its cool texture is meant to coax back a summer appetite, and households differ over whether to fold in shrimp or leave it plain.
- SatsumaGrilled fish is flaked and worked into barley miso, thinned with a stock from its own bones, and ladled over hot barley rice — a dish of southern Ehime. Said to have started as a fisherman's trick for making dry barley rice easier to eat, with the fish varying by area and household.
- Tai SomenA whole sea bream is simmered and set on a large platter of boiled somen noodles, the cooking broth doubling as a dipping sauce. The noodles are linked to the Tanabata weaver-star legend and the fish to good fortune, and the dish has long been served to family at weddings and milestone birthdays.
- TaimeshiEastern Ehime cooks a whole sea bream into the rice pot; the south instead lays raw fillets marinated in egg and soy over hot rice. Considered an auspicious fish, it appears at celebrations too, and which style a household follows tends to run by region.