Grilled
Amego no Hirarayaki
Amego no hirarayaki — trout and vegetables grilled on a heated stone slab
A flat stone is heated over a hearth for hours, then a border of miso is built on it to grill amego trout, stone tofu, and konjac — an outdoor dish from the Iya valley. Its name comes from hirara, a local word for a flat stone, and it is said to have long served as a dish for entertaining guests.
- Origin: Tokushima Miyoshi
- About 570 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Hirarayaki takes its name from "hirara," a flat stone, which is heated and used to grill amego trout, mountain vegetables, tofu, and konjac together with miso — an outdoor dish from the Iya region of Miyoshi. The slow heat of the stone brings out the amego's aroma alongside the flavor of the miso and the gentle taste of the tofu and konjac. Local specialties like rock tofu (iwa-dōfu) round out the ingredients, giving the dish a rustic, wild character.
How it's made
A flat stone is set over a hearth and heated, and a ring of miso is built up on its surface to form a wall; water, sugar, and sake are poured in and simmered slowly for about three hours. Once the stone is thoroughly heated, amego, mountain vegetables, konjac, and tofu are laid on top and grilled. These days a simplified version is also common, using a hot plate spread with the seasoning mixture and topped with amego along with chicken, potato, fresh shiitake, or other vegetables to taste.
Why it took this shape
Heating the stone was said to take several hours, and during that wait people would go gather amego and mountain vegetables, which appears to be how the dish naturally became tied to outdoor, communal preparation. It's said to have been served to guests from neighboring villages and at gatherings of family and friends, and it eventually became a favorite outdoor dish enjoyed on trips into the mountains as well.
Dishes in the same style
- Abutte KamoSmall damselfish are salted overnight, then grilled whole, scales and innards left on — a bony fish often passed over elsewhere, but said to have caught on in Hakata Bay after a Meiji-era glut led someone to salt and grill the excess.
- Gohei MochiFreshly cooked non-glutinous rice is pounded, pressed flat on a skewer, and grilled with a miso glaze. Said to have originated in the mountainous Chubu region, it's traditionally made the night before a festival praying for safety in mountain work.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Tokushima
- Awa BanchaA post-fermented tea from Naka and Kamikatsu towns in Tokushima, fermented by lactic acid bacteria. Coarser leaves picked from midsummer on are boiled, packed into wooden barrels, fermented for roughly 10 days to two weeks, then sun-dried — said to give a refreshing sourness.
- Awa BitonRaised in the mountains of Awa City, Tokushima, at about 400 meters, on a feed centered on rice. Handlers are said to adjust the feed mix daily and avoid genetically modified crops where possible.
- Awa GyuPedigreed Japanese Black fattened in Tokushima, which gained recognition after being shown at a Tokyo meat market competition in 1962 — said to have a moist, fine-grained texture and modest fat.
- Awa no ItokoniSweet potato that has been boiled then dried — yude-boshi style — is rehydrated and simmered slowly with red beans for about two hours over low heat. Fitting for a region where drying vegetables is common in winter, it is said to be a warming side dish built on the concentrated flavor of dried sweet potato.
- Awa UiroRed bean paste mixed with rice flour and Awa wasanbon sugar is poured into a mold and steamed into a chewy cake. Said to have first been made to celebrate the completion of Awa wasanbon sugar in the Edo period, with related uiro cakes also found in Nagoya and Yamaguchi.
- Awa Odori-doriSaid to be developed by fixing a local red-and-black shamo fowl and crossing it with white Plymouth Rock; reared for the JAS-standard minimum of 75 days, with shipment volume reportedly among Japan's largest.