Grilled
Sake no Chanchan-yaki
Salmon chanchan-yaki — salmon and vegetables steamed with miso
Salmon 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.
- Origin: Hokkaido
- About 850 km north of Tokyo
What it's made of
Salmon caught between autumn and winter is pan-steamed all at once with cabbage, onion, carrot, green pepper, and bean sprouts in miso and butter. The first thing that hits you is the smell of miso browning on the griddle, and the fatty salmon carries the sweetness of the vegetables with it. A single pan makes for a hearty spread and packs in plenty of vegetables, which is said to be why it appeals across generations. Many younger eaters are said to finish it with a squeeze of mayonnaise.
How it's made
Salmon filleted into three pieces is laid on a griddle with butter and seasonal vegetables, then pan-steamed while seasoned with miso, sugar, mirin, and sake. Fishing-town tradition is said to have used an old oil-drum griddle set up right on the shore; today it's more often made on a hot plate or wrapped in foil. Many households use salmon fillets instead of a whole fish for the sake of speed — the tools have changed with the times, but the pan-steaming at its core has not.
Why it took this shape
It's said to trace back to fishing towns in the Ishikari region, where it was cooked quickly on deck or right on the beach. The name's origin has several tellings — that it could be made in a hurry ("chatcha"), that "chan" was what the father of the house was called, or that it imitates the clang of spatula on iron griddle — each one said to echo the brisk pace of a fisherman's life. It's a dish that could only come from a place with one of Japan's largest salmon catches.
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 Hokkaido
- Asahikawa RamenSoy-sauce broth built on seafood and pork bones, topped with lard so it stays hot. A response to the region's severe winters.
- Asahikawa HorumenA local dish that crosses Asahikawa's two soul foods — soy-sauce ramen and grilled pork offal. Pork offal, cleaned and prepped to remove its odor, sits on a soy-based broth. It was devised in Asahikawa in the 2010s.
- Gatatan RamenAshibetsu's local dish gatatan, turned into ramen: a salt broth thickened with potato starch, loaded with vegetables, meat and seafood, and finished with a stream of beaten egg.
- Bibai no TorimeshiChicken and onion are cooked into rice with soy sauce, sugar, and sake — said to trace back to a Meiji-era landowner in Bibai's Nakamura district who had tenant farmers raise chickens, then served them to guests.
- Bibai YakitoriOne skewer carries the whole bird — offal, skin and all.
- Biratori WagyuJapanese Black raised in Biratori, Hidaka, founded on breeding cattle brought from Shimane in 1962 — finished slowly through harsh winters, said to give the meat a notably deep flavor.