Grilled
Hamo no Yakimono
Hamo no yakimono — grilled pike conger, a fixture of Kyoto's Gion Festival table
Pike conger, riddled with fine bones, is scored with the skilled honekiri cut and then grilled — teriyaki-glazed or salted — in Kyoto cuisine. Said to have taken root in landlocked Kyoto because the hardy fish could be carried in alive, it is also a festival food for Gion Matsuri, nicknamed the 'hamo festival.'
- Origin: Kyoto City, Kyoto
- About 370 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
This dish applies a technique called honekiri, or bone-cutting, to bony conger pike before grilling it teriyaki- or salt-style. Resembling an eel or anago with a fierce temperament and sometimes growing close to two meters long, conger pike nonetheless has mild white flesh, and grilling it is said to bring out a fragrant, plump texture. Because the flesh is thin, cooking over high heat can dry it out quickly, so care with heat is said to matter.
How it's made
Bone-cut conger pike is either marinated in a soy-based sauce and grilled teriyaki-style or simply salt-grilled. Because the flesh is thin, avoiding high heat and cooking it slowly is said to be the trick. It pairs well as a side with rice and just as well with sake, it's said, and the fish is also enjoyed in other preparations, such as blanched hamo-no-otoshi or hamo shabu-shabu.
Why it took this shape
Conger pike's toughness meant it could survive the trip to Kyoto alive even without refrigeration, which is said to be why it took root as an ingredient there in the first place. But its many small bones make it tricky to handle, and this is said to have driven the development of honekiri, a technique so demanding that a Kyoto chef is said to be considered fully trained only once they've mastered it. Gion Matsuri, held every July, is also known as the 'hamo festival,' and this dish is thought to have become established as a signature dish of summer; old texts from the late Edo period reportedly record more than a hundred conger pike recipes.
Before you go
- Osechi and zoni for the New YearA guide to the meaning behind osechi's tiered boxes, the regional differences in zoni (square vs. round mochi, clear vs. miso broth), and the nanakusa-gayu custom.
- Setsubun: ehomaki and lucky beansA guide to ehomaki, the uncut sushi roll said to be eaten facing a lucky direction on Setsubun, and to mamemaki, the bean-throwing custom with roasted lucky beans.
- Food for Hinamatsuri and Tango no SekkuA guide to the chirashi sushi and hina-arare eaten at Hinamatsuri, and the kashiwa mochi and chimaki eaten at Tango no Sekku — festivals wishing for children's healthy growth.
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 Kyoto
- Chirimen SanshoChirimen-jako simmered sweet-salty with fresh sansho peppercorns in sake, soy sauce, and mirin — a Kyoto side dish said to have begun as a cook's gift in the mid-Showa era. The peppercorns leave a sharp, fragrant aftertaste.
- Ebiimo to Bodara no TaitanEbi-imo, a striped Kyoto heirloom taro named for its shrimp-like ridges, simmers together with bodara, cod dried in Hokkaido. Gelatin from the dried cod is said to keep the taro from falling apart, while the taro's bitterness softens the cod — a textbook 'deaimon' pairing.
- Fushimi no SakeSake from Fushimi in Kyoto, a district fed by groundwater from the Momoyama plateau. Its water is said to be softer than Nada's, giving a round mouthfeel and gentle, full sweetness that overlaps with the profile recognized under the GI Kyoto geographical indication.
- GanmodokiTofu mixed with vegetables, rolled into balls, and fried. Known in Kyoto as hirousu or hiryōzu, thought to have taken this form through the vegetarian temple-cooking idea of a filling dish made without meat.
- Kamonasu DengakuKamonasu, a round Kyoto heirloom eggplant over 10cm across sometimes called the 'queen of eggplants,' is sliced and pan-fried in plenty of oil, then topped with a sweet miso reduced with sake and mirin. It is said to have long been grown on the alluvial fan of Kamigamo.
- Kibi Mochi, Awa Mochi, Tochi MochiIn the mountain villages of Tanba, where rice alone was hard to grow, mochi has long been pounded with millet, foxtail millet, or horse chestnuts mixed into the sticky rice. Once a stand-in for a rice-scarce staple, its rustic flavor is now valued again and sold by confectioners at year's end.