Grilled
Tachiuo Maki
Tachiuo Maki — hairtail fish spiraled onto bamboo and grilled over charcoal
Hairtail 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.
- Origin: Ehime Uwajima
- About 710 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
The surface crisps and turns fragrant over charcoal, and the fatty flesh is said to release its savor with a satisfying give. Cutlassfish, a slender fish that can grow past two meters, has little fishy smell and carries good fat, making it easy even for children who otherwise avoid fish. A long-established fish shop in Uwajima is said to have devised the dish in 1987, and the sight of the fish spiraled around a bamboo skewer as it grills is said to have made it a favorite among visitors to the city.
How it's made
The cutlassfish is wound spiral-fashion around a bamboo skewer and grilled slowly over charcoal, basted repeatedly with a sauce as it cooks. That sauce is said to differ from shop to shop, each said to guard its own recipe. Once grilled, the fish is slid off the skewer to eat, sometimes sliced thin and topped with grated daikon. A version wrapped around burdock, known locally as yawata-maki, is also said to be eaten in this area.
Why it took this shape
Cutlassfish is said to be landed in abundance in the waters around Uwajima, and a local fish shop is said to have settled on skewer-grilling as an easy way to prepare it. The fatty white flesh is said to be highly nutritious, and its vitamins are said to hold up well under heat, which is said to be why it has been valued both as an everyday side dish and as an accompaniment to drinks. Because the preparation takes real effort, it is said to be made at home only rarely, turning up instead at restaurants, izakaya, and fish-cake shops around the city.
Before you go
- How to shop in a depachika (department store food hall)A guide to browsing prepared foods and bento, choosing wagashi as a gift with a good shelf life, sampling etiquette, end-of-day discounts, asking for cold packs and wrapping, and finding your way around a depachika floor.
- Enjoying a bussanten (regional products fair)A guide to what's sold at a bussanten (regional products fair), how to find one, when it gets crowded, shelf life and taking food home, and how to fit one around a trip.
- How to use an antenna shopA guide to what's sold at an antenna shop, its restaurant or eat-in counters, its tourist-information role, the cluster of shops around Ginza and Yurakucho, and how to use one before a trip or for last-minute souvenirs.
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 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.
- 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.
- 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.