Grilled
Yaki Anago
Yaki anago — skewered conger eel basted and grilled over charcoal
Skewered conger eel, split open and basted with a soy, mirin, and sugar glaze as it grills — a specialty of the Harima district. Conger raised in the nutrient-rich Harima Sea is said to be tender and well-fatted, and is eaten straight off the skewer or folded into rolled and scattered sushi.
- Origin: Hyogo
- About 470 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Butterflied conger eel is skewered and grilled with a sweet-savoury glaze. Conger raised in the nutrient-rich waters of Harima Sound is tender and well marbled, and the glaze's caramelized aroma deepens its flavor.
How it's made
The eel is butterflied, skewered, and grilled while basted with a sauce of sugar, soy sauce, mirin, and sake simmered down carefully so it doesn't scorch. It is eaten straight off the skewer, and at home it is also mixed into sushi rolls or scattered sushi.
Why it took this shape
Harima Sound is said to be well suited to conger eel because nutrients flow in from many rivers and the terrain and currents keep food plentiful. Grilled conger is said to have been started by the owner of a long-standing shop in Takasago in the early twentieth century, and locally it is said to be eaten at year-end and New Year, at Setsubun, and during festivals, as well as given as a gift. As catches have declined in recent years, surveys of young eels and efforts such as raising and releasing juveniles are underway to help protect the resource.
Before you go
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 Hyogo
- AkashiyakiOctopus folded into a batter of wheat flour, jin-ko starch, egg, and dashi, cooked and dipped in a warm broth — Akashi's own take on the round batter-and-octopus dish, distinguished from takoyaki by that broth in place of sauce.
- Ako saltA salt tied to Japan's earliest full-scale commercial saltfields, using the irihama tidal-field method perfected in the Edo period. Controlling seawater with channels and embankments let work continue regardless of the tide, and the method is said to have remained Japan's main salt-making approach for some 300 years.
- Awaji BeefPure Tajima-line cattle raised on Awaji Island, a brand producers founded in 1986 — selected for balance between lean and fat rather than marbling volume, with a small annual output.
- Banshu RamenA distinctly sweet soy broth, said to have taken root among the town's textile-mill workers.
- Banshu Tenobe SomenA document held at Ikaruga-ji temple in Taishi records the word 'saumen' in an entry dated 1418, the oldest known reference to somen in Hyogo. In the Edo period the Ryuno domain formally licensed and encouraged the trade, built on locally grown wheat, the clear Ibo River, and salt from Ako.
- Botan NabeA Tanba-Sasayama hot pot of wild boar and seasonal vegetables simmered in a broth of white and red miso, often finished with a dusting of ground Japanese pepper. Some restaurants are said to arrange the sliced boar meat like the petals of a peony.