Home-style
Igami no Nitsuke
Igami no Nitsuke — a whole parrotfish simmered sweet and salty for New Year's
Igami — what southern Wakayama calls the parrotfish — is simmered whole in a sweet-salty broth. Feeding on seaweed among winter rocks leaves it free of any off-flavor, and around Tanabe it's said to be served head-to-tail in place of sea bream for New Year's.
- Origin: Wakayama Tanabe
- About 460 km southwest of Tokyo
What it's made of
Igami, more commonly known as budai or parrotfish, is a rocky-shore fish that loses its summer muskiness once it turns to eating seaweed in autumn and winter, leaving thick, springy white flesh. Around Tanabe and the Tomita area of Shirahama, it is traditionally simmered whole, head and tail on, in place of sea bream for New Year celebrations, and it is considered essential at local festivals. Once the cooking liquid cools, its gelatin sets into a light jelly that is eaten alongside the fish for an extra hit of oceanic flavor.
How it's made
The whole fish, gutted but otherwise intact, is simmered in sugar, soy sauce, and sake. For festivals and celebrations, cooks sometimes stuff the belly cavity with daikon radish to keep the fish looking plump and whole while it cooks. Simmering loosens the flesh from the bone and brings out its springy texture. The gelatin that leaches into the broth sets into a light jelly once cooled, prized alongside the meat, and the fish is also used in miso soup, fried dishes, and dried preparations.
Why it took this shape
Igami is caught by gillnet from November through January, and its flavor is said to improve once the sea temperature drops below 20 degrees Celsius. Around Tomita in Shirahama and near Tanabe, families are said to have long served igami, head and tail on, in place of sea bream at New Year, a custom sometimes traced to a saying that "lords eat tai, commoners eat fish with at least tai in the name." It was not originally a prized fish, but its good flavor is thought to have gradually earned it a place at festive occasions.
Before you go
- How to shop at a supermarketHow to choose prepared foods, sashimi, and packaged sushi, when discount stickers tend to appear, region-only specialties, buying by weight, the checkout and bagging flow, and sampling etiquette at a local supermarket.
- 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.
Dishes in the same style
- Agonoko UmaniThe roe of egg-bearing flying fish, caught only in early summer, is simmered in stock and soy sauce as an Oki bar snack. Its large grains and dense, sticky texture are prized as a delicacy said to be scarcer even than the fish's flesh.
- Funa MisoCrucian carp is simmered slowly with soybeans for around five hours, then finished in a sauce of red miso and coarse sugar. A freshwater fish dish of the Kiso rivers' lower basin, made with fatty winter carp simmered until the bones soften through.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Wakayama
- BouriA whole, unpeeled parent taro is simmered over two days for this New Year's dish from the Ayukawa area of Tanabe City's Ото̄ district. One account holds that villagers gave up pounding mochi for six hundred years to atone for once turning away a fleeing prince, eating this in its place.
- Goma ToufuRaw sesame is skinned, ground, and worked with mountain water and Yoshino arrowroot into a simmered block of shojin cuisine. Said to have supplied protein for monks who abstained from meat and fish, it's now a familiar Koyasan souvenir and a fixture on Japanese menus.
- Gonpachi no Abura ItameGonbachi, formally known as itadori knotweed, is blanched, peeled, and quickly stir-fried in oil for this spring dish. Thick, well-grown stalks that snap with a crisp pop are prized for a crunchy bite and a faint sourness.
- Hatagonbo ZushiA stout, round burdock called hatagonbo, grown on the steep red-clay slopes of Hashimoto City's Nishihata district, is sliced into rounds, hollowed at the center, and packed with vinegared rice. Cultivation had nearly died out until a local cooperative revived it around 2013, roughly seventy years on.
- Inoko MochiNon-glutinous and sticky rice are cooked with taro, mashed, and shaped into balls coated with lightly salted sweet red bean paste. Offered to the harvest god on the Day of the Boar in the old tenth lunar month, it's also made for autumn festivals in parts of southern Wakayama.
- Kaki MaburiDried tofu, shiitake, and seasonal vegetables are folded into sushi rice for this chirashi-style dish. Its name comes from "maburi," a Naga-area dialect word for "mix," and it's made in bulk for celebrations where the number of guests can't be known in advance.