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Mushidai
Mushidai — a whole sea bream stuffed with seasoned tofu pulp and steamed
A whole sea bream is stuffed with seasoned tofu pulp, carrot, shiitake, and egg, then steamed whole — a celebratory dish in Kochi. Considered essential to the feasts called okyaku, it's said every household once kept its own steamer just for this dish.
- Origin: Kochi
- About 620 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Steam rises from the sea bream's belly, carrying the scent of seasoned okara and vegetables, and grated egg yolk scattered on top finishes this celebratory dish with color, it is said. The whole sea bream is stuffed with okara seasoned sweet and savory, mixed with carrot, shiitake, and egg, then steamed intact. In Kochi, a banquet is called okyaku, and this dish is said to have long been served at weddings, New Year's, and other festive occasions. For more everyday gatherings, mackerel is sometimes used instead.
How it's made
Okara is combined with carrot, shiitake, and egg, seasoned with sugar, salt, mirin, and soy sauce, stuffed into the sea bream, and steamed whole in a steamer basket. Leaving the central bone in while steaming is said to be the traditional method, though in recent years the bone is sometimes removed to make it easier for children to eat. A sweet potato placed in a corner of the steamer is said to have served as a timer, done once a skewer passed through it easily. At the end, hard-boiled egg yolk is pressed through a sieve and scattered over the top.
Why it took this shape
This dish is said to stand as an emblem of Kochi's habit of cooking fish whole, and it is said to be deeply tied, alongside sawachi platters, to the region's okyaku banquet culture. It is said that not so long ago every household kept a large steamer basket just for this dish, a sign of how essential it was to festive occasions. In Haruno, minced chicken is added alongside the okara, one example of how the stuffing is said to vary from place to place.
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 Kochi
- Chate no AemonoChayote, a squash-family vine native to tropical America and known locally as chate, is tossed raw into a light dressing — an autumn home dish in Kochi. A single vine can bear over a hundred fruit, so it's mostly grown for the household or shared with neighbors, and it's especially popular in the mountains where it grows easily.
- Chunichi SobaA local noodle dish from Akaoka, Kochi's Konan City, pairing Chinese noodles with udon stock. Dried baby sardines and shredded kelp are the standard toppings, said to have grown from a shortcut sparing the effort of both udon and ramen kitchens.
- Ginburo ZushiGinburo, a kidney bean grown only for home use in a district of Otoyo Town, is simmered sweet and folded into vinegared rice with root vegetables. Regarded as a bean of long life and good fortune, it's traditionally made for festivals and celebratory banquets.
- GoishichaA post-fermented tea from Otoyo, Kochi Prefecture, made through two stages of fermentation — an aerobic mold fermentation followed by a lactic acid soak. Named for its square-cut, sun-dried pieces said to resemble go stones, it carries a distinctive sweet-and-sour flavor.
- GuruniDaikon, carrot, taro, and other root vegetables are simmered together in a dashi made from dried baby sardines and soy sauce — a winter side dish. The name is said to come from "guru," Tosa dialect for a group of companions, and the dish was long made in bulk and reheated meal after meal.
- Ha Ninniku no NutaGarlic greens are chopped, ground, and mixed with miso, vinegar, sesame, and sugar — a traditional Kochi condiment said to trace back to a Korean import. It's commonly spooned over raw fish like yellowtail in place of soy sauce, and both its name and the fish it accompanies vary by area.