Teppai

Teppai fillets and thinly slices crucian carp — locally called "teppō" — from the irrigation ponds of the Sanuki plain, cures it in salt and vinegar, and dresses it with daikon in a white-miso vinegar sauce. The mild flavor of the fish meets the tang and richness of the vinegared miso, with scallion and chili adding a sharp accent, making for a dish well suited to a cup of sake. Crucian carp caught in winter, once the ponds are drained, are called "kan-buna," and are said to be especially fatty, firm, and free of the muddy smell sometimes associated with freshwater fish — qualities teppai is said to showcase particularly well.

The crucian carp is filleted and cut into thin strips, salted, and then soaked in vinegar to cure. The daikon is cut into strips and salted. A vinegared white-miso sauce is mixed with chopped scallion and chili, and the cured fish and daikon are tossed in it to finish. Some cooks use the juice of bitter orange in place of vinegar, or mix in julienned yuzu peel, adding a bright citrus aroma to the dish. Curing the carp thoroughly in vinegar is said to be the key to taming its freshwater smell.

Kagawa gets little rainfall, and the prefecture is said to be dotted with irrigation ponds built to secure water for farming, where crucian carp became a familiar source of protein. When the ponds were drained from autumn into winter, once the busy farming season ended, the carp were nearing their spawning period and at their fattiest, and that timing appears to be why men traditionally prepared carp dishes around then. For mountain and farming communities far from the sea, it seems to have been one way of making full use of a valuable source of protein.