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Tsukudani
Tsukudani — seafood simmered dark in soy sauce
Small seafood — whitebait, nori, shellfish — is simmered down in soy sauce, mirin, and sugar until the liquid is gone, a preserve named for Tsukudajima, the island Tokugawa Ieyasu settled with fishermen brought from Tsukuda village in Settsu; using thick tamari soy sauce from Kishu is said to be what gave it its keeping power.
- Origin: Tokyo Chuo
Lineage
What it's made of
Whitebait, nori, small shrimp, shellfish, and other ingredients are simmered down sweet and savory in soy sauce, mirin, and sugar into this preserved food. Its rich seasoning pairs well with plain white rice, and it is said to have long been loved as a topping for ochazuke or a filling for rice balls. Texture and flavor vary by ingredient, and it is said to be made from a wide range of materials, from seafood to farm produce, also valued as a gift sent over distance.
How it's made
Ingredients such as whitebait, nori, or small shrimp are put in a pot with seasonings and simmered slowly until the liquid is gone. When making nori tsukudani, the trick is said to be loosening the nori in water so it doesn't clump. Tearing it into small pieces and soaking it thoroughly in water beforehand is said to let it simmer down evenly, and the heat is said to require constant, careful attention so it does not scorch.
Why it took this shape
Among fishermen who settled on Tsukudajima, a method of simmering fish in concentrated seasoning to preserve it for the long term is said to have taken root as part of daily life. Combined with the method of using tamari soy sauce brought from the Kishu region, it is said to have become established as a highly keepable preserved food, and this taste of old Edo, known across the country today, is said to still be carefully carried on and protected in households and specialty shops alike.
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.
- Food for Obon and the harvest moon (tsukimi)A guide to the meat-free shojin ryori and somen served at Obon, and the tsukimi dango offered on the night of the harvest moon.
- At teishoku diners, shokudo, and machi-chukaA guide to the teishoku set-meal format, free rice refills, table placement, and paying at a shokudo-style diner.
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 Tokyo
- Abura SobaNo broth is poured at all — noodles are tossed in a soy-and-sesame-oil tare pooled at the bottom of the bowl, said to have started at shops in the Musashino area in the late 1950s, with vinegar and chili oil stirred in partway through.
- Ajitsuke NoriSheet nori brushed with a soy-and-sugar seasoning and toasted crisp, said to have been devised as a gift for an imperial visit to Kyoto in the Meiji era. Its snap gives way to a burst of flavor and aroma.
- Anago ZushiConger eel, simmered sweet and savory, is laid over sushi rice and brushed with a reduced glaze called tsume — a staple Edomae topping from a fish that thrived in Tokyo Bay's nutrient-rich waters, its slick skin demanding a sushi chef's careful hand to clean.
- AnmitsuCubes of agar jelly topped with red peas, sweet bean paste, and dark syrup. Said to have begun when a Ginza sweets shop in the early Showa era added its own bean paste to the simpler "mitsumame" — jelly and peas in syrup — marking a point where wagashi met café culture.
- Asakusa shichimiA seven-spice chili blend from a shop tracing back to 1625 in Asakusa's old Yagenbori district, often described as the origin point of shichimi togarashi. The neighborhood's history as a hub for medicinal-herb wholesalers is credited with shaping a blend informed by traditional Chinese medicine, and the shop is known for custom-mixing blends to order.
- Bettara-zukeDaikon salted first, then pickled sweet in rice malt and sugar — said to descend from a lightly pickled daikon once sold at Edo's ebisu-kō market. The rice malt gives it a natural sweetness, and it still headlines Nihonbashi's autumn "Bettara Market."