Processed staples ── Nerimono (fish-paste products)
Chikuwa
Chikuwa — fish paste grilled around a stick
Chikuwa is fish paste wound around a stick and grilled into a hollow tube. Its name is said to come from its cross-section resembling a cut bamboo stalk, and it's said to be the older of the two forms, predating board-mounted kamaboko.
Lineage
What it's made of
White fish paste is wound around a metal or bamboo rod and grilled into a hollow tube. The surface browns to a light gold, and each bite carries a smoky, grilled aroma underneath the paste's springy bite. Before the Meiji era, kamaboko and chikuwa alike are said to have been delicacies for celebrations rather than everyday food.
How it's made
The paste is shaped around a rod and cooked over open flame or in an oven until the surface browns. Once grilled, the rod is pulled out, leaving a ring-shaped cross-section said to resemble a cut stalk of bamboo -- the origin of the name chikuwa, or "bamboo ring." How hard it's grilled and how thick the rod is shift the bounce slightly from region to region.
Why it took this shape
Muromachi-era writings record fish paste grilled on a stick under the name kamaboko, and that's said to be the original form of today's chikuwa. Once a board-mounted, steamed method appeared in the late Azuchi-Momoyama period, the stick-grilled version was distinguished by its bamboo-like look and called "chikuwa-kamaboko," later shortened to chikuwa. Aomori's botan-yaki style, which shows off its scorch pattern like flower petals, is one regional take that survives.
Before you go
- How to use a convenience storeA quick guide to choosing rice balls and hot snacks, buying coffee, paying by cash, IC card, or tap payment, using the eat-in corner, and sorting your trash — the basics for a first visit.
- How to shop in a depachika (department store food hall)A guide to browsing prepared foods and bento, choosing wagashi as a gift with a good shelf life, sampling etiquette, end-of-day discounts, asking for cold packs and wrapping, and finding your way around a depachika floor.
Dishes in the same style
- Ago ChikuwaChikuwa made from the surimi of flying fish, called "ago" in Tottori. A knife through the firm grilled skin sends up a fragrant crackle, and it turns out darker than ordinary chikuwa. It's a taste of early summer, in season through the fish's spawning run from spring into summer.
- Ago-yakiAgo-yaki is Izumo noyaki made from flying-fish paste, fire-baked without a skewer. Its crackling surface and refined sweetness make it a favorite travel souvenir from Shimane.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Known for it here
- Known for it here: Aichi, Toyohashi
Sitting between the Pacific and Mikawa Bay for a steady year-round catch, and serving as a Tokaido post town for distribution, are said to be why chikuwa-making has continued here since the late Edo period.
- Known for it here: Shimane, Izumo
Using flying fish and other coastal catch from the Sanin coast, and grilling the paste directly over flame without a skewer -- the noyaki method -- is said to be a long-rooted tradition in the Izumo region.
Derived style
- Toyohashi ChikuwaToyohashi chikuwa has been made since the late Edo period in a town wedged between the Pacific and Mikawa Bay. Sitting on the Tokaido trade route is said to be what let it spread nationwide, with the same method continuing for over 190 years.
- KamabokoKamaboko is white fish paste mounded on a wooden board and steamed into a springy cake with a faint sweetness. Regions differ mainly in whether they steam it or fire-bake it without steaming.