Processed staples ── Nerimono (fish-paste products)
Noyaki
Noyaki — Izumo's skewerless, fire-baked fish cake
Noyaki is an Izumo-region fish cake fire-baked without a skewer. A form of yakinuki, it's said to come out fragrant on the surface and plump inside, and to keep especially well.
- Origin: Shimane Izumo
- About 640 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Coastal fish paste is shaped into a thick cylinder and fire-baked directly, without a skewer. The surface bakes to a crisp, fragrant finish while the inside is said to stay plump and springy. The Japan Kamaboko Association's own product guide places it among the "grilled kamaboko" family.
How it's made
After the paste is shaped, it's grilled over charcoal or by machine without ever being run through with a skewer. Small vent holes are poked into it during baking, said to help the heat reach evenly through to the center. How long and how hot it's grilled is said to rest largely on a craftsman's judgment, with small differences from shop to shop.
Why it took this shape
The Izumo region is said to have long carried a tradition of yakinuki -- baking fish paste through over direct flame rather than steaming it -- to improve how well it kept. Baked "in the open," true to its name, noyaki looks to be a local technique grown from the coastal fish of the Sanin region and the need to preserve it. Baking it through, in contrast to steamed kamaboko, is thought to hold down moisture and extend how long it keeps.
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
Also from Shimane
- 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.
- Akagai Garan MushiArk shell clams from Lake Nakaumi are steamed in their shells in a soy-seasoned broth, also known as akagai no kara-mushi. The name 'garan' is said to come either from a slurred 'kara' (shell) or the rattling sound made while rinsing the shells — a dish long kept for New Year's.
- Azuki ZoniRound mochi sit in azuki beans simmered with a light hand on the sugar, closer in taste to a thin zenzai than a dessert. In the Izumo area some households eat a clear zoni on New Year's Day, then switch to this one from the second.
- Bakudan OnigiriA large round rice ball is wrapped entirely in lightly toasted, soy-brushed rock nori from Oki — its bold look earning it the name 'bakudan,' or bomb. It travels well in lunch boxes and as an everyday snack.
- Dojo Kenchin JiruLoach is simmered with burdock, daikon, and shiitake in a clear soy broth in Yasugi, said to embody the old saying that one loach is worth one eel for stamina — traditionally eaten after washing the mud off from rice planting.