Rice dishes
Taimeshi
Taimeshi — rice cooked with a whole sea bream caught off Naruto
Naruto tai, a sea bream firmed up by the whirlpools of the Naruto Strait, is cooked whole or in pieces together with rice. Prized for how the rice absorbs the fish's flavor, it is said to be served mainly at restaurants year-round rather than at home.
- Origin: Tokushima Naruto
- About 500 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Taimeshi is made by cooking a whole or roughly cut sea bream — Naruto's tai, raised amid the churning whirlpools of the Naruto Strait — together with rice. Growing up in that turbulent current is said to firm up the fish's flesh and concentrate its flavor. As the rice cooks, it soaks up the fish's fat and umami, and the combination of tender, flaked fish and richly flavored rice is what the dish is known for.
How it's made
In the Tokushima style, a grilled sea bream is placed on top of washed rice and cooked together, and once done, the bones and skin are removed and the meat is mixed through the rice — said to be the standard method here. Elsewhere in Japan, fillets are sometimes cooked into the rice directly, or raw marinated fillets are laid over freshly cooked rice instead, but grilling the fish first, as is done in Tokushima, appears aimed at drawing out more aroma and flavor.
Why it took this shape
Naruto tai, raised amid the strait's powerful whirlpools, is said to develop firm flesh prized even for sashimi. Cooking the whole fish into rice looks like a method that developed to make full use of that fish without waste. It's said to be rarely made at home and instead served mainly at restaurants year-round, having become a local specialty visitors are said to enjoy when they come to Tokushima.
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.
- Station food and ekiben (station bento)Where and when to find ekiben (station bento) before it sells out, etiquette for eating on board, how standing soba and udon stalls work, and where to find souvenirs sold inside the station.
- Soraben and airport diningA guide to what soraben means and how it differs from ekiben, whether to buy before or after security, etiquette for eating on board, airport restaurants, and things to check before buying food souvenirs to take home.
Dishes in the same style
- Aburafu DonDeep-fried wheat gluten, shaped into a log, is simmered in a sweet-savory broth and set with egg over rice, katsudon-style — a Tome City bowl said to trace to a tofu shop's shelf-stable gluten product, later turned into a bowl dish by a local innkeeper.
- Aburi-zushiNigiri with just its surface flash-seared by torch or hot iron. Unlike Edomae's shigoto curing for keeping, the searing here is done purely for the change in aroma and fat it brings — a relatively recent way of eating sushi.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Tokushima
- Amego no HirarayakiA flat stone is heated over a hearth for hours, then a border of miso is built on it to grill amego trout, stone tofu, and konjac — an outdoor dish from the Iya valley. Its name comes from hirara, a local word for a flat stone, and it is said to have long served as a dish for entertaining guests.
- Awa BanchaA post-fermented tea from Naka and Kamikatsu towns in Tokushima, fermented by lactic acid bacteria. Coarser leaves picked from midsummer on are boiled, packed into wooden barrels, fermented for roughly 10 days to two weeks, then sun-dried — said to give a refreshing sourness.
- Awa BitonRaised in the mountains of Awa City, Tokushima, at about 400 meters, on a feed centered on rice. Handlers are said to adjust the feed mix daily and avoid genetically modified crops where possible.
- Awa GyuPedigreed Japanese Black fattened in Tokushima, which gained recognition after being shown at a Tokyo meat market competition in 1962 — said to have a moist, fine-grained texture and modest fat.
- Awa no ItokoniSweet potato that has been boiled then dried — yude-boshi style — is rehydrated and simmered slowly with red beans for about two hours over low heat. Fitting for a region where drying vegetables is common in winter, it is said to be a warming side dish built on the concentrated flavor of dried sweet potato.
- Awa UiroRed bean paste mixed with rice flour and Awa wasanbon sugar is poured into a mold and steamed into a chewy cake. Said to have first been made to celebrate the completion of Awa wasanbon sugar in the Edo period, with related uiro cakes also found in Nagoya and Yamaguchi.