Seafood ── Shellfish and cephalopods
Amaebi
a cold-water shrimp sweet enough to eat raw
Formally the northern shrimp, it lives in cold water 200-700m deep. Raw, it carries a pronounced sweetness and a melting texture, which gives it this everyday name. Sold year-round for sashimi and sushi.
- Shrimp and crab
Lineage
What it's made of
Formally the northern shrimp, its body is a translucent pale pink adapted to cold deep water. Eaten raw, it carries a melting texture alongside pronounced sweetness. Cooking mellows that sweetness but firms the flesh, and frying it shell-on adds a toasty note; the paste in its head is rich too, and some diners suck the shell itself to get at it.
How it's made
Living 200 to 700 meters down in cold water, it's caught by slowly hauling bottom trawls up from the deep. The sudden trip from deep water to the surface means it spoils fast, so catches are sorted and shipped quickly. Sold year-round for sashimi and sushi, it's also popular fried whole, shell and all.
Why it took this shape
Toyama Bay's seafloor drops off steeply close to shore, letting this deep-water shrimp be caught in grounds nearer land than it would otherwise need. Growing slowly in the bay's cold, stable deep water is thought to be what gives its flesh that melting texture, and the same steep drop-off is said to make the bay a good ground for other deep-sea catches too.
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.
- Roadside stations, direct-sale stands, and marketsHow to enjoy buying food near where it's produced, visiting and shopping at morning markets and fish markets, what to expect at farm stands, and finding local food at roadside stations (michi-no-eki).
- Foods to look for in winterA guide to foods often seen in Japan around winter — nabe hot pot, fugu, oysters, crab, year-end soba, and osechi — with rough pointers for finding them.
Dishes in the same style
- Botan EbiA large shrimp said to be named for the peony-like red markings on its shell. Prized for a sticky, dense texture and strong sweetness, most often eaten raw as sashimi or sushi.
- HanasakiganiDark brown while alive, it is said to take its name from turning flower-bright red once boiled. Beneath its thick, spiny shell sits substantial meat and rich roe.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Known source
- Known source: Toyama, Toyama
Toyama Bay's steep undersea slope lets this deep-water shrimp be caught close to shore.
Related lineage
- Botan EbiA large shrimp said to be named for the peony-like red markings on its shell. Prized for a sticky, dense texture and strong sweetness, most often eaten raw as sashimi or sushi.
- Ama-ebiThe common name for the northern shrimp. It's said to carry little sweetness while alive, only developing it after landing as amino acids build up — and the head, often fried whole rather than discarded, carries a rich flavor of its own.