Seafood ── Shellfish and cephalopods
Asari
the everyday clam of miso soup and sand-digging outings
A small bivalve familiar from beach clam-digging outings. Once purged of sand, it releases a strong broth in sake-steaming or miso soup, its flesh springy, best filled out just before spring spawning.
- Shellfish
What it's made of
A small bivalve familiar from beach clam-digging outings. Purged of sand, it releases a strong broth in sake-steaming or miso soup, its flesh springy underfoot. Its shell pattern is said to vary so much from one clam to the next that no two are truly alike, and watching it spit sand from its open shell while digging is part of the outing's appeal.
How it's made
It lives just beneath the surface of shallow tidal sand and mud, dug up by rake at low tide or caught by bottom trawl. Its meat is said to be fullest in spring, just before spawning, marking its season. Facing recent declines, some areas are said to be setting aside protected nursery grounds and releasing farmed spat to help numbers recover.
Why it took this shape
Shallow tidal-flat waters such as the Ariake Sea and Mikawa Bay are said to churn constantly with the tide, carrying in a steady supply of nutrients and plankton. That richness is said to be what lets such a small shell yield such a strongly flavored broth.
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
- AkagaiA bivalve whose blood contains hemoglobin, tinting its flesh red. A traditional Edo-style sushi item, with a crisp bite and an iron-tinged flavor; even its frilled mantle edge is eaten, often vinegared.
- AwabiA large sea snail that grazes on seaweed, with a distinctive single-shell form. Its firm, briny bite has long made it a prized delicacy raw, while steaming is said to soften it and bring out more sweetness.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Known source
- Known source: Kumamoto, Kumamoto
The shallow, nutrient-rich Ariake Sea is a major fishing ground.
- Known source: Aichi, Nishio
Mikawa Bay is also known for clam-digging and asari fishing.
Contrast
- BakagaiA clam usually sold under its market name, aoyagi. Its orange foot is shucked and used for sushi nigiri or gunkan rolls, tender with a mild sweetness; its small adductor muscles are prized separately for fritters.
- ShijimiA small clam that favors brackish water where river and sea mix. A staple in miso soup, its tiny shells still release a strong broth. Said to be in season twice a year, in summer and winter.
Uses
- Fukagawa-donFresh clams and leek simmered in miso and ladled over rice, broth included, from Tokyo's Fukagawa district. Thought to have arisen in an Edo-period fishing town rich in clams, as a dish busy fishermen could eat quickly.
- Kushi AsariLive clams are strung by the siphon onto a skewer and sun-dried for a full day. A tradition of the Mikawa Bay coast, said to rank among the country's top clam harvests, the dish is said to have once been offered to the Edo shogunate and remains essential to the Kamezaki festival.