Rice dishes ── Sushi toppings
Ika no Kanoko-zukuri
squid scored in a fine cross-hatch to make its thick skin easy to bite through
A technique of scoring squid flesh in a fine cross-hatch. It's meant to make a thick-skinned cut — flavorful near the skin but hard to bite through — easier to eat while drawing out its sweetness, one of sushi's more visually striking knife techniques.
Lineage
What it's made of
Squid with thick, sweet flesh — cuttlefish (sumi-ika) or bigfin reef squid (aori-ika) among them — is the material here. Aori-ika is said to carry among the highest levels of free amino acids of any domestic squid, giving it both a springy bite and strong sweetness. Scoring it this way is said to make it easier to bite through while letting sweetness seep out through the cuts. Its near-translucent color is also said to factor into how it's judged.
How it's made
The skinned flesh has a fine, shallow cross-hatch of cuts scored into its surface, running vertically, horizontally, and on the diagonal. This is a technique used on fish, squid, and shellfish whose flavor sits near a skin too thick to bite through easily; the cuts are meant to sever the fibers and soften the texture in the mouth. How deep and how closely spaced the cuts run is said to vary by chef, changing the final look as well.
Why it took this shape
Squid is known for a bite strong enough to be hard to chew through if simply sliced. Scoring it in a cross-hatch to make it easier to eat is thought to have grown out of the broader idea of decorative knife-work applied to thick-skinned seafood generally, treated as a way to hold both looks and eatability at once. Some shops combine it with other cuts, like fine julienning, on the same piece.
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
- AkagaiA clam named for its red flesh, colored by blood that carries an iron-based pigment rather than the copper most mollusks use. Prized for its crisp bite, it's a premium topping often substituted commercially with the smaller ark shell relative sarubō-gai, and freshness shapes the work more than almost anything else.
- Akami no ZukeLean tuna cured in a soy-based marinade. Born as a way to keep the fish from spoiling before refrigeration existed, it's said to survive today as its own deliberate preparation even now that fattier cuts get the attention — one of the founding techniques of Edomae sushi itself.