I spotted these beautiful slices of maguro tuna throats in the store the other day and knew I had to try them. I packed them in sake kasu to make kasuzuke and then grilled them. They were heavenly!

Nodo, literally ‘throat’, denotes innards, but maybe chin or neck might be more like it. The cut would appear to be back from the mouth and between the gills.

I wasn’t sure what this would be like. Would it be sinewy and gross, or over the top rich and creamy? We were not disappointed!!

Maguro Tuna Throat

This is yakizakana (grilled fish) that has been marinated in sake kasu for several days.

Steps

• Wipe fish clean
• Rub with salt
• Pack in sake kasu (sake kasu may need sake or cooking sake added to increase liquidity)
• Wrap and place in refrigerator for at least 24 hours (we waited 4 days, quite long)
• Wipe sake kasu from fish with fingers and/or paper towel
• Grill slowly (the fish has a lot of sugar in it now from the kasu, so be careful not to let it burn)

1. Marinate in Sake Kasu

Maguro Tuna Throat: Packing in Sake Kasu

Maguro Tuna Throat: Packing in Sake Kasu

Maguro Tuna Throat: Packing in Sake Kasu

2. Wipe and Prepare for Grilling
Japanese say that the fish should be wiped clean, but not washed with water. A very small amount of sake kasu will remain.

Maguro Tuna Throat: Ready for Grilling

Maguro Tuna Throat: Ready for Grilling

3. Grilling
The key is to not let it burn which easily happens with kasuzuke and misozuke, teriyaki for that matter too, as there is a good deal of sugar content in and on the fish.

Maguro Tuna Throat: Grilled and Ready to Eat

Maguro Tuna Throat: Grilled and Ready to Eat

Maguro Tuna Throat: Grilled and Ready to Eat

How did it taste?
As mentioned above, this is very rich, fatty and creamy — like toro. The kasu fragrance is very ‘fruity’ and that remained even after grilling. This kasu is hand pressed so the amount of alcohol left in the kasu is fairly high. I marinated this tuna for several days so the alcohol also permeated the fish. Kasu has quite a bit of sugar as well.

After grilling, the sake (alcohol) taste and the fruitiness of the kasu is not cooked out, it is obvious. The sugar content reacts nicely with the richness of the fish as it grills.

It is quite an amalgamation of flavors: alcohol, fruity, sweet and fatty grilled fish. It is rich and luxurious and not something to make an entire meal of. This should be one part of a larger meal accompanied by rice, maybe some tsukemono or veggies and some alcohol or strong tea to wash it down.

Koshogatsu, or ‘little shogatsu‘ is traditionally observed on January 15th and marks the end of the Japanese New Year celebration. Mochi that has been offered to Shinto gods for the last half month is now quite dried out and is shattered with a hammer for eating by humans. The shards are cooked in okayu rice porridge, in Kyoto this okayu is cooked with azuki beans for the ‘rice dish’ of the last O-shogatsu meal. I was invited over to Kichisen to photograph Koshogatsu cuisine and the most expensive maguro in Japan, Oma Maguro, from the port of Oma on the northern most part of the Honshu main island. If I had been told it was wagyu beef, I would have believed it!

Japan’s Finest Tuna: Oma Hon Maguro

Oma Maguro is considered the very best tuna in Japan for sushi and sashimi. It is taken in the Tsugaru Strait between Honshu and Hokkaido via the ipponzuri, literally ‘one line catching’ method of fishing, using live bait on a single hook and line. Oma Maguro weigh several hundred kilos and the largest taken on record is 440 kg! The highest price ever paid for a tuna at Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market was for an Oma Maguro that weighed 202 kgs and sold for about $200,000 USD in 2001. Oma Maguro is famous for its fat content and exquisite marbling which looks nearly identical to Japan’s famous wagyu beef in which the cows are fed beer and apples and massaged by humans. This makes it prized for the best sushi and sashimi.

Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi

Master Tanigawa selected the most choice part of the tuna for this toro sashimi. It comes from the kama, or collar of the maguro. (More about kama at the links below.) If you like toro, you have to try the kama section of the fish.

If you go to a fine wagyu restaurant in Japan, wagyu sushi and wagyu sashimi will often be on the menu, this tuna looks identical!

Koshogatsu Ryori: Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi

Koshogatsu Ryori: Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi

Koshogatsu Ryori: Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi

Koshogatsu Ryori: Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi

Koshogatsu Ryori: Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi

Is it wagyu, or is it tuna?

Traditional Koshogatsu Dinner: Azukigayu (Azuki Bean and Mochi Rice Porridge)

After photographing the toro sashimi, Master Tanigawa invited me to try some Koshogatsu azuki bean okayu rice porridge and two slices of toro. Of course I was only too happy to accept!

The okayu, though including azuki beans was not sweet, it was almost bland. The kagami mochi inside was well cooked and soft enough to eat but still I could tell that it had been dried out. While eating it in a dimly lit, chilly room, I could easily imagine what shogatsu was like a thousand years ago in Kyoto. The toro sashimi, or course a very new addition to the culinary scene in Kyoto, and it was pretty incredible. I have had some pretty fine toro but this was different. It did just melt on my tongue. (I won’t torment you with the details on this one.)

Koshogatsu is not regularly celebrated by most Japanese now, though a fair number of people observe it in Kyoto. This was my first time to eat Koshogatsu food such as kagami mochi. Thank you Master Tanigawa!

Kichisen Ikebana Decoration and Otoso

The silver pot is filled with otoso: New Year’s sake.

Shogatsu Decoration: Kagami Mochi

Do you remember this offering from this article? Today is the last day of O-shogatsu and the kagami mochi in the shogatsu offerings is broken apart and in Kyoto eaten with azukigayu (azuki bean rice porridge).

Koshogatsu Ryori: Azukigayu and Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi

Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi – detail

The master said that these two pieces would set you back about $100 USD.

Koshogatsu Ryori: Sujiko Kasuzuke

Sujiko is ikura still in the egg sac. I love ikura but had never had it flavored with sake kasu (sake mash lees), it was astounding!

Koshogatsu Ryori: Eating Azukigayu and Mochi

This is a detailed article about Oma Maguro:
Japan’s love affair with Oma’s tuna | The Japan Times Online

KyotoFoodie Burikama articles:
Buri kama Shioyaki (Salt Grilled Yellowtail Collar)
Buri-zanmai: Buri Kama Shioyaki (Salt Grilled Fatty Yellowtail Collar)